Control The Message Not The Virus
With the economy in freefall and a mounting death toll, Trump increasingly aimed his vitriol at China. The president backed an unsubstantiated theory suggesting that the virus might have originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, and argued that international health officials had helped China cover up the outbreak in the earliest days of the pandemic. On 29 May, he made good his threats and announced that he was pulling the United States out of the World Health Organization a move that many say weakened the countrys ability to respond to global crises and isolated its science.
For many experts, it was yet another counterproductive political manoeuvre from a president who was more interested in controlling the message than the virus. And in the end, he failed on both counts. Criticism mounted as COVID-19 continued to spread.
The virus doesnt respond to spin, says Tom Frieden, who headed the CDC under Obama. The virus responds to science-driven policies and programmes.
As the pandemic ground forward, the president continued to contradict warnings and advice from government scientists, including guidance for reopening schools. In July, Frieden and three other former CDC directors issued a sharp rebuke in a guest editorial in The Washington Post, citing unprecedented efforts by Trump and his administration to undermine the advice of public-health officials.
Gave His ‘most Important Speech’ Ever That Was Just Full Of Lies
A month after the election, Trump shared a 46-minute video on Facebook which he called the ‘the most important speech I’ve ever made.’ What followed was nothing but baseless claims about the results of the vote, vague claims and evidence of voter fraud and calls for judges to help him win.
“This election was rigged … our country needs somebody to say, ‘you’re right'” — Trump wound down his lie-filled https://t.co/SaknTpsaVP Aaron Rupar 1606946414
Trumps Claims On Poverty Dont Tell The Full Story Of Racial Disparity
Relatedly, Trump cites declining poverty rates before the pandemic as proof of his success. Last year, Black and Hispanic American poverty reached the lowest ever in the history of our country, Trump said at the White House event earlier this month.
According to census data, Trumps claim is correct but ignores the major disparities that remain. According to the data, the US poverty rate was 10.5 percent in 2019, the lowest since 1959, when data was first collected and released on this scale, with an 18.8 percent poverty rate for Black people and a 15.7 percent poverty rate for Hispanics.
Despite these historic lows, Black and Hispanic people are overrepresented in the poverty population relative to their representation in the overall population. According to the data, Black people represented 13.2 percent of the total population in the United States but 23.8 percent of the poverty group almost two times greater than their portion of the general population. Hispanics comprised 18.7 percent of the total population but 28.1 percent of the population in poverty 1.5 times more than their share of the population.
Related
Joe Biden and Kamala Harriss proposals could cut poverty in half
Also Check: How Much Is It To Stay In The Trump Hotel
When He Told A Sheriff To Destroy The Career Of A Senator Who Opposed Police Officers Being Able To Seize Assets
In 2017, Trump joked about destroying the career of a Texas senator who wanted to crack down on asset forfeiture.
Asset forfeiture is a controversial practice that allows police departments to seize suspicious assets and keep them even if the person theyre seized from is never convicted or charged with a crime.
According to experts, the practice disproportionately affects people without means. Police can auction off the assets and the funds go back into their budgets.
However, Trumps response to hearing about a senator who wished to reform the concept was pretty telling.
Who is the state senator?, he said, on being informed about proposed legislation to require conviction before asset forfeiture could be practiced.
Want to give his name? We’ll destroy his career.
‘contesting The 2020 Election’
What’s Trump’s key legacy?
Contesting a very constitutionally and numerically clear election victory by Joe Biden.
We’ve had plenty of really unpleasant transitions. Herbert Hoover was incredibly unpleasant about his loss, but he still rode in that car down Pennsylvania Avenue at inauguration. He didn’t talk to Franklin Roosevelt the whole time, but there still was a peaceful transfer of power.
Trump is a manifestation of political forces that have been in motion for a half century or more. A culmination of what was not only going on in the Republican party, but also the Democratic party and more broadly in American politics – a kind of disillusionment with government and institutions and expertise.
