• Trump 2020 Accomplishments

Legal

International

• 1-2 Trump authorizes successful strike on General Qassem Soleimani, the second highest ranking person in Iran, responsible for the murder of 100s of Americans
• 1-15 - Trump signs a Phase I trade deal with China, which provides for the purchase of $200 billion of US goods over the next two years and a reduction in some of the US tariffs on Chines goods - Wall Street Journal
• 1-17 - Trump signs the USMCA trade agreement with Mexico and Canada, fulfilling a commitment to replace NAFTA - Bloomberg News
• 1-31 - Trump banned all foreigners who had visited China recently from entering the US - New York Times
• 2-29 - The Trump administration and the Taliban signed an historic agreement that could end 19 years of war in Afghanistan and allow for the beginning of the promised withdrawal of American troops - USA Today
• Trump announces a travel ban on flights to the US from Europe
• 3-14 - Trump extends the European travel ban to the UK and Ireland - Fox News
• 3-18 - Trump/Trudeau announce that Canadian border is closed, except for trade - Fox News 

Economic

• 1-9 Bloomberg's Index of Consumer Comfort rose to a level of 65.1, the highest level since October 2000 - Bloomberg
• 1-10 Employers added positions for the 10th straight year, and the number of women on non-farm payrolls exceeded men for the first time since 2010 - Wall Street Journal
• 1-14 For the first time in 26 years, every US metropolitan experienced economic prosperity in 2018 - Bloomberg News
• 1-17 The income inequality dividend of economic growth - during the first 11 quarters of the Trump Administration, wages for the bottom 10% of earners over 25 rose an average of 5.9% annually, compared to 2.4% during Obama's second term. Less educated workers have seen the largest gains. During this period, wages have risen by 6.1% annually for workers over 25 without a high school degree - Wall Street Journal
• 1-17 Average unemployment rate by president for first 35 months of term: Reagan (9.0%), HW Bush (5.9%), Clinton (6.2%), W Bush (5.5%), Obama (9.3%), and Trump (3.9%) - Fox News

Military

Domestic

• 2-18 Trump administration establishes rule to restrict green cards for welfare-reliant immigrants. This is the so-called "Domestic Charge" rule - Fox News
• 3-17 Trump announces that he will send a hospital ship to new York harbor to help in the treatment of coronavirus patients - Fox New
• 3-18 Trump agrees with Canada to close the norther border, except for normal trade
• 3-20 Trump agrees with Mexico to close the southern border, except for normal trade

 

Trump 2019 Accomplishments

Legal

• 7-26 - Supreme Court sided with Trump in lifting a freeze backed by a lower court that had halted plans to use $2.5 billion in Pentagon funds for border wall construction - Fox News
• 7-26 - Trump announced a "safe third country" deal to restrict asylum claims from Central America. The agreement would require migrants, including Salvadorans and Hondurans,  who cross into Guatemala on their way to the US to apply for protections in Guatemala instead of at the US border. - Fox News
• 9-11 - The Supreme Court issued an order ending all injunctions which had blocked the White House's ban on asylum for anyone trying to enter the US by traveling through a third country, such as Mexico, without seeking protection there - Fox News
• 9-12 - The Trump administration finalized the repeal of President Obama's 2015 Clean Water Rule. this Rule was so extreme that it would have regulated waters which could not even be seen by the naked eye - The Daily Signal
• 11-16 - the White House announced a new rule which will help faith-based organizations remain a vital part of the child-welfare system, reversing an Obama ruling which excluded faith-based groups - Wall Street Journal

• 1-17 Issued the Missile Defense Review, a 'strong and insightful response to the growing missile threat to the United States and our interests". This is the first such review since 2010, and it calls for "expanded US missile defenses, increased deployment of theater missile defense assets, and further investment in space-based sensors, high energy lasers, and the US early warning system" - Heritage Foundation
• 2-21 President Trump directed the Department of Defense to draft legislation to establish the Space Force as a new branch of the military under the Secretary of the Air Force - Daily Signal
• 8-26 The VA revised directives to permit religious literature, symbols, and displays at agency facilities following a string of incidents in recent years in which individual medical centers banned Christmas carols and a Christmas tree, chaplains removed Bibles, and chaplins faced restrainsts on regligious expression - Daily Signal
• 8-29 Trump announced the creation of the Space Command, which will be responsible for preventing conflict and defending the US and its allies in space. It will work alongside the Space Force, a proposed branch of the military for organizing, training, an and equipping troops focused on space.
• 12/10 Trump signs executive order reiterating that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act protects Jews from discrimination at tax-payer funded universities - Daily Signal
• 12-22 Trump is closing the year with confirmations of 102 Federal judges. Over his administration to date, the total jumps to 187, including 50 to circuit courts of appeals and two Supreme Court justices. This is an extraordinary number for any administration - Fox News

International

• 1-16 Trump has successfully pivoted to Asia - signed the Asia Reassurance Initiative Act, the most comprehensive statement in a generation of america's regional interests - Wall Street Journal.
• 1-27 According to the Secretary General of the UN, Trump's rhetoric about sharing the defense burden in Europe has added $100 billion in spending for national defense by individual countries, making Europe's defenses stronger and indirectly benefiting the defense position of the US. in addition, according to the SecGen, this development and this rhetoric have helped deter Russia.
• 3-11 Last week, the Department of Homeland Security said that immigration at the southern border is at "a breaking point". In February, border agents arrested more than 66,400 people for entering the country illegally, the highest number since 2008.
• 3-21 - According to retired four-star general Jack Keane, Trump deserves credit for defeating ISIS in Syria. "The caliphate essentially has been destroyed. The Islamic state in terms of controlling territory no longer exists..." - Fox Business
• 3-30 - Trump administration cuts off humanitarian aid to Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, the three countries most responsible for the refugee caravans - USA Today
• 4/17 - National Security Advisor John Bolton announced strong measures against the three dictatorships that are exporting terror, starvation, and socialism in our Hemisphere. The new axis of evil begins in Havana and spreads to Caracas and Managua - Dick Morris 
• 4-22 - Trump administration ends waivers which allowed 8 countries to continue to buy oil from Iran without facing US sanctions. The waivers were put in place when the US withdrew from the Iran agreement. Three countries have already stopped by Iranian oil. the objective is drive Iranian oil exports, a big revenue producer, to zero - Bloomberg
• 4-26 - Trump withdraws the US from the UN Arms Treaty, which set terms for sales and transfers of small arms, missile launchers, and warships, because it could set limits on Second Amendment rights. This Treaty was signed by Secretary of State John Kerry, but it was never ratified by the US Senate. - Bloomberg
• 4-27 - Trump's sanctions on the mullahs in Iran, which are designed to starve them of revenue from oil sales are working. Oil exports have declined by more than 50%, from 2.5 million bpd to 1.1 million bpd, and terrorist organizations supported by Iran are complained about lack of funds - Gatestone
• 6-4 - After threatening to impose tariffs on Mexico for lack of support in controlling the border, the US and Mexico agreed to a new arrangement, which includes the deployment of 6,000 Mexican troops along the Guatemala border to interdict refugees trying to cross into Mexico and the maintenance of asylum seekers in Mexico while their cases are being heard. 
• 8-7 - US expands sanctions against Venezuela into a full embargo. These mark a significant escalation of pressure against the Maduro regime and the countries, including Russia and China, which continue to support him - Wall Street Journal 
• 8-25 - US and Japan agree in principle on a trade deal focused on farmers, with details to be finalized by the end of September - Bloomberg
• 9-26 - The US and Honduras signed an immigration agreement which requires immigrants who reach the US border without first seeking protected status in Honduras be sent back to their home countries. The US has signed similar agreements with El Salvador and Guatemala to attempt to stem the flow of migrants reaching the US border - Wall Street Journal
• 9-26 - The US and Japan signed a trade enhancement agreement that will lower agricultural tariffs in Japan, industrial tariffs in the US, and set new rules for digital trade - Wall Street Journal
• 10/9 - Trump issued a proclamation requiring many future immigrants to show they can afford health care, a move that makes it harder for poor migrants to enter the US - Wall Street Journal
• 10/9 - Trump added 28 major Chinese entities to an export blacklist, citing their role in Beijing's repression of Muslim minorities in northwest China - Wall Street Journal 
• 10-30 At one point, there were 50 caravans of immigrants approaching the southern border. Now, there is only one. One of the primary reasons for this dramatic reduction is the support of the Mexican government, which has deployed more than 25,000 soldiers to their southern border and to ours - Fox News, Mark Morgan, Acting Customs and Border Control(CBP) commissioner.
• 11-4 ISIS leader Baghdadi killed in raid - Wall Street Journal
• 11-27 Trump signed two bills meant to support human rights and pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, over strong objections from Beijing - Fox News
• 12-17 Trump announced a Phase I trade deal with China under the terms of which China will buy $32 billion of farm products and the US will delay implementing certain tariffs and cut some other tariffs - Wall Street Journal
• 12-17 Trump clinched Congressional support for the US/Mexico/Canada (USMCA) trade deal, implementing a campaign promise to revise NAFTA - Wall Street Journal

