Trump Review - Pros and Cons

[Brian4Liberty]

Trump Review - Pros and Cons

What were the positives and negatives of the Trump Administration for the nation? Good policy, bad policy. Good laws, bad laws. Good actions, bad actions. Good results, bad results. All of these will be the opinion of the poster. Some type of poll may be posted after a list is created.


Note: Attacking other forum members is not the purpose of this thread. Using the name of other forum members is off-topic.

[rpfocus]

Trump: All con, all the time. Bigly.

[A Son of Liberty]

On foreign policy, in my view he was far better than any president since Reagan. However that is not saying much. He facilitated the Saudi war in Yemen, which has absolutely devastated an already destitute population.

Spending, needless to say, was a disaster.

[acptulsa]

It's all the same. He conned his supporters, and hired a bunch of pros. He then pardoned all his pros before they could be arrested and become cons.

You can't separate them with a crowbar.

[danda]

Did NOT pardon Snowden.
Did NOT pardon Assange.
Did NOT pardon Ulbricht.

[CaptUSA]

I'll take this seriously.

Pros: No new wars. Dramatic cuts of regulations. Driving the left openly insane. Revealed the establishment playbook to a large audience.

Cons: Fractured the liberty movement that was gaining ground. Got Republicans to embrace leftist protectionism. Didn't shut down this Coronavirus response nonsense - actually made it worse. SPENDING!! DEBT!!

[TheCount]

On foreign policy, in my view he was far better than any president since Reagan. However that is not saying much. He facilitated the Saudi war in Yemen, which has absolutely devastated an already destitute population.

And then his administration declared that destitute population to all be terrorists in order to prevent them from receiving humanitarian aid from any organization in the world.


Plus his strikes against Syrian government facilities

And his strike against Iran

And his rejection of and withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal

And his return to a policy of sanction and embargo against Iran generally

... and the same against Cuba generally



What were his foreign policy successes? I'm struggling to think of something meaningful...

[KEEF]

Amash listed them beautifully in this thread.

[Sammy]

Pros:
He was the first president since carter who didn't started any new wars
He tried to end the wars in Afghanistan & Iraq
He killed TPP & the Paris climate deal
He cut Taxes & he cut regulations
He cut immigration
Banned Weirdosexuals from the military
3 New supreme court justices
He exposed the deep state,the MSM & the Republican Party
He put Tariffs on china

Cons:
Operation warp speed
USMCA
Killed the Iran deal
Added 7 trillions to the national debt
Supported Israel & Saudi arabia
Hired bad people like Bolton,Haspel & Pompeo

[TheTexan]

I like that he added the word "disaster" back into the public lexicon

[Brian4Liberty]

Spending is something they all do, but despite Trump saying at times he might veto big spending bills, he never did. He spent like a drunken sailer, with Schumer, Pelosi, McConnell and McCarthy taking turns throwing money overboard to cronies.

If I was to prioritize, that was his greatest sin.

Related, he used to talk about opposition to the Federal Reserve. Instead, he became a huge cheerleader for cheap money and printing. Anything to temporarily drive up the stock market. That inflation is driving everything up. Trump embracing “modern monetary policy”. This would be his second greatest sin.

IMHO, his biggest achievement was reducing the unemployment rate.

[69360]

Economy and foreign policy were good.

Everything else bad. I found him embarrassing and personally offensive.

[acptulsa]

IMHO, his biggest achievement was reducing the unemployment rate.

Given he neutered that by using a chest cold as an excuse to drive it right back up again, I read that as, Pros: None

[kahless]

Trump as President allowed the right to blow of some steam and threw them a few bones that can easily be taken back. The illusion of a two party system, division and fake news media has been kept in place. They would have lost control of the country without providing the illusion of so called opposition winning every so often.

The exclusive club is continuing the slow process of moving the country in the same direction they have always had while the majority - suckers suck up the illusions fed to them by the elites.

[Occam's Banana]

Meh. Trump is a mercurially erratic narcissist, and whatever good or bad things he did, he did pretty much incidentally or by accident, not out of adherence to any substantive^[1] ideals or principles (good ones or bad ones), nor even out of a mere utilitarian desire to achieve some particular end (apart from the care and feeding of his own ego).

