While president and in office, what did Trump do that was GOOD for the country?
All I heard is scandal, constant firings, golfing trips, hate speech, tax breaks for the extremely wealthy, collusion with Russia and crazy negative tweets. What did he do good? I give his admin significant credit for the rapid development of the COVID vaccines. It was mostly the individuals at Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J, but the administration didn’t muck things up. I’m not saying he did a good job with the pandemic in general, but the vaccine development seemed to exceed expectations and saved a lot of lives. The single thing the pig achieved was in testing the country’s capacity to survive a madman at its helm. The country made it (more or less). It is the fate of the political party which suffered the misfortune of his affiliation that is uppermost in question now. We’ll have a more definitive answer on that come November. Meanwhile, his failure to procure a second term combined with his current entanglements in the snares of the judicial branch allow us some glimmer of optimism. I’ll give you the pandemic depressed demand and production but as you can see the production has not come back. Biden has made it clear that he intends to kill the oil companies and has made it more difficult to acquire leases, permits, and pipelines. Who in their right mind would make massive investments in drilling and construction in this atmosphere of uncertainty. These are investments that take years or decades to breakeven. The moratorium on pipelines does not restrict just the Keystone but many others as well. You still need to get the opil from where it is to where you need it and a pipeline is the safest and cheapest way to do so. So new wells, new refineries, and production has been severely curtailed. Well it’s not a good thing but I don’t think there has ever been a US president that has truly divided the country, the Government used to to do what was best for the country, and despite differences would find a compromise that both sides could agree to and get it done.
TRUMP seemed to end that, now it’s just political posturing and seeing how much you can screw the other side and who gives a shit about the country as long as we have lobbyists money filling our fright wing pockets.
You can churn out a list of things done by practically any US President (or any political party) and frame them as positive accomplishments. It is stock self-serving rhetoric. The US has a ruling ideology that is consistent and persistent, and it matters not what President is in power. Trump and Obama and Biden are all alike, and differ mostly by aesthetic and rhetorical appeal. When “your guy” is in power, it’s common to find decontextualised and convenient metrics to make him look like he did something positive. It is ingroup bias. You’ll typically find fairly meaningless economic indicators, like single digit or even decimal point moves in employment rates and GDP (they could just be part of the business cycle, or be caused by policies established years before the incumbent). Something like energy trade balance, or just balance of trade in general, is of dubious relevance to anyone. From my view, I don’t rate anything any US President has done since the New Deal, and even that was a compromise to stave off mass insurrection and save capitalism from itself. Meanwhile, the US still has one of highest infant mortality rates in developed world, the lowest life expectancy, the highest income and wealth inequality. It is still has one of the world’s largest carbon footprints (I realise this is of no value or concern to many conservatives). Actually, there is one lasting and defining accomplishment of Trump: he made a lot of people laugh.
The only good Trump did was in handing the presidency over to someone who knew how to do the job. He did this with a quiet dignity and grace that helped to unite a deeply divided country and ensured that the flame of American democracy continued to flourish in a deeply troubled world. Oh no that’s not right, sorry must be thinking of someone else, probably John McCain.
You’ll typically find fairly meaningless economic indicators, like single digit or even decimal point moves in employment rates and GDP (they could just be part of the business cycle, or be caused by policies established years before the incumbent).
Very true. A good illustration of that was a poll referenced on the Chapo podcast in which people surveyed about gas prices believed overwhelmingly that Biden caused them go up and when later asked what made the prices go down as they did this summer, the number 1 answer was also “Joe Biden”. I don’t think all that much changed under Trump other than certain “norms”. Presidents are powerful figureheads that get credit and blame for things that often have little to do with them. I think, as a people, we need that, as the change of presidency is one of the most obvious effects of our voting power, and we like to think our decisions have more influence than they actually do.
EV’s can charge at off-peak hours (e.g. in the middle of the night). If rooftop solar production keeps pace, there’s a good chance things will generally work themselves out. That’s overall beneficial as domestic sunlight and wind are the ultimate in energy independence. And by mitigating some of the worst of climate change, it’s going to be infinitely cheaper than the wars, refugees/migrations, and natural disasters that result.
I remember Donny T making big promises in Coal Country, that he was going to “bring back coal.” Most people knew it wasn’t happening but he probably got a bunch of votes from the people in coal country, with his empty promises. Did he bring back coal? Hellz no. Gave Hispanics the lowest unemployment in history & Gave black teens the lowest unemployment in history along with the pride and possible family unity that comes with a job and a work ethic
While unemployment figures for african-americans and hispanics were at record lows under Trump arguing that Trump casued that is a bit of stretch. Those rates were falling for years before Trump took office (started around 2010 under Obama weirdly enough) and the decline did not change under Trump so saying he did anything is a bit of stretch. The best you could say is that he didnt fuck up the hard work of Obama.
Just look at the war in Ukraine. That’s a war over fossil fuels and water. How many billions is it costing so far? What about in lost global trade? I think he signed in the “pizza is a health food law” with congress. He also raised the debt ceiling one or two times with congress, and the house. Both are questionable as good or bad. President Trump signed a massive number of executive orders. He reduced the size of the tax code, when printed, to something that can be lifted by one person, where the old code would have killed a pack animal.
TRUMP seemed to end that, now it’s just political posturing and seeing how much you can screw the other side and who gives a shit about the country as long as we have lobbyists money filling our fright wing pockets.
You can churn out a list of things done by practically any US President (or any political party) and frame them as positive accomplishments. It is stock self-serving rhetoric. The US has a ruling ideology that is consistent and persistent, and it matters not what President is in power. Trump and Obama and Biden are all alike, and differ mostly by aesthetic and rhetorical appeal. When “your guy” is in power, it’s common to find decontextualised and convenient metrics to make him look like he did something positive. It is ingroup bias. You’ll typically find fairly meaningless economic indicators, like single digit or even decimal point moves in employment rates and GDP (they could just be part of the business cycle, or be caused by policies established years before the incumbent). Something like energy trade balance, or just balance of trade in general, is of dubious relevance to anyone. From my view, I don’t rate anything any US President has done since the New Deal, and even that was a compromise to stave off mass insurrection and save capitalism from itself. Meanwhile, the US still has one of highest infant mortality rates in developed world, the lowest life expectancy, the highest income and wealth inequality. It is still has one of the world’s largest carbon footprints (I realise this is of no value or concern to many conservatives). Actually, there is one lasting and defining accomplishment of Trump: he made a lot of people laugh.
The only good Trump did was in handing the presidency over to someone who knew how to do the job. He did this with a quiet dignity and grace that helped to unite a deeply divided country and ensured that the flame of American democracy continued to flourish in a deeply troubled world. Oh no that’s not right, sorry must be thinking of someone else, probably John McCain.
You’ll typically find fairly meaningless economic indicators, like single digit or even decimal point moves in employment rates and GDP (they could just be part of the business cycle, or be caused by policies established years before the incumbent).
Very true. A good illustration of that was a poll referenced on the Chapo podcast in which people surveyed about gas prices believed overwhelmingly that Biden caused them go up and when later asked what made the prices go down as they did this summer, the number 1 answer was also “Joe Biden”. I don’t think all that much changed under Trump other than certain “norms”. Presidents are powerful figureheads that get credit and blame for things that often have little to do with them. I think, as a people, we need that, as the change of presidency is one of the most obvious effects of our voting power, and we like to think our decisions have more influence than they actually do.
EV’s can charge at off-peak hours (e.g. in the middle of the night). If rooftop solar production keeps pace, there’s a good chance things will generally work themselves out. That’s overall beneficial as domestic sunlight and wind are the ultimate in energy independence. And by mitigating some of the worst of climate change, it’s going to be infinitely cheaper than the wars, refugees/migrations, and natural disasters that result.
I remember Donny T making big promises in Coal Country, that he was going to “bring back coal.” Most people knew it wasn’t happening but he probably got a bunch of votes from the people in coal country, with his empty promises. Did he bring back coal? Hellz no. Gave Hispanics the lowest unemployment in history & Gave black teens the lowest unemployment in history along with the pride and possible family unity that comes with a job and a work ethic
While unemployment figures for african-americans and hispanics were at record lows under Trump arguing that Trump casued that is a bit of stretch. Those rates were falling for years before Trump took office (started around 2010 under Obama weirdly enough) and the decline did not change under Trump so saying he did anything is a bit of stretch. The best you could say is that he didnt fuck up the hard work of Obama.
Just look at the war in Ukraine. That’s a war over fossil fuels and water. How many billions is it costing so far? What about in lost global trade? I think he signed in the “pizza is a health food law” with congress. He also raised the debt ceiling one or two times with congress, and the house. Both are questionable as good or bad. President Trump signed a massive number of executive orders. He reduced the size of the tax code, when printed, to something that can be lifted by one person, where the old code would have killed a pack animal.