Economic

• 1-4 Employers added 312,000 jobs in December and 2.64 million in 2018, the best annual performance since 2015 - Wall Street Journal
• 1-4 Manufacturing employment increased by 473,000 in Trump's first two years, compared to a loss of 210,000 in Obama's two terms - Wall Street journal
• 1-4 Average hourly earnings rose 3.2% in the last year, and wages were up more than 4.5% in some of the lower paid jobs - Wall Street Journal
• 1-28 Latest weekly applications for unemployment are the lowest since 1969 - Fox News
• 2-1 Non-farm payrolls rose by 304,000, way above expectations, despite the Government shutdown. Total job growth in 2018 was 2.7 million. Wage growth rate was over 3% for the sixth straight month. Labor participation rate rose to 63.2%, up 0.5% from a year ago. Labor participation rate among women 25-64 is at 76%, the best reading since 2003 - Wall Street Journal 
• 2-11 According to a Gallup poll, (1) 50% of Americans say that they are in better financial shape than they were a year ago, the highest level since 2007, (2) 69% expect their financial situation to improve over the next year, and (3) optimism about finances over the next year is almost at a record high level - Washington Examiner
• 2-11 The number of job openings hit a record high of 7.3 million in December - Washington Examiner
• 2-11 For prime-age workers, those between 25-54, the total employment rate rose to 79.9% in January, the highest rate since the financial crisis - Washington Examiner
• 2-15 - President Trump signed a bill to keep the federal government open and to provide a minimum of funding for the border wall.
• 3-1 - Economic growth in 2018 was 3.1%, the highest yearly growth rate in 13 years. Non-residential investment increased 7% in 2018, after 5.3% in 2017. This is very significant, because this is what sets the stage for real economic growth and improvements in the standard of living for American people - Wall Street Journal
• 3-2 - The US home ownership rate climbed to 64.8% in the fourth quarter, the highest level in nearly five years - Wall Street Journal
• 3-2 - The Dow Jones average ended February with its best two-month start to a year since 1987 - Wall Street Journal
• 3-7 - Output per hour of the non-farm business sector workers (productivity) registered the strongest nine-month growth rate between April and December since 2010. Productivity growth along with growth in the labor force are two key components of overall economic activity - Wall Street Journal
• 3-10 - The share of prime age Americans who are employed is at its highest level in more than a decade - Wall Street Journal
• 3-10 - Average hourly earnings for private workers rose 3.4% last month from a year earlier, the strongest pace in a decade - Wall Street Journal 
• 3-24 - According to the President's Annual Economic Report, household income is up $2,200 from 2017, 70% of the workers entering employment were previously out of the labor force, the labor force participation rate in 63.2%, the highest since 2013, wages grew 3.4% in the last 12 months, and the increases are benefiting the low-income earners the most, and business productivity grew in the last year at a rate of 1.9% which is twice the rate before the tax cuts. Productivity is a key driver of economic growth.
• 3-29 - the S&P 500 increased 13.1% in the first quarter of 2019, the best performance in a first quarter in 20 years. Although this is not an accomplishment of Trump directly, it may indirectly reflect the confidence in his presidency - CNBC
• 5-3 - The unemployment rate dropped in April to 3.6%, the lowest level in half a century - CNBC
• 5-3 - Based on the April jobs report, the Hispanic unemployment rate at 4.2% is the lowest it has ever been, and the adult women unemployment rate at 3.1% is the lowest since 1953. Lower wage workers experienced some of the largest wage gains - in increase of 3.4%, compared to 3.2% overall.
• 5-4 - Non-farm business employee output per hour (productivity) increased at a 3.6% annualized rate in the January-March period, the best performance since 2014. Increasing productivity suggests the economy can grow at a faster pace without spurring a big jump in inflation - Bloomberg
• 8-2 Trump signs a deal to boost US beef exports to the European Union - CNBC
• 9-8 The number of people employed increased in August by 590,000, pushing total employment to a record high of157.9 million. the percentage of the population employed rose to 60.9 percent, the highest level since 2008 - Fox News
• 9-8 Average hourly earnings in August increased 3.2%, the 13th month in a row of increases over 3%. Prior to this streak, the last time the monthly increase was at least 3% was in April 2009 - Fox News
• 9-8 Wage increases in August were better for workers than managers. the increase fro managers was 2%, while the increase for workers was 3.5% - Fox News
• 9-9 Since Trump took office, the number of people on food stamps has dropped from 42 million to 36 million, a decline of 6 MM - Daily Caller
• October 4 - The US unemployment rate dropped to a 50-year low in September of 3.5%. The unemployment rates for the underemployed, those without a high school education, and Hispanic men are also at record lows. 
• 10-9 According to the Labor Department, median household income, adjusted for inflation and the size of households, has increased by $4,000 to $66,000 (6.5%) from $62,000 to date under the Trump administration. This is an enormous increase for the middle class. The increase was only $1,000 during the Obama administration - Wall Street Journal
• 11-4 The percentage of people in the US aged 25-54 who are employed or actively looking for work has climbed to the highest in a decade at a level of 82.8% in October. 76.6% of women in this group were employed or actively looking for work, the highest level since 2000 - Bloomberg
• 11-4 The jobless rate for African-Americans fell to 5.4%, another record low. The labor participation rate for Hispanic-Americans rose to 67.3%, the best since 2010 - Wall Street Journal. 
• 12-12 There is one of the President's biggest wins that has received little publicity - energy independence - Fox News
• 12-17 Companies post more jobs in October in sign of solid recovery. The number of available positions grew by 3.3% to a total of 7.3 million.
• 12-22 - Trump signs a $738 billion Defense authorization bill, and increase of $21 billion over last year. Included are: (1) a pay increase of 3.1% for the troops, the first ever family leave plan for all Federal workers, and the creation of the Space Force, the first addition to the sister services in 72 years - CNBC
• 12-31 - US stocks rally to cap best year since 1913. The S&P 500 increased by 29%, and the NASDAQ increased 38%, the best performance since 2009 - Bloomberg 

Military

• 2-1 US withdraws from 1987 Nuclear Treaty and deployed 100 missiles which are not allowed under the Treaty. The US is now not precluded from developing its own missiles - Wall Street Journal

Domestic

• 1-3 While everyone has been distracted, Trump has reduced Muslim refugees by 93% - Western Journal
• 1-15 President Trump launches the American AI (Artificial Intelligence) Initiative for the Federal government to focus on AI across the government - a "good start" - Bloomberg
• 3-5 - Trump signs executive order creating a task force to address and help prevent veteran suicides, which may number as many as 20 a day - C-SPAN
• 3-6 - Trumps's NSA ends the practice of collecting data on millions of Americans referred to as Metadata - Washington Examiner
• 3-6 - Illegal border crossings hit 10-year high of 66,400 people as officials warn of "breaking point" - Heritage Foundation Daily Signal
• 3-15 - Trump signed a wilderness preservation bill, which is the largest in a decade, covering 1.3 million acres - Western Journal
• 3-21 - Trump signed an executive order to promote free specch on college campuses by threatening colleges with the loss of federal research funding if they do not protect those rights
• 3-25 - Trump signs executive order limiting federal research grants to colleges which protect free speech on campus - Heritage Foundation
• 3-25 - Trump backs Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights'
• 3-29 - Trump signs Executive Order to bring control of our Electro Magnetic Pulse defense into the White House. Up to now, the Homeland Security and Energy Departments have had the shared responsibility, and not much has happened. This is an existential threat, and this change should ensure that it gets the focus it requires. An EMP has the potential to knock out our power grid and communications systems for an extended period of time. An EMP can develop in one of two ways: the explosion of a nuclear device over the US or a natural solar superstorm. The superstorm is not very likely (a 10% chance once per decade), but something like it happened in 1859, and the telegraph circuits caught fire - Washington Post.
• 4-10 - Trump has designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group, something no other administration has done - Heritage Foundation Daily Signal
• 4-12 - 5G is the next generation of wireless network that will enable faster data speeds. Major countries, like China, are running very fast to try to control this network. Trump made several announcements to accelerate 5G deployment in the US. "This is a race which America must win."
• 4-22 - Ben Carson and HUD are about to shut the door on ineligible illegal aliens gaming the system to get benefits toi which only citizens are entitled - Western Journal 
• 5-2 - The Health and Human Services Department HSS said it would beef up protections for doctors and other health care providers who object to procedures including abortion, euthanasia, and sterilization. - Fox News
• 6-14 - The Trump administration unveiled this week a final rule which will dramatically improve workers' ability to access health insurance of their choice. The new rule will significantly expand the permitted uses of tax-advantaged health reimbursement accounts, or HRAs - Daily Signal
• 7-1 - Trump signed a bipartisan bill to force greater accountability on the IRS in property seizures, as well as protect taxpayers from identity theft, boost whistleblower protections, and modernize the tax agency - Daily Signal
• 7-7 - As of June, there were 5.6 million people with jobs than there were when Trump took office. Furthermore, dependency is down - Food Stamps (down 6.7 MM), Disability  (down 300,000 - the lowest since 2011), Medicaid (as of March, down 2.5 MM), Obamacare (down 1.0 MM), and Welfare (down 800,000) - Daily Signal
• 7-15 - While waiting for Congress to act on closing immigration loopholes, Trump has imposed a new rule to limit asylum claims by requiring professed refugees to first seek asylum in another country closer to home (e.g., Mexico) before seeking asylum in the US - Daily Signal
• 7-16 - Trump signed an executive order requiring American products used by the government to use more American components. The requirement is raised to 55% from 50%, and it will eventually increase to 75% - Fox News
• 7/16 - Trump signed an executive order to require that the bulk of iron and steel used in Federal contracts be sourced from US firms. The requirement was raised to 95% from the prior level of 50% - Fox Business
• 9-10 - Border apprehensions in august were 64,000, more than a 50% decline from the level in May - US Citizenship and Immigration Services

Trump 2018 Accomplishments

Legal

•   Brett Kavanaugh confirmed as Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court

 

Military

International

• Persuaded the UN to cut spending by $286 million from a budget of $5.4 billion, down 5% from the prior budget
• Cut $255 million in aid to Pakistan to send a message that Pakistan can't continue to have it both ways - protect terrorists and expect aid from the US
• According to the IMF, global real growth will be almost 4% in 2018 and 2019 because of the Trump tax cut.
• Moved US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
• Arranged for three American hostages in North Korea to be released
• Withdrew from the Iranian nuclear deal - no permanent limits, inadequate verification, and no limits on regional involvement
• 6-22 - US withdraws from the UN Human Rights Council, because it "makes a mockery of human rights". according to UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, and it is anti-Israel
• Remains of American solders killed in the Korean War are starting to be returned from North Korea, as promised in the Singapore agreement
• 9-6 - US ends all contributions to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which has contributed to Palestinian extremism
• 9-14 - according to the Daily Signal, the Secretary General of the United Nations gives credit to President Trump for forcing allies to step up their commitments to defense spending
• 9/24 - President Trump clinches his first trade deal with a revamped South Korea pact
• 10/1 - US, Mexico, and Canada agree on a replacement agreement for NAFTA, called USMCA. This was a Trump campaign promise, and it creates amore level playing field for the US.
• 10-24 - In win for Trump, Germany changes course, will build massive liguified natural gas shipping facility in northern Germany, and import significant amounts of LNG from the US. This also reduces Germany's reliance on energy from Russia.
• 10-24 - the WSJ reports that the US continues to send a naval message to China by sending warships through the Taiwan Strait between mainland China and Taiwan.
• 12-20 - US and Mexico reached an agreement requiring asylum seekers to stay in Mexico while their claims are considered. This means no more catch and release.

Economic

• As of the 1/15/18 US monthly jobs report, black unemployment was at 6.8%, the lowest monthly figure since records started to be kept in 1972
• In January, the number of workers claiming unemployment compensation is the lowest in 45 years
• In January, the home ownership rate at 64.2% was the highest since 2004
• As of the end of March, there were 6.6 MM job openings in the US, enough to provide a job for every unemployed person in the US for the first time in the two decades since data collection began
• As of the end of April, the black jobless rate has fallen 1.3 percentage points to 6.6%, the lowest since 1972; unemployment for Hispanics fell 0.4% in the last year to 4.8% matching its record low.
• 3-9 - Manufacturing jobs are at the highest level since since 2008
• 6-1 - business fixed investment was up 6.8% iin the first quarter of 2018, the best growth rate since 2014
• 6-1 - the unemployment rate fell to 3.8% in May, the lowest figure in 18 years
• 6-4 - 83% of small businesses are having trouble finding qualified candidates for positions they are trying to fill, and 35% of small businesses are raiding wages as a result - the highest number in three decades
• 6-5 - US job openings hit a record high of 6.7 million, which exceeded the 6.3 million unemployed for the first time in history
• 6-5 - small business optimism is hovering around record levels
• 6-21 - housing starts hit the highest monthly level in May since 2007
• 7/6 - Hispanic unemployment hit a record low of 4.6%, the lowest level since 4.8% in 2006
• 7/9 - the four-week average of continuing unemployment claims fell to the lowest level in 45 years; disability rolls have shrunk by 330,000 since the peak in September, 2014, saving $4.6 billion annually; twice as many workers have returned to the workforce year-to-date, compared to the comparable figures for 2016 and 2017
• 8/1 - based on second quarter data, US workers received their highest pay increases in the last twelve months - 2.8% - in nearly the last decade, a sign that the strong labor market is boosting wages.
• 8/13 - Fidelity announced that the number of their 401(k) investors with at least $1 MM in assets has increased by 42% in the last year to 168,000. This suggests that other 401(K) investors have also done well. 
• 9-11 - job openings hit a record high of almost 7 million - job openings exceed unemployed Americans again in July
• 9-12 - according to the Census Bureau, real median household incomes increased by 1.8% over the last year, while the poverty rate dropped 0.4% to 12.3%. the poverty rates for blacks and Hispanics fell to the lowest levels since at least 1972.
• 9-13 - weekly jobless claims drop to almost a 49-year low
• 9-20 according to Bloomberg, US household wealth hit a new high in the second quarter - the Case-Shiller index of prices in 20 key cities has gone up at least 6% every month since September 2017
• 9/25 - Conference board survey of consumer confidence jumped to the highest level in 18 years in September (138.4). The record level is 144.7 reached in 2000.
•         - According to the Conference Board, the "labor differential", which measures the gap between those who say that jobs and plentiful and those who say that jobs are hard to get, widened to the biggest gap since 2001
•         - 28% of consumers expect better business conditions in the next six months, the highest since 2003.
•  9-25 - University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index rose to a six-month high
• 10-5 - The unemployment rate hits a 48-year low at 3.7% 
• 10-16 - Available job openings hit a record of 7.1 million, well more than the 6.2 Americans looking for work.
• 10-31 - The Conference Board Index of Consumer Sentiment rose to an 18-year high
• 11-1 - Americans' paychecks rose in the past year at the highest rate (3.1%) in the last ten years
• 12-29 - Federal Appeals Court ruled that an Obama-era labor law that made businesses responsible for labor violations committed by contractors was too broad 
• 12-30 - Michigan public workers opting out of unions in larger numbers since the right-to-work law went into effect in 2013.
• 12-31 - Trump signs executive order freezing pay for federal workers to save money. A 2.1% increase for all federal workers had been scheduled for 1/1/19.

Domestic

• Extended health care options to 11 million uninsured people through a Labor Department Rule allowing for "association health plans". Small companies in similar businesses can now get together to purchase health care at group rates - in some cases, across state lines
• In the first three months of the 2018-2019 fiscal year, refugee admissions were 5,000, down from the figure for the comparable period of last year of almost 26,000. At this rate, admissions will be less than the 45,000 for the year which Trump has approved.
• Complete reorganization of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, including budget reduction
• EPA is planning to cut workforce by half by the end of Trump's first term
• US military members receive biggest pay increase sine 2010
• For all of 2017, the number of pages of regulations in the Federal Register was the lowest in 25 years.
• Trump triggers IRS cut of 298 tax regulations (2/13)
• Discontinued use of so-called "agency guidance" under Obama, which allowed agencies to liberally interpret how to interpret laws passed by Congress. The Obama approach was overthrown by a Federal judge in Texas in April
• Signed (5/3) an Executive Order focusing on protecting freedom of religion and exploring new ways for faith-based agencies to partner with government to effectively provide services
• Provided a "Spring Agenda" focused on targeting duplicative and ineffective regulation, an extension of the regulatory rollback of 2017.
• Issued space directive encouraging more space initiatives
• Signed biggest rollback of bank regulations since Dodd-Frank bill was signed
• 5/24 - signed three executive orders: (1) makes it easier to fire and discipline federal employees and makes performance a primary consideration in layoff decisions, (2) directs federal agencies to renegotiate wasteful union contracts, and (3) limits the time federal employees can spend performing union duties to 25%of the workweek (formerly no limit)
• 5/30 - signed a bill which would allow those with potentially terminal diseases to try experimental treatments and bypass the FDA, known as "Right to Try".
• U.S. labor market racial gap in the unemployment rate is at an all-time low and about 1/3 of what it was during the Obama administration
• 6/6 - signed legislation he supported giving more access to private care for veterans
• 6/7 - Federal Reserve reports that Household Net Worth exceeded $1 trillion for the first time in history
• 6/18 - food stamp enrollment falls to 8-year low as a result of stronger economy and efforts by the Trump administration to control fraud
• 6/21 - signed an executive order directing federal agencies to reunite families at the border who have come to the US illegally
• 7-26 - Heritage Foundation reports that the Trump administration has cleaned up more contaminated or polluted sites than the Obama administration did. since January, 2017, part or all of 13 sites have been cleaned, compared to 9 for Obama in the years 2015-16
• 8-2 - a new rule gives consumers the ability to buy short-term health care plans, which should help with health care costs. This is an example of additional chipping away at Obamacare by increasing consumer options.   
• 8-13 - HSS made a rule change which will enable young people to obtain catastrophic health insurance plans
• 8-16 - reversed an Obama era directive which placed restrictions on the offensive use of cyberweapons against our enemies
• 8-31 - signed an executive order directing the Labor Department and the Treasury to help small businesses band together to offer retirement plans to their workers. About 1/3 of all private sector workers lack access to workplace retirement plans.
• 9-7 - US job growth accelerated in August, with 201,000 jobs created. Equally importantly, the annual increase in wages was 2.9%, the highest level since 2009.
• 10-24 - Labor Department 401(k) rule change will ease small companies' path to joint plans, enabling them to offer a plan for the first time
• 12-14 - Trump announces the Opportunity and Revitalization Council, a $100 billion initiative to deliver growth in urban communities. The Council is headed by Ben Carson, the Secretary for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• 12-15 - Trump signed the First Step Act - legislation intended to give those who have been incarcerated for non-violent crimes a second chance at life.
• 12-21 - Acting on the advice of Federal Commission on School Safety, the Education and Justice Departments officially withdrew Obama-era guidance on school discipline, reversing a policy which undercut local ability to restore order in schools. The "guidance" informed schools that they were on notice for racial disparities in discipline.

 

Trump 2017 Accomplishments

--------

The election of Donald Trump in November of 2016 was quite possibly a seminal moment in the Second American Revolution. It took place much more quickly than I assumed it would when I wrote the book, but I may have underestimated the strength of feeling which had already built up in the body politic. This is like the troops landing on Normandy beaches on DDay, when no one was sure that they could control the beaches and not be pushed back into the sea.

There is obviously no guarantee that we as a country will be able to stay on the beach, but an important start has been made. Whether President Trump will be able to deliver on his campaign promises and whether the four or eight years of the Trump Presidency will live up to the potential of the Second American Revolution remain to be seen.

In some ways, the Trump Presidency got off to a very rocky start. As many have said, Trump is his own worst enemy. He has shot himself in the foot so many times with thoughtless tweets, off-hand comments, and sometimes contradictory statements. In the process, he has alienated some of his important supporters.

Furthermore, it has been an uphill battle in any case:

• the Republicans and their leaders in Congress have done a terrible job so far of supporting him and his agenda.
• it is proving to be far more difficult to "drain the swamp", although there is some evidence that Trump's instructions to all of the cabinet members to report back to him in six months on their objectives for rationalizing and downsizing their departments will pay some real dividends.
• the mainstream media is congenitally opposed to Trump and all he stands for, and they have made it their mission to try to bring him down. They would like people to believe that he is now a lame-duck President with little influence. There is ridiculous talk of impeachment, and they are gleefully prematurely celebrating the 2018 elections when the Democrats will take control of the Senate and possibly the House.

All of these things are what the mainstream media want you to believe. If you believe all of the things they say, then they have been successful.

However, the reality is quite different. Below I show a list of Trump's accomplishments to date and a list of the preliminary results.

2017 Accomplishments  

--------------------------------------

Legal

     * appointed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court and is busy trying the fill the large number             of vacancies in the Federal courts     

        *   Supreme Court recently completely validated the latest Trump Administration effort                   to restrict immigration from certain countries as part of an effort to better control our             borders  

Military

      * dropped missiles on Syria in response to a chemical attack, which indicates that                       a muscular US is back, after years of inaction and apologies from Obama

      * captured Raqqa and broke up the ISIS hope for a caliphate - NY Times columnist                         praises Trump for this triumph and criticizes the media for not recognizing this                         accomplishment

      * dropped the MOAB on ISIS in Afghanistan

      * instituted the Pentagon's return to a "two-war" policy

      * articulated a new military strategy for Afghanistan

      * gave military leaders the authority to make local decisions needed to further US                          interests

      * encouraged NATO allies to increase their spending on national defense to the                              levels required by various agreements, which they seem to be doing.