The things he did that I consider "good" he seems to have done for the sake of what he (correctly or incorrectly) perceived would make him more popular (or less unpopular) outside the Cathedral.

The things he did that I consider "bad" he seems to have done for the sake of what he (correctly or incorrectly) perceived would make him more popular (or less unpopular) within the Cathedral.

It is likely that his self-regard blinded him to the futility of the latter endeavor - narcissism, after all, is always by its nature accompanied by some degree of naïveté.



[1] Empty Rorschach-test slogans like "Make America Great Again" or "Keep America Great" don't count.

[Invisible Man]

Amash listed them beautifully in this thread.

One of the pros is that, if Justin does want to reenter politics as a Republican again, he's in a uniquely great position as being totally untainted by Trumpian corruption. He brings credibility to the table that no other Republicans can in an era where their main challenge will be figuring out how to distance themselves from Trump.

[Anti Globalist]

I like that he didn't start any news wars and drove the left batsht insane. Not of fan of him funding Operation Wrap Speed.

[CaptUSA]

Another big con....

Under Trump's watch, the Federal government deposited checks into people's bank accounts throughout the year. If that's not a republic-ending precedent, I don't know what is.

[sdsubball23]

Pros:

Anything he did for pro-life.
Economy kept getting better.
Allowed conversation about conspiracies such as the deep state stuff.
Decent foreign policy.
Tried to make peace with North Korea.
Got Kanye West to support him while could help influence the black community to think more in terms of right wing politics.

Cons:

Communication style was poor. Sure he was aggressive and that's fine, but the way he did it was more divisive than inviting for conversation, in my opinion. He could've been the best president ever if he would've allowed open convos with the left. I think he could've compromised more with the left to win them over, but I dont think he did.
No push to audit the fed.
Kept hiring people of the swamp (if they were considered swamp) and draining them.
Didnt do enough to refute the left's claims against him. Such as the claims of racism.

[TheCount]

Meh. Trump is a mercurially erratic narcissist, and whatever good or bad things he did, he did pretty much incidentally or by accident, not out of adherence to any substantive^[1] ideals or principles (good ones or bad ones), nor even out of a mere utilitarian desire to achieve some particular end (apart from the care and feeding of his own ego).

Can't be repeated often enough.

[Ender]

And then his administration declared that destitute population to all be terrorists in order to prevent them from receiving humanitarian aid from any organization in the world.


Plus his strikes against Syrian government facilities

And his strike against Iran

And his rejection of and withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal

And his return to a policy of sanction and embargo against Iran generally

... and the same against Cuba generally



What were his foreign policy successes? I'm struggling to think of something meaningful...

Agree on all points.

[TheTexan]

Pro:

He gave me free money

[KEEF]

One of the pros is that, if Justin does want to reenter politics as a Republican again, he's in a uniquely great position as being totally untainted by Trumpian corruption. He brings credibility to the table that no other Republicans can in an era where their main challenge will be figuring out how to distance themselves from Trump.

Unfortunately, most of his district (just to the West of me) mostly votes only partisan. He lost many supporters simply for breaking away from the Republicans. I wish people would wake up and research their candidates before voting, but unfortunately most will be bitching about a policy put out by the Ds and then be in full support defending that same policy if it is put out by an R. Evidence being Trump.

I appreciate Amash tremendously and really hope that after he takes a couple years off of politics, that he considers running against Whitmer in 2 years.

My Rep (Hookstra) is a neocon tool.

[CCTelander]

Didn't start any new wars is a plus? Except he did expand and intensify the old wars, launching more drone strikes and dropping more bombs than before. So basically, instead of moving on to new and different killing fields he just killed more people within the already existing ones. Doesn't seem all that positive to me.

[Anti-Neocon]

Pro - maybe some of his supporters won't fall for a self-serving narcissistic lying demagogue next time as he revealed his true colors at the end. Maybe...

[Anti Globalist]

Unfortunately, most of his district (just to the West of me) mostly votes only partisan. He lost many supporters simply for breaking away from the Republicans. I wish people would wake up and research their candidates before voting, but unfortunately most will be bitching about a policy put out by the Ds and then be in full support defending that same policy if it is put out by an R. Evidence being Trump.