What else stands out to you?
Trump is exceptional in many ways, but one of the things that really makes him stand out is that he is one of the rare presidents who was elected without having held any elected office before.
Trump may go away, but there is this great frustration with the establishment, broadly defined. When you feel powerless, you vote for someone who’s promising to do everything differently and Trump indeed did that.
A presidency is also made by the people that the president appoints, and a great deal of experienced Republican hands were not invited to join the administration the first go round.
Recommended Reading: Superpowerchecks.con
After The Speech: What Trump Did As The Capitol Was Attacked
New evidence emerged in the impeachment trial about what President Donald J. Trump did from roughly 1 to 6 p.m. the day of the Capitol attack. But many questions remain unanswered.
-
Send any friend a story
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.
Give this article
- Read in app
By Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Martin
The impeachment trial of former President Donald J. Trump largely focused on his actions leading up to the violent attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. But there was a crucial period that day of nearly five hours between the end of Mr. Trumps speech at the Ellipse urging his supporters to march to the Capitol and a final tweet telling his followers to remember the day forever that remains critical to his state of mind.
Evidence emerged during the trial about what Mr. Trump was doing during those hours, including new details about two phone calls with lawmakers that prosecutors said clearly alerted the president to the mayhem on Capitol Hill. Prosecutors said the new information was clear proof of Mr. Trumps intent to incite the mob and of his dereliction to stop the violence, even when he knew that the life of Vice President Mike Pence was in danger.
Still, many crucial questions remain unanswered about the presidents actions and mood from roughly 1 to 6 p.m. Jan. 6. Here is what is known so far:
Did President Trump Keep His First
Mr. Trump won the presidency in 2016 after making more than 100 promises. Heres where some stand four years later and what some of his supporters think of them.
-
Send any friend a story
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share.
Give this article
Four years ago, Donald J. Trump won the presidency after making a series of concrete promises to his supporters.
I would repeal and replace the big lie, Obamacare, he said during his kickoff speech. I would build a great wall, and nobody builds walls better than me. Unlike his 2020 campaign, which is based on vague promises of more winning, winning, winning, Mr. Trumps campaign four years ago was rooted in promises of tax cuts and the appointment of judges with conservative credentials.
Has he kept the promises that helped get him here? And do his supporters care? A recent survey from New York University found that those who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016 thought he had broken fewer than one promise out of five. Those who voted for Hillary Clinton said he broke more than four out of five.
In reality, Mr. Trump has broken about half of 100 campaign promises, according to a tracker by PolitiFact. The fact-checking website does not measure intention, only verifiable outcomes.
Supporters of Mr. Trump who spoke to The New York Times said overwhelmingly that they were pleased with how he had lived up to his pledges. Heres a look at how he fared on some of his signature promises.
Also Check: Trump Tower Chicago Cost Per Night
Failure: The Us Economy
Trump often took credit for the robust US economy before the pandemic, ignoring that much of the growth began during the Obama administration.
The US faced one of the worst economic crises in its history under Trump, which was intrinsically linked to his disastrous response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Coronavirus lockdowns in early 2020 and reduced consumer spending led to tens of millions of job losses as whole segments of the economy sputtered. The economy has since begun adding back jobs, but is far from a full recovery as the US struggles to contain the coronavirus and Biden takes over.
Roughly 22 million jobs were lost from February to April. Though nearly half of those jobs have been recovered, the unemployment rate is still at 7.9% . The pre-pandemic unemployment rate was 3.4%.
As Trump left office, the US national debt was at the highest levels since World War II. And US economic growth was set to average just above 0% for Trump’s first term because of the pandemic recession, according to The Washington Post.
Though the economy is still far from recovered, Trump also failed to bring Congress together to pass a second coronavirus stimulus package prior to Election Day as Americans across the country struggled to cover rent and other bills. The GOP-controlled Senate instead prioritized confirming Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, essentially placing the economy and the livelihoods of Americans on the back-burner.
Redirecting Middle East Diplomacy
Donald Trump was far less interested in a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a struggle that has outlasted every postwar president and far more in a 22-state outcome, normalizing Israels relations with the Arab world, especially Persian Gulf countries. Building on ties between Israel and key gulf states that had been developing for two decades, and propelled by a common interest in restraining Irans regional ambitions, the Trump administration invested heavily in cultivating close personal relationships with leaders of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It approved weapons sales to those nations, exerted maximum pressure on Tehran and served as a facilitator between gulf Arab nations and Israel.
The costs of such an approach were clear. The Israeli-Palestinian issue wasnt so much ignored as it was undermined by a Trump peace plan comically biased in favor of Israel, leaving it dead on arrival. Meanwhile, Trumps catering to Saudi Arabia allowed its reckless and ruthless crown prince to pursue a disastrous war in Yemen and repression at home with tacit American support. Washington also recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara region in a questionable quid pro quo that helped spur Morocco to begin establishing diplomatic ties with Israel.
Read Also: Americus Trumpus
Fair And Reciprocal Trade
Secured historic trade deals to defend American workers.
Took strong actions to confront unfair trade practices and put America First.
- Imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions worth of Chinese goods to protect American jobs and stop Chinas abuses under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.
- Directed an all-of-government effort to halt and punish efforts by the Communist Party of China to steal and profit from American innovations and intellectual property.
- Imposed tariffs on foreign aluminum and foreign steel to protect our vital industries and support our national security.
- Approved tariffs on $1.8 billion in imports of washing machines and $8.5 billion in imports of solar panels.
- Blocked illegal timber imports from Peru.
- Took action against France for its digital services tax that unfairly targets American technology companies.
- Launched investigations into digital services taxes that have been proposed or adopted by 10 other countries.
Historic support for American farmers.
Colossal Rebuilding Of The Military
Rebuilt the military and created the Sixth Branch, the United States Space Force.
- Completely rebuilt the United States military with over $2.2 trillion in defense spending, including $738 billion for 2020.
- Secured three pay raises for our service members and their families, including the largest raise in a decade.
- Established the Space Force, the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947.
- Modernized and recapitalized our nuclear forces and missile defenses to ensure they continue to serve as a strong deterrent.
- Upgraded our cyber defenses by elevating the Cyber Command into a major warfighting command and by reducing burdensome procedural restrictions on cyber operations.
- Vetoed the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act, which failed to protect our national security, disrespected the history of our veterans and military, and contradicted our efforts to put America first.
Defeated terrorists, held leaders accountable for malign actions, and bolstered peace around the world.
Addressed gaps in Americans defense-industrial base, providing much-needed updates to improve the safety of our country.
Also Check: John Lambert Students For Trump
Trump Passed A Significant Criminal Justice Reform Measure But His Administration Has Worked To Undo It
Standing before hundreds of Black and brown supporters earlier this month, Trump said that America has reached a historic reduction of violent crime during his presidency. We signed a landmark criminal justice reform bill that nobody thought was possible to think about. I did that. I did that. I got that done, he said.
In December 2018, Trump did indeed sign the First Step Act, which made the most substantial changes in a generation to tough on crime laws that increased the federal prison population by 700 percent since 1970.
Since Trump signed the measure into law, more than 3,000 people have been released from federal prison due to the laws good time credits, which provide early release for well-behaved inmates hundreds have beenreleased into the elderly home confinement pilot program, which places older federal inmates in home confinement before the end of their prison term and more than 2,000 people 91 percent of whom are Black received sentencing reductions because the First Step Act retroactively applied the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 , reducing the sentencing disparity between crack and cocaine charges.
While these changes are substantial, many have pointed to the areas where the act fails and why Trump cant take full credit for the initiative.
Proponents of the law have also pointed out that its effects on the size of the federal prison system will ultimately be minimal. Voxs German Lopez reported:
