My Facebook page is filled with criticisms of all the craziness in the world due to Trump’s actions, and of course most of the news and websites I read are similar. Because I usually use Facebook to see what my friends are doing, or to look at pictures of cats, ducks, and other animals, I find the constant harping on Trump and his deeds depressing. That’s not because I disagree with these views; as should be clear by now, I think the man is mentally ill and that his presidency has been a disaster, with him veering between one crazy, drastic decision and another. (The threat to take over Greenland was merely the latest dumbass move.)
I say this because I think I need to make my position clear before I ask a question. And the question is this:
What do you think are the beneficial things Trump has done?
Why am I asking this? Well, first, because I think he has done some good stuff, including helping Israel, taking out Maduro, attacking Iran along with Israel, defining sex for official purposes as biological sex rather than self-identification, reducing illegal immigration at the border (I am not, of course, approving of the heavy-handed and often injurious tactics of ICE), and trying to expand the use of mental institutions to reduce the privations suffered by homeless people who are mentally ill. Again, I am not saying that the net effect of all of Trump’s policies are good for America, as one can easily make the case otherwise—most notably in his changing a checks-and-balance Presidency into a quasi-dictatorship.
However, I don’t think that people’s opinions of policies should rest on an assessment of the person, but should be based on the policies themselves. It’s both divisive and irrational to refuse to admit that, if someone does something good, it’s really bad because the person is bad (in Trump’s case, he’s often called a “Nazi”, which is hyperbolic and inaccurate).
So, I’m asking readers to answer the question above. If you wish to add a caveat about disliking Trump as I have done above, you’re welcome to do so, but I’m not asking for harangues about the man, as I can read those everywhere on the Internet. (I can guarantee that this very post will lead me to be called a “right-winger,” just as my opposition to biological men being put in women’s prisons or participating in women’s sports has led to my being called a “transphobe”. More on that later.)
If you don’t think he’s ever done anything good, feel free to say that, too.
Food pyramid
I have been tussling online with various people who are still more or less OK with Trump as POTUS. They all say something like: “I don’t like his style or his personality; but he’s done X and Y and I like those, so I’m OK.”
And then I always want to ask them directly about: Militarizing cities, $TRUMP coin bribery scheme, threatening our allies, tariffs, the DOGE fiasco, etc. A few of them will actually answer my questions; but almost all of them duck the questions (wimps).
Anyway, this prompted me to write a (living) list of the things Trump has done that I like and don’t like, so it’s ready to hand for asking people.
I will list my “Pro” section here. I’ll leave off the “Con” section since you know them and it would make so long a comment that I would violate the Roolz.
Pros:
1. Controlled the southern border.
2. Brought some sanity back to protecting women’s single-sex domains like sports and prisons.
3. Struck Iran’s nuclear apparatus.
4. Aided Israel in neutering Iran and its proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, The Houthis, etc.).
5. Support for Israel.
6. Took out a hated, incompetent dictator in Venezuela (Maduro). (I don’t like the “how” of how this was done; but it’s a mixed bag; some good.)
(EDIT: Jerry, I swear that I didn’t read your list in the original posting before putting my list in here. Once again, we are very closely aligned politically, which I already knew.)
Quite without meaning to, Trump gave us Mark Carney as PM, rather than P. Polievre. That part I’m happy with.
Just because bad people sometimes do good things (often accidentally), that doesn’t excuse them from being bad people. For example, eugenics are a good thing unless perverted by a man like Hitler. it is good that Trump has restricted immigration, but the means he has employed are both criminal from a human rights perspective, and constitute treason because of his disregard of court rulings and long established democratic procedures. As he himself has said, the punishment for treason should be death!
Which court rulings has he disregarded?
The ones saying non-citizens have a right to due process.
Only about 1% of the Epstein files have been released, and are heavily redacted.
But otherwise, he hasn’t had to because the SC has mostly sided with him, and most lower court rulings against him have been stayed by appeals courts.
I think it’s not only that bad people can, incidently (or accidently), do good things. Also bad people can do good things for bad reasons. E.g. Trump has helped Israel, but I certainly don’t think he has done so because he feels it’s the just thing to do. He just wants money and power.
–Highlighted the waste, fraud, and corruption related to government programs, and is pursuing miscreants
–Closed the wide-open border and is driving illegal aliens out of the country
–Shook NATO out of its dependence on the US and forced them to think about meeting their treaty obligations regarding defense spending
–Helped negotiate peace in multiple conflicts
–Supported Israel
–Attacked Iran’s nuclear program
–Arrested Maduro
–Dealing with the shadow tanker fleet
–Challenging China’s influence in Central and South America
–Revitalizing the US military, as evidenced by record enlistments
–Renewed emphasis on convential energy and energy sufficiency
Please take care of the posting Roolz.
The added points are pretty good, especially the bit about getting other NATO members to step up a bit more in defense spending. But it appeared to me that that was inspired by Trump’s poor support of Ukraine.
Trump is the worst President we have ever had. I worked in the mental health field for thirty years, mostly in-patient psych. He is piss poor protoplasm poorly put together. However, I am very glad he has done away with pennies. And I have always agreed with Jerry that trans-women should not play with non-trans women in sports.
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I would strongly agree that defining sex for official purposes as biological sex has been a good thing. The HHS report on pediatric gender care supports that official view and is also worth mentioning as a good thing. Support for women in sports is also worth mentioning as part of this range of Trump policies that one can support while disagreeing with other Trump policies.
Without question, Trump undoing Biden’s work on replacing sex, a natural category, with gender or gender identity, is a positive move. It’s a bipartisan issue concerning which the current party of Democrats has dropped the ball, jumped the shark, and gotten on the last train to Crazytown.
I’m also relatively positive regarding his basic or original stance on the war in Gaza, immigration, and mental institutions. He then tries to institute his policies in the most distressing, crude, unhinged way he can — but let’s put that aside for now.
Well, PCC(E), I admit that I’m pretty loath to expose myself to the slings and arrows of other commenters, but what the heck–here goes!
I take issue with your approbation of “taking out Maduro.” No doubt he’s a bad actor, but he’s no Eichmann, IMHO. I ask, would the US be justified in taking out Erdogan? Or Orban? I think not, even though they are probably as bad as Maduro.
There are a few (!) bad actors in the world. How many of them should we “take out?”
Of course, Maduro was not assassinated. I don’t know why Erdogan or Orban would be a direct threat to US citizens.
Forcing Europe to take more responsibility for their own defense. The costs of which will cause a cascade of other adjustments which will be to Europe’s long-term good, such as modifying their energy as well as immigration policies. But it may be too late for them. I suspect Europe is in a long slow decline.
I’d like to think Trump’s made Democrats consider moderating their candidates, rejecting or not kowtowing to the Woke, so that we’ll get better candidates. I agree with Jerry’s list, too.
“Including:
– helping Israel
– taking out Maduro
– attacking Iran along with Israel
– reducing illegal immigration at the border
– defining sex for official purposes as biological sex rather than self-identification”
This is why the Democrats are so infuriating. The first 3 are things that are well within what we would have expected from Clinton/Gore era Democrats. The immigration issue came about only because of a recent, far left tilt into ridiculous “open borders” ideology. Even Obama-era Dems had sensible views on restricting immigration, policing illegals and securing the border.
And the last issue…I continue to be baffled by the Democrats. Yes, the Republicans should get credit for understanding that men and women are biologically different. Up until last Tuesday, your average 3 year old could have told you that. It’s almost like the entire trans movement was an elaborate sabotage of the Democratic Party perpetrated by right wingers.
It’s the own-goal to end all own-goals….
I agree with getting rid of the penny. Although the implementation was not thought out (no surprise there).
He’s mentally ill, so he may do something catastrophic, and has come dangerously close.
I don’t think anything he’s done that’s possibly good comes close to benefiting America, not when he’s damaged our republic to the extent he and his cult have.
You seem to be misunderstanding the question. It’s pretty clear from what I said that I am asking for individual ACTS that are beneficial, not whether Trump has benefited America overall. If you think he’s done things that are possibly good, you should list them.
Yes. For us Mexicans. He has brought the Mexican government into line.
If we’re including Trump’s first term, then I must mention Operation Warp Speed, the development of COVID vaccines in an unprecedentedly short time.
Of course, that’s the one accomplishment that he never brags about.
The main good things Trump has done is reversing his policies and stated preferences whenever he receives sufficient pushback. Overall, he’s a terrible person and a terrible president.
Someone just mentioned eliminating minting of the penny. I agree. Another good thing was getting us out of an unwinnable war in Afghanistan, though like the penny, poorly thought out and like W Bush getting us out of Iraq, he left the mess for his successor to deal with.
Agree with our host’s list.
Other good things: Removing illegal aliens/immigrants, projecting our military and financial strenghts, clamping down of fraud and waste, testing the limits of the constitution, reveal the cult of MAGA, etc.
What’s not to like.. however, it was all done in terrible, unethical ways.