Russia. Twitter. Impeachment. These are the words that USA Today, CNN, The New York Times and the rest of the Leftmedia want you to believe describes the
first six months of Donald Trump's presidency. While they choose to dwell on dead-end stories from eight months ago, President Trump has been putting the American people, jobs and safety first. And in spite of Democrat obstructions to his political appointments, he has still accomplished good things for America.
Trump's pro-growth policies have strengthened the economy and created jobs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has increased 17% since Election Day last year. In this year alone, it has already hit new highs 25 times. In addition, since January, the American economy added 863,000 new jobs, 821,000 of which are non-government jobs, including 79,000 construction jobs, 42,000 mining and logging jobs, and 41,000 manufacturing jobs.
Trump takes regulation as a barrier to growth seriously. He has
signed14 Congressional Review Act resolutions to end Barack Obama's growth-choking regulations. He signed an executive order that requires two old regulations to be eliminated for every new regulation implemented. According to the American Action Forum, these regulation reductions have cut costs by $70 billion.
Trump
withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord, participation in which could have cost the American economy $3 trillion dollars, 6.5 million industrial sector jobs and 3.1 million manufacturing jobs, according to NERA Consulting.
On trade, Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and is
renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). He has sped-up the permitting and approval process of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export terminals, including the Lake Charles LNG terminal in Louisiana. He has also increased U.S. oil exploration by approving the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, which has created 42,000 jobs and $2 billion in earnings. That success is despite
ecofascist collusion with Russia to stop fracking.
Trump is restoring the Rule of Law to immigration. He ordered the hiring of 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, including 5,000 border patrol agents. Compared to this time last year, illegal border crossings have been reduced by 53%, Enforcement and Removal Operations conducted by ICE increased by nearly 40%, and arrests of criminal aliens have increased by 20%.
Under Trump's leadership, the Department of Veterans Affairs has
restored integrity by firing more than 500 employees, suspending 200, and demoting 33. Trump also signed legislation that allows our veterans to seek medical care outside of the VA system.
Rather than leading an apology tour, President Trump supported the opening of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology in Saudi Arabia, which helps Muslim-majority countries counter radicalized minorities. He understands that extremist ideology, not lack of "understanding," is the root cause of radical Islamic terrorism.
President Trump has worked with our partners and allies in the Middle East to combat the Islamic State and Iraqi forces have recaptured Mosul, a huge victory. In addition, the U.S. recently sanctioned 16 entities and individuals who have supported Iran's military in the development of military equipment.
The president has supported the dignity of human life. On the third day of his presidency, Trump
reinstated the Mexico City policy, which prohibits non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive federal funds from advocating or providing abortions.
Meanwhile, he's draining the swamp of government lobbyists through an
executive order that bans executive branch political appointees from becoming lobbyists for at least five years after they leave their post.
Finally, the biggest win of all: President Trump fulfilled his promise to the American people by nominating
Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.
Despite — or, rather, because of — these great accomplishments, President Trump has faced needless obstructions to his appointments and nominations. Consider this: The
Senate has confirmed just four of 135 judicial vacancies, seven of 24 nominations for the Department of Defense, three of 29 nominations for the Department of Justice, three of 13 for Health and Human Services and less than half of his nominations for the Department of Homeland Security. In total, the Senate has confirmed 23% of Trump's nominations. At about the same time in Obama's first term, the Senate had confirmed 69% of his nominations.
This not only highlights the aggressive
obstructionism of the Democrats but also gives context for why the Trump administration appears to be running with less fuel. It
has less fuel — by Democrat design. Democrats have purposefully attempted to slow the confirmation process so that the Trump presidency will be understaffed and thus unable to achieve his policy goals.
And yet... Despite these obstructions and the resulting understaffed administration, President Trump has been able to strengthen the economy, increase jobs, reduce crime and illegal immigration, protect human life abroad and achieve a victory over the Islamic State in the recapturing of Mosul. All of this without taking a salary, but rather donating his first six months' salary to the National Park Service and the Department of Education. These accomplishments, in spite of the purposeful obstructions by Senate Democrats, reveal a president who has done more to achieve safety, prosperity and human flourishing than anything we saw in the previous eight years. For this, he deserves our gratitude and support.
