Compared to the Present, Trump Era Was a Golden Age

[mystery-ak]

Compared to the Present, Trump Era Was a Golden Age
As much as one is tempted to blame the “elites,” and they are truly contemptible, the American people share responsibility for failing to rebuke the yoke of this new world order.
By Matthew Boose
January 16, 2023

Excusing his tendency to hyperbole, one finds it hard to disagree when Donald Trump talks about how much better things were before the “China virus” ruined his reelection effort and set the country on a path of decline. The America that existed before COVID, the George Floyd revolution, and the rigged 2020 election is not so far in the past, but it was a completely different world.

Gas was cheap, crime was down, the border was secure, and the country was a lot freer. Words like “misinformation” were seldom heard on the lips of bureaucrats or neighbors deputized by them, and one didn’t fear losing employment or the right to travel for refusing an experimental drug. Believe it or not, before those momentous, nightmarish months of violence and upheaval that changed everything, Trump was on a glide path to victory, having been cleared of impeachment over a long-forgotten “perfect phone call” with Ukraine.

The televised drama of the Trump years has proven fairly benign compared to what followed. Consider the events of just the past week. Thousands of U.S. flights were grounded, an increasingly regular occurrence, after a “computer glitch” at the Federal Aviation Administration. Joe Biden made his long-awaited trip to the southern border, where he spent a few hours taking pictures in a Potemkin village on the frontier of what can only be described as an invasion, one which Biden has treacherously encouraged. Amidst all of this pretense and dysfunction, the administration floated a nationwide ban on a common household appliance. Biden’s gas stove ban, the progressive midwits shouted, was both a very good thing and also the latest bugbear crawling in the imaginations of delusional conservatives.

Despite Biden’s much-vaunted “normalcy,” normal has not returned. A deceptive semblance of normalcy, with a corrupt Silent Generation zombie as its face, masks a radical new reality, a tyrannical, devitalized “new normal” of mediocrity. The economy is on the verge of collapse, the price of consumer goods has skyrocketed, and crime is higher than it has been in decades. The flames of George Floyd’s martyrdom have died down, but the revolution still burns with the imprimatur of power. Never has racial hatred been more overtly expressed with such authority to so wide a swath of the country.

more
https://amgreatness.com/2023/01/16/compared-to-the-present-trump-era-was-a-golden-age/

[Right_in_Virginia]

Donald Trump's Accomplishments --- Part One

1. Unemployment and economic growth.

•Unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, veterans, individuals with disabilities, and those without a high school diploma all reached record lows.

•Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years.

•Lifted nearly 7 million people off food stamps.

•Poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans reached record lows.

•Income inequality fell for two straight years, and by the largest amount in over a decade.

•The bottom 50 percent of American households saw a 40 percent increase in net worth.

•Wages rose fastest for low-income and blue-collar workers – a 16 percent pay increase.

•African American homeownership increased from 41.7 percent to 46.4 percent.

Trump, of course, is a “racist” and “sexist” to liberals; it is one of their prime charges against him, with absolutely no proof. It is hard to understand, though, why a man who hates minorities and women so much would institute policies that would be so beneficial to them.

2. Tax Relief

•Strengthened America’s rural economy by investing over $1.3 billion through the Agriculture Department’s ReConnect Program to bring high-speed broadband infrastructure to rural America.

•More than 6 million American workers received wage increases, bonuses, and increased benefits thanks to the tax cuts.

•A typical family of four earning $75,000 received an income tax cut of more than $2,000 – slashing their tax bill in half.

•Doubled the standard deduction – making the first $24,000 earned by a married couple completely tax-free.

•Doubled the child tax credit.

•Since the passage of tax cuts, the share of total wealth held by the bottom half of households has increased, while the share held by the top 1 percent has decreased.

•Over $1.5 trillion was repatriated into the United States from overseas.

•Created nearly 9,000 Opportunity Zones where capital gains on long-term investments are taxed at zero.

Americans were able to keep more of the money they earned. Only a Marxist (yes, Democrat) would object to that.

3. Regulations

•Instead of 2-for-1, Trump eliminated 8 old regulations for every 1 new regulation adopted.

•Provided the average American household an extra $3,100 every year.

•Removed nearly 25,000 pages from the Federal Register – more than any other president. The previous administration added over 16,000 pages.

Mr. Trump was very pro-business, something else that is anathema to the Left. Yet, the removal of onerous, needless regulations, not only helped small business owners, but cheapened costs and provided more money for average Americans.

4. Trade

•Immediately withdrew from the job-killing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

•Ended the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and replaced it with the brand new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

•The USMCA contains powerful new protections for American manufacturers, auto-makers, farmers, dairy producers, and workers.

•Negotiated another deal with Japan to boost $40 billion worth of digital trade.

•China agreed to purchase an additional $200 billion worth of United States exports and opened market access for over 4,000 American facilities to exports while all tariffs remained in effect.

•Imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of Chinese goods to protect American jobs and stop China’s abuses under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

•Achieved a mutual agreement with the European Union (EU) that addresses unfair trade practices and increases duty-free exports by 180 percent to $420 million.

•Successfully negotiated more than 50 agreements with countries around the world to increase foreign market access and boost exports of American agriculture products, supporting more than 1 million American jobs.

https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2023/01/11/donald-trumps-accomplishments-as-president-part-one-n2618156

[Right_in_Virginia]

Donald Trump's Accomplishments --- Part Two

5. Energy

For the first time in nearly 70 years, the United States became a net energy exporter.
The United States was energy independent, not having to beg our enemies to produce oil and natural gas for our consumption.
The United States became the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world.
Natural gas production reached a record high of 34.9 quads in 2019, following record-high production in 2018 and 2017.
Approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines.
Opened up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska for oil and gas leasing.
Renewable energy production and consumption both reached record highs in 2019.
The average price of a gallon of gasoline, while it varied around the country, was far lower than it has been under Mr. Biden, and the Ukrainian war is not the only or even major reason. Gas prices were going up long before Putin invaded Ukraine simply because Biden cut oil and gas production. Less of a commodity will raise its price. That is, of course, what Mr. Biden intended because he wants America on “renewables” to placate his “green” supporters.