      * approved sale of Javelin Missile and Command System to the country of Georgia This                  is a man-portable anti-tank weapon

International

       * withdrew from the UN immigration pact because it infringed on US sovereignty

       * designed a new plan for improving relations with India

       * pulled out of the Paris Accord, because it did not include some of the biggest                              country polluters and because it was very expensive for the US and open-ended in its              potential financial demands        

        * Recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel with plans to move the US Embassy there

Economic

       * Enabled the passage with Republicans in Congress of a major tax reform and reduction               bill, which was signed into law on 12/20/17. This is the first major piece of tax                           legislation in over 30 years.

       * took the US out of TPP, a trade agreement which was not in the country's best                             interests

            * approved the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines  

       * backed a regulation to promote coal mining

        * signed an Executive Order to promote economic growth and energy independence

Domestic

        * mandated cutting 2 regulations for every new one created - Trump now claims that                 there were 22 regulations cut for every one new regulatio        

        * rescinded 14 major Federal regulations using the Congressional Review Act

       * signed a NASA bill authorizing the first funding for NASA in 7 years with a plan to send               astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars

        * withdrew the EPA's Waters of the United States Rule, because it represented a vast                 over-reach in terms of the role of the Federal government

       * approved the plan by the EPA to implement a "Lean Manufacturing"                                          approach pioneered by Toyota and implemented by a Toyota executive to speed up              the review process - this is the first example of using proven business methods to                improve efficiency in a government agency                          

        * significantly reduced the size of two National Parks in Utah to better balance the                    interests of all the citizens in the areas

        * started deporting violent illegal immigrants

        * issued an Executive Order for religious freedom

        * issued an Executive Order to stop crime against law enforcement

        * targeted MS-13 gangs - according to the Daily Signal, there has been an 83%                          increase in arrests of MS-13 gang members and associates in 2017

        * allowed the VA to terminate underperforming employees

        * allowed private healthcare choices for veterans

        * gave states the power to drug test unemployment recipients

        * created commissions on:

          - voter fraud

          - child trafficking

          - opiod addiction and recently declared opiod addiction a national health emergency

        * refused his Presidential paycheck and donated the money to charities

Not all of these accomplishments are of the same importance, obviously, and you may not agree with all of them. However, it is hard not to regard this as an impressive list. It is a tribute to the implacably negative and successful campaign by the mainstream media to oppose trum at every turn that little of this is known to the american people. Have you seen even one major article listing his accomplishments?

 

2017 Results

----------------------

• illegal immigration is down 70%, the lowest in 70 years
• consumer sentiment in October is the highest since 2004
• mortgage applications for new homes are at a seven-year high
• more than 1,700,000 jobs have been created
• household income is at a seven-year high
• the stock market is at the highest level in history
• unemployment is the lowest since May of 2007
• there is the highest manufacturing surge in three years
• gas prices are the lowest in more than 12 years
• manufacturing activity reached a six-year high in August
• in 2017, investors are expected to earn the third highest risk adjusted return in 50 years

Not all of these results are of the same significance, and many of them are not new permanent conditions. However, the collection of them is a tremendous vote of confidence in Trump and what he is trying to do. This vote of confidence is unrecognized by the mainstream media, because it does not help their cause. Can you imagine what they would do and say if these preliminary results were just the reverse?

 

If the Revolution is going to stay on the beach and advance to achieve its objectives, the things to look for include the following:

• better control by the Administration of what is said publicly in any medium, so that the press is left to contemplate more what is really happening
• accomplishment of a legislative agenda which includes tax reform and infrastructure spending
• achievement of a large number of successful nominations to the Federal bench and their confirmations
• continuation of the effort to increase national defense spending and the military influence of the US in the world
• conducting "fireside chats" instead of tweeting
• formulating responses to crises which are broadly perceived to be appropriate - such as Harvey. For example, interest rates will not always be this low, stock prices will not always be this high, and there may be a recession at some point. The global military situation is uncertain at best, and there is the potential for problems all the time. 

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