I appreciate Amash tremendously and really hope that after he takes a couple years off of politics, that he considers running against Whitmer in 2 years.

My Rep (Hookstra) is a neocon tool.

Amash won't have to worry about Whitmer. Once Biden steps down/dies and Kamala takes over, she'll probably make Whitmer VP.

[enhanced_deficit]

Mixed bag.

good:
- exposded fakenews media
- made some good enemies
- made wars lobbies, neoconservatives lobbies tad bit inefficient (but he tends to wreck almost everything he touches)

bad:
- almost proved that it's possible to 'lead' masses without credibility. Left manny dejected supporters without direction giving false mirage of "winning".
- wrecked GOP (although that might be mixed bag) giving Dems complete control of big gummit
- too much ego, cronyism
- reluctant pawn of globalists, took money from foreign-firster zionists/neocons but didn't fully deliver, got played and backstabbed by neocons in the end
- brought US to verge of war with Iran, covid may have ended up helping avoid another hot war
- "debt doesn't matter", big gummit , nepotism
- pretty bad political chess player, not even a good checkers player turns out
- US economy got wrecked on his watch, millions of livelihoods lost

On foreign policy, in my view he was far better than any president since Reagan. However that is not saying much. He facilitated the Saudi war in Yemen, which has absolutely devastated an already destitute population.

Spending, needless to say, was a disaster.

Reagan was "founding father of ISIS 1.0" and one of the worst Presidents in US history if not the worst. Without his dumb policies, there probably won't have been costly Iraqi freedom war blunder, sharply growing police state, TSA gropes and much of what has happened in last few decades.

[Anti-Neocon]

Amash won't have to worry about Whitmer. Once Biden steps down/dies and Kamala takes over, she'll probably make Whitmer VP.

I much prefer Amash in Congress than as Governor. I'm really sad he's going because I think he was making some inroads with (some of) the leftists and now without him I think they will drift further and further into anti-free speech territory. I'd also rather he run on a national anti-corruption platform because he has great insight on the procedural hurdles to a better government, particularly in the House and Senate. Meijer doesn't seem too bad so far in his seat (I think at least now Amash has his ear a bit) so I doubt we'll see a challenge there. I really just don't know what his right next step would be. I'd love to see him get more airtime if someone like Tucker would give him a chance but I think he'd rather just do more lawyering and less politics at the moment.

[A Son of Liberty]

And then his administration declared that destitute population to all be terrorists in order to prevent them from receiving humanitarian aid from any organization in the world.


Plus his strikes against Syrian government facilities

And his strike against Iran

And his rejection of and withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal

And his return to a policy of sanction and embargo against Iran generally

... and the same against Cuba generally



What were his foreign policy successes? I'm struggling to think of something meaningful...

Just so we're clear - I didn't say he was good. I said he was less bad, and I stand by that. Obama launched wars all over MENA, smuggled weapons to ISIS, etc. The Bush's go without saying. Clinton literally launched cruise missiles to deflect media attention to his blow jobs, etc.

So, to recap, Trump was awful. But only slightly less awful than his predecessors.

[kahless]

Mixed bag.

good:
- exposded fakenews media
- made some good enemies
- made wars lobbies, neoconservatives lobbies tad bit inefficient (but he tends to wreck almost everything he touches)

bad:
- almost proved that it's possible to 'lead' masses without credibility. Left manny dejected supporters without direction giving false mirage of "winning".
- wrecked GOP (although that might be mixed bag) giving Dems complete control of big gummit
- too much ego, cronyism
- reluctant pawn of globalists, took money from foreign-firster zionists/neocons but didn't fully deliver, got played and backstabbed by neocons in the end
- brought US to verge of war with Iran, covid may have ended up helping avoid another hot war
- "debt doesn't matter", big gummit , nepotism
- pretty bad political chess player, not even a good checkers player turns out
- US economy got wrecked on his watch, millions of livelihoods lost

The narrative was far better under Trump but would we be in any different of a place if it was another Republican?

Reagan was "founding father of ISIS 1.0" and one of the worst Presidents in US history if not the worst. Without his dumb policies, there probably won't have been costly Iraqi freedom war blunder, sharply growing police state, TSA gropes and much of what has happened in last few decades.

In his last term how together was he really and perhaps Bush was the running the show those last 4 years.