6. HealthCare

Increased choice for consumers by promoting competition in the individual health insurance market leading to lower premiums for three years in a row.
Under the Trump Administration, more than 90 percent of the counties have multiple options on the individual insurance market to choose from.
Eliminated costly Obamacare taxes, including the health insurance tax, the medical device tax, and the “Cadillac tax.”
Lowered drug prices for the first time in 51 years.
Launched an initiative to stop global freeloading in the drug market.
Signed first-ever executive order to affirm that it is the official policy of the United States Government to protect patients with pre-existing conditions.
Passed Right To Try to give terminally ill patients access to lifesaving cures.
Signed an executive order to fight kidney disease with more transplants and better treatment.
Signed into law a $1 billion increase in funding for critical Alzheimer’s research.
Accelerated medical breakthroughs in genetic treatments for Sickle Cell disease.
These measures are very important, especially as one gets older and the risk of health problems increases. The federal government has made an absolute mess of the American healthcare system. Trump’s tweaks won’t solve the greatest problems but did assist many in need.

7. Judiciary

Nominated and confirmed over 230 Federal judges.
Confirmed 54 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals, making up nearly a third of the entire appellate bench.
Appointed Justice Neil Gorsuch to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.
Appointed Justice Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy.
Appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett to replace Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Liberals hate these actions, but a court system that respects the Constitution is necessary for a constitutional republic that believes in checks and balances. The Left, of course, doesn’t believe in either a constitutional republic or checks and balances. They want all power to the Party (Democratic).

8. Environment

Invested over $38 billion in clean water infrastructure.
In 2019, America achieved the largest decline in carbon emissions of any country on earth. Since withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, the United States has reduced carbon emissions more than any nation.
In FY 2019 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cleaned up more major pollution sites than any year in nearly two decades.
The USMCA guarantees the strongest environmental protections of any trade agreement in history.
Signed the Save Our Seas Act to protect our environment from foreign nations that litter our oceans with debris and developed the first-ever Federal strategic plan to address marine litter.


https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2023/01/13/donald-trumps-accomplishments-as-president-part-two-n2618248

[Right_in_Virginia]

Donald Trump's Accomplishments --- Part Three

9. The southern border

Built over 400 miles of the world’s most robust and advanced border wall.
Illegal crossings plummeted by over 87 percent where the wall has been constructed.
Deployed nearly 5,000 troops to the Southern border. In addition, Mexico deployed tens of thousands of its soldiers and national guardsmen to secure their side of the US-Mexico border.
Ended the dangerous practice of Catch-and-Release, which means that instead of aliens getting released into the United States pending future hearings never to be seen again, they are detained pending removal, and then ultimately returned to their home countries.
Entered into three historic asylum cooperation agreements with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala to stop asylum fraud and resettle illegal migrants in third-party nations pending their asylum applications.
Entered into a historic partnership with Mexico, referred to as the “Migrant Protection Protocols,” to safely return asylum-seekers to Mexico while awaiting hearings in the United States.Of course, Joe Biden has destroyed this; America no longer has a southern border, and even some Democrats have complained about it. If it hadn’t been for Mitch McConnell and the Washington Establishment, there is no doubt there would be a wall across the entire expanse of the American-Mexican border now. Not that it would matter. Biden would have torn it down. This may be the area where we miss Trump the most. Biden is diluting America into non-recognizability.

10. NATO, foreign affairs, and the military

Secured a $400 billion increase in defense spending from NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) allies by 2024, and the number of members meeting their minimum obligations more than doubled.
Credited by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for strengthening NATO.
Worked to reform and streamline the United Nations (UN) and reduced spending by $1.3 billion.
Allies, including Japan and the Republic of Korea, committed to increasing burden-sharing.
Protected our Second Amendment rights by announcing the United States will never ratify the UN Arms Trade Treaty.
Withdrew from the horrible, one-sided Iran Nuclear Deal and imposed crippling sanctions on the Iranian Regime.
Brokered historic peace agreements between Israel and Arab-Muslim countries, including the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and Sudan.
Completely rebuilt the United States military with over $2.2 trillion in defense spending, including $738 billion for 2020.
Secured three pay raises for our service members and their families, including the largest raise in a decade.
This is a partial list, of course, which must be limited due to space. There are many other items to be added here (e.g., Israel and more Middle Eastern accomplishments), and you can read about them at the website given below.

11. Education

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act expanded School Choice, allowing parents to use up to $10,000 from 529 education savings account to cover K-12 tuition costs at the public, private, or religious school of their choice.
Launched a new pro-American lesson plan for students called the 1776 Commission to promote patriotic education.
Prohibited the teaching of Critical Race Theory in the Federal government.

https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2023/01/15/donald-trumps-accomplishments-as-president-part-three-n2618306

[Fishrrman]

Thanks for posting all that, RinVa.

But... oh!  those mean tweets!

(a tip o' the hat to RinVa, along with a thumb o' the nose at the TDS posters as well...)

[Right_in_Virginia]

Thanks for posting all that, RinVa.

But... oh!  those mean tweets!

You're most welcome @Fishrrman 

[EdinVA]

Not to worry, Kamala will come to our rescue soon..