Coronavirus And Public Health
The federal response to the coronavirus pandemic was the Trump administrations biggest focus during the Presidents final year in office and its biggest failure.
Trump made apparent political calculations that put optics ahead of the health of Americans. He held large rallies in the final months of the election filled with throngs of unmasked crowds as the pandemic was hitting a new peak, he to wear a mask or social distance in front of cameras and he publicly downplayed the seriousness of the virus while privately knowing its deadliness.
Early on, the White House and the President were heavy on talk, but took little immediate action. The federal government struggled to deliver personal protective equipment and medical supplies to US hospitals and nursing homes. Testing efforts were disorganized. And, though not an official policy, Trump and his allies blatantly disregarded the guidelines his administration touted such as wearing masks, social distancing, avoiding travel and avoiding large gatherings. It led to outbreaks among members of the administration and supporters.
The US currently boasts more coronavirus cases and deaths than any other country.
The one victory was the quick development of two coronavirus vaccines that were authorized by December. But the rest of the handling on the pandemic was defined by major, and at times arguably fatal, missteps.
However, the efforts have had mixed results.
Trade War ‘disaster’ With China
Trade policy is where the president wields the most economic power, as Congress has over the years delegated negotiating authority to the presidents office, according to Menzie Chinn, professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Chinn documented the trade war saga on his macroeconomic policy blog Econbrowser.
Trump exercised this power almost immediately during his first years in office and even went so far as to use national security as a basis for trade barriers with China — something that no president has done in recent times.
Ultimately, the tit-for-tat trade war that Trump waged with China was lost by the U.S., economists say, and data on trade deficits confirm.
Trumps dramatic trade war upended decades of policy, and kicked off with failed meetings with Chinese leaders in 2017. After the talks disintegrated, Trump initiated the trade war by imposing tariffs on all imported washing machines and solar panels in early 2018. He then announced 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% tariffs on aluminum. China retaliated with tariffs of up to 25% on more than 100 U.S. products including soybeans and airplanes. The sporadic, retaliatory trade-off battles waged on for years, and dragged other countries that were trying to remain competitive in as well.
By the end of his term, the trade deficit will be larger in absolute terms than it was when he came to office, Chinn told ABC News.
Historical Evaluations And Public Opinion
In the sixth Siena College Research Institute’s presidential rankings, conducted after Trump had been in office for one year, Trump was ranked as the third-worst president.C-SPAN‘s 2021 President Historians Survey ranked Trump as the fourth-worst president overall and the worst in the leadership characteristics of Moral Authority and Administrative Skills. Trump’s best rated leadership characteristic was Public Persuasion, where he ranked 32nd out of the 44 individuals who were previously president.
At the time of the 2016 election, polls by Gallup found Trump had a favorable rating around 35% and an unfavorable rating around 60%, while Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton held a favorable rating of 40% and an unfavorable rating of 57%. 2016 was the first election cycle in modern presidential polling in which both major-party candidates were viewed so unfavorably. By January 20, 2017, Inauguration Day, Trump’s approval rating average was 42%, the lowest rating average for an incoming president in the history of modern polling during his term it was an “incredibly stable ” 36% to 40%. Trump was the only president to never reach a 50% approval rating in the Gallup poll dating to 1938.
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Things Trump Got Right
Nobody does nothing as president, not even someone who watches television for five or six hours a day.
About the author: David Frum is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
In his single term as president, George H. W. Bush negotiated the peaceful reunification of Germany. He liberated Kuwait while losing few American lives. He signed legislation to end acid rain. He did a budget deal that reduced federal deficits, enacted the Americans With Disabilities Act, and successfully resolved the collapse of the savings-and-loan industry.
Jimmy Carter, in his one term, deregulated passenger aviation. He updated the regulation of rail freight, shipping, and trucking, laying the foundation for Americas modern delivery system. He negotiated the Camp David Accords, ending belligerency between Egypt and Israel. He avoided a major crisis in Central America with his Panama Canal Treaty.
William Howard Taft also achieved much in his one term as president. It was his Department of Justice that busted the Standard Oil monopoly. Taft forcefully advocated a central bank for the United States, although that project was not completed until the year after he lost the presidency to Woodrow Wilson. Taft urged free trade with Canada and negotiated the treaty that ended a century of rancorous North American waterway disputes.
Stricter regulation of vaping
Dramatic reductions in the burning of coal
When He Accused Democrats Of Treason For Not Applauding His 2018 State Of The Union Address
We all know by now that Trump is a very, very sensitive man and cant take the slightest criticism against him. However, to accuse Democrats of treason for not applauding his 2018 State of the Union address is a bit of a stretch.
Yet thats exactly what he did during a speech in Cincinnati, Ohio in February 2018:
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‘putting Democracy To The Test’
Kathryn Brownell is a history professor at Purdue University, focusing on the relationships between media, politics, and popular culture, with an emphasis on the American presidency.
What’s Trump’s key legacy?
Broadly speaking: Donald Trump, and his enablers in the Republican Party and conservative media, have put American democracy to the test in an unprecedented way. As a historian who studies the intersection of media and the presidency, it is truly striking the ways in which he has convinced millions of people that his fabricated version of events is true.
What happened on 6 January at the US Capitol is a culmination of over four years during which President Trump actively advanced misinformation.
Just as Watergate and the impeachment inquiry dominated historical interpretations of Richard Nixon’s legacy for decades, I do think that this particular post-election moment will be at the forefront of historical assessments of his presidency.
What else stands out to you?
Kellyanne Conway’s first introduction of the notion of “alternative facts” just days into the Trump administration when disputing the size of the inaugural crowds between Trump and Barack