4430 wrote:
The 10 best things Trump has done in 2019 by Marc Thiessen
10. He continued to deliver for the forgotten Americans. Unemployment is at record lows; this year the number of job openings outnumbered the unemployed workers to fill them by the widest gap ever; wages are rising, and low-wage workers are experiencing the fastest pay increases. Fifty-seven percent of Americans say they are better off financially since Trump took office.
The unemployment figure is intentionally misleading. It's the ratio of the people claiming unemployment against the number of people currently employed. It doesn't consider all the people who are looking for work and don't qualify for unemployment or have already exhausted unemployment. In fact, Trump could bring the unemployment rate down to 0% by just refusing unemployment benefits to everyone.
To get a real picture you have to go with the actual count of people looking for work whether they get unemployment or not. That would be the jobless rate which is at 37% right now. It's no wonder Trump isn't using that statistic.
Have a look at some facts taken from the November 2019 report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics...
4430 wrote:
9. He implemented tighter work requirements for food stamps. With unemployment at historic lows, there is no reason more people should not be earning their success through productive work. The rules apply only to able-bodied, childless adults.
With your unemployment figure being exposed for the lie that it is, the rest of your argument falls apart. Trump is effectively taking food away from Americans based on a budget decision that doesn't consider the needs of the 37% of the Americans looking for work. He made this budget cut because he screwed up when he gave too much government revenue away to the wealthy who have no problem affording food.
4430 wrote:
8. He has got NATO allies to cough up more money for our collective security. Allies have increased defense spending by $130 billion since 2016. And the White House reports almost twice as many allies are meeting their commitment to spend 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense today than before Trump arrived.
Trump has nothing to do with that. NATO countries have been increasing their annual contributions gradually since 2010. The $130 billion increase since 2016 is just a continuation of that. Last time Trump met with NATO he was laughed out of the room. He took his ball and ran home. (Yes, he actually left early because the others were being mean to him).
The Europeans are also gearing up in response to the relative instability created by Russia and a lack of confidence in American leadership since Trump took office.
4430 wrote:
7. He stood with the people of Hong Kong. He warned China not to use violence to suppress pro-democracy protests and signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act. Hong Kong people marched with American f**gs and sang our national anthem in gratitude.
100% symbolic gesture. Trump will do nothing when the Chinese government starts cracking heads.
4430 wrote:
6. His withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty is delivering China and North Korea a strategic setback. The United States is now testing new, previously banned intermediate-range missiles.
These weapons will allow us to compete with China’s massive investment in these capabilities, and also provide a fallback in the likely case negotiations with North Korea fail — obviating the need for temporary deployments of U.S. carrier battle groups and allowing us to put North Korea permanently in our crosshairs.
br 6. His withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range ... (
show quote)
OK, so the nuclear threat is being escalated. That's just great. I don't know how the heck you consider that a good thing.
4430 wrote:
5. His “maximum pressure” campaign is crippling Iran. Iran’s economy is contracting, inflation is spiraling and the regime has been forced to cut funding for its terrorist proxies, including Hezbollah and Hamas, the Iranian military and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). And now the Iranian people are engaged in the largest popular uprising since the 1979 revolution.
Just so you know, Iran doesn't report their terrorist funding to the IRS - LOL. In other words, you have NO CLUE if such funding has decreased, so stop pretending.
Also the current protests are NOT the largest popular uprising since the 1979 revolution, in fact the 2009 e******n protests were just as widespread the difference is the 2009 protests were organized, the current protests are not.
Yes, their economy is hurting and that is one of several reasons why the Iranian people are currently protesting but these people also know that much of their economic struggle is caused by Trump's sanctions and as a result their anti-government sentiment fails to surpass their increasing anti-American sentiment. History shows us that the combination of anti-American AND anti-government sentiment in the Middle-East never ends well for us.
Had Trump not interfered, we might have more control over the situation as we usually do when dealing with a stabilized government.
4430 wrote:
4. His tariff threats forced Mexico to crack down on i*****l i*********n. Mexico is for the first time in recent history enforcing its own i*********n l*ws — sending thousands of National Guard forces to its southern border to stop caravans of Central American migrants.
Mexico is cracking down because of the log jam at their northern border. It has nothing to do with tariffs. It's called dealing with the problems that Trump creates. So, if you want to give credit to Trump for the Mexican crack-down at least get the cause and effect straight.
4430 wrote:
Plus, Congress is poised to approve the U.S.-Mexico-Canada free-trade agreement, which would not have been possible without the threat of tariffs.
Again, nothing to do with tariffs. The USMCA, (or as the Canadians call it, the CUSMA, or as the Mexicans call it, the MUSCA) is a NAFTA knock-off with slight changes that don't amount to much other than an excuse to say NAFTA was "replaced".
As it turns out Trump failed to fix the biggest complaint people had about NAFTA when Trudeau out-negotiated Trump on intellectual property rights. So Canada was happy to sign and Mexico also won concessions on the deal. About the only thing Trump came away with is that Canada will now buy more milk from the U.S. So in the end, the USMCA was a worse deal for us than NAFTA was.
4430 wrote:
3. He delivered the biggest blow to Planned Parenthood in three decades.
Well, it took three decades to get anyone in office with Trump's level of disregard for women's health. I don't consider this a good thing at all and I'm not sure if I want to spend another two days arguing with so-called "pro-life" advocates about their ignorance.
4430 wrote:
2. He ordered the operation that k**led Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It was a high risk mission and Trump did not hesitate the way Biden did.
As much as Trump wants people to kiss his feet for doing this, the fact is ANYONE without regard for the risks to others (such as servicemen or civilians) could have ordered the operation. It's not like Trump did anything exceptional. If you're going to give credit to anyone give it to the military personnel who actually executed the operation. Heck even the dog that ran al-Baghdadi down deserves more praise than Trump.
Secondly, it's not even that big of a win. ISIS is not known for being centrally governed and they already have a new leader. If anything, we have only stoked the fire.
4430 wrote:
1. He has continued to appoint conservative judges at a record pace. In three years, Trump has appointed just five fewer circuit court judges than Obama appointed in eight years. And he has flipped three of these courts from liberal to conservative majorities, giving conservatives the majority in seven out of 13.
FINALLY, you found ONE significant achievement. Yes, Trump has been very successful at stacking the courts. You're in the minority of Americans who think this is a good thing though. Most of us see it for what it is... an attack on judicial balance, leaving us with a court system that will always favor the corporation over the worker.
All in all, this looks like a list compiled by someone who is desperate to give Trump credit for anything. I could have made a much better list, because Trump HAS done things. But most of them have been attacks on the American working class, from rolling back worker protections to 1935 levels, to cutting funds for families in need. But hey, if you want to wallow in the BS, that's up to you.