We’re approaching the end of the first year of Donald Trump’s second term. It has been fast and furious, for sure. Let’s pause and reflect on what’s happened so far.
The Good
While Trump haters are loathe to give him credit for anything, there have been some wins during this initial year:
- Israel-Hamas peace plan. While this deal could fall apart at any minute, no president since Jimmy Carter has had much success getting those parties to the negotiating table. His administration worked hard to achieve this level of peace and deserves credit for its success.
- Picking a side in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Trump’s waffling based on his belief that he could influence Putin frustrated many on both sides of the aisle. The neo-con hawks on the Republican side would be happy to have boots on the ground. The globalist Dems would be happy to keep giving billions in aid to Zelensky and NATO, even if it means an indefinite stalemate. Interestingly, it’s some of the MAGA folks who prefer us not be involved at all. But being an isolationist is easy when you are in a broadcast studio (Tucker Carlson, Dave Smith et al), but the realities of geopolitics don’t really allow it.
- Border control. While this topic will reappear in The Bad category below, there is little argument that the flow of undocumented people through the U.S. southern border has been reduced exponentially from the open borders policies of the Biden years. It is impossible to have a reasonable immigration policy without having control of border entry points. It is easy to argue (and I will) that our immigration policy is not reasonable, but you can’t make any improvements without a controlled border. So we must give Trump credit for creating one.
- Some tariffs. Again, the Trump haters have been vocal about their tariff concerns – inflationary pressure and perhaps executive branch overreach. They are not all wrong, however Trump firmly believes that the rise of globalism post World War II and especially since the free trade agreements of the 1990s and 2000s have disadvantaged the U.S. to the benefit of our trade partners. This echo’s Ross Perot’s warnings about NAFTA back in the 1992 presidential election. Agree or disagree, his tariffs and threats of tariffs have had the effect he wanted – to renegotiate some of those deals. The inflation effect has been much less than projected, as well.
- DOGE. Most people consider Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative to be a failure because he was only able to deliver a fraction of savings he promised. And poor Elon bounces back and forth from being a liberal darling when he began selling Teslas to a liberal pariah and MAGA darling when he endorsed Trump back to a MAGA pariah and liberal darling when he and Trump had their little tiff and he linked Trump to the Epstein files. But I see DOGE as a partial success because it did identify and eliminate a non-trivial amount of government waste. And it helped create the perception that reducing the size of government or eliminating unnecessary government agencies is not impossible.
The Bad
While MAGA Trump supporters are loathe to criticize him, there have been some actions that More Spock considers to not be helpful:
- Some tariffs. While Trump has successfully used tariffs and the threat of tariffs to bring trade partners back to the negotiating table, his constant posts about raising tariffs on whatever country he happens to be mad at has created a lot of uncertainty in organizations who conduct international trade or depend on inputs from foreign markets in their operations. Markets hate uncertainty and to unnecessarily create uncertainty on a whim has caused short-term economic harm to many U.S. based companies as well as retirees who see the market plunge and rebound on news in his social media posts.
- Immigration policy. We give Trump credit for getting the border back under control, but we are disappointed in the actions of ICE as it pertains to that segment of the undocumented community that is working hard, paying taxes and contributing to their local economies. Raids on food processing plants, construction sites and day labor pick-up points were not what many of us envisioned. We thought when Trump spoke about illegal criminals, he meant cartel and gang members and immigrants who have committed violent crimes. We didn’t think he meant the guy that mows lawns, works in a poultry plant or paints houses. Demographic data makes clear that we need immigrant workers to support America’s growth. This heavy-handed approach is short-sited and is unnecessarily disruptive to families who came here for a chance at a better life.
- Intel. Public-private partnerships can work well, especially at the local level, but when it was announced in August that the Federal Government had purchased a 10% stake in chipmaker Intel, I was shocked. And concerned. The Wall Street Journal reported on October 23 that the administration is looking to take similar positions in some quantum computing firms. I agree that being a leader in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) is in our national interests, but the government having an ownership position in private companies is something you expect in China, Russia, Venezuela and other socialist/communist countries. There are other ways for the government to help vital industries without taking a seat on the board.
The Ugly
Some of Trump’s actions aren’t necessarily linked to bad policy, but they are just bad for a country that is already so divided:
- Lawfare. It was unconscionable what the Democrats did to Donald Trump during his first term and after. Their use of the Justice Department, FBI, CIA and court system to persistently go after him on minor infractions made to look major or completely false narratives in an effort to weaken him politically is indefensible. They got their wish to be able to say “convicted felon” a zillion times, but those convictions were so transparently political that it galvanized his base and backfired on the democrats. So what does Trump do when elected? The exact same thing! MAGA should be horrified at the indictments of Letitia James, James Comey and John Bolton. Not because these people are innocent, but because they are political enemies of the party in power. Having each peaceful transition of power followed by indictments and imprisonments is bad for the country. There were too many after 2020 and have been too many after 2024.
- Some Executive Orders. The average number of executive orders for presidents between Eisenhower and Obama (inclusive) was 303. Obama issued 276 over two terms. Trump issued 220 in his first term and another 209 so far in his second. This is a far cry from the 3,721 issued by Franklin Roosevelt or the 1,803 by Woodrow Wilson, but it is an escalation compared to the previous 10 presidencies. Many of Trump’s EOs have been challenged and have spent time working through the courts. At least eight have been permanently enjoined and another 76 were simply overturned by the successor (Biden) administration. These are the two problems with executive orders as a way of governing. First, people hear about a new rule then have to wait to see if the courts are going to allow it. And second, when the pendulum swings and the party out of power gets back in, it is just as easy to cancel an EO as it is to create one. Yes, EOs are easier than trying to get legislation through congress, but legislation is the better way. And the way our founding fathers intended. It allows for ample debate and is much more difficult to overturn. Republics should shift slowly, not on a dime.
- $Trump – Trump has taken advantage of a loosely regulated sector of the financial markets – cryptocurrency – to launch his own digital coin. Through his Trump Media and Technology Group, he is raising and making billions of dollars through this enterprise. One issue is that the crypto industry was excited to have a pro-crypto advocate entering the White House after the 2024 election, but now industry lobbyists are concerned that he has a conflict of interest with other crypto platforms. The ethics of launching this enterprise while in office seem questionable at best.
More Spock is hoping some the Bad and the Ugly items will begin to be mitigated by the courts and congress, and that Trump will rack up some additional wins related to foreign policy (peace in Ukraine?) and trade (limit the uncertainty) over the next three years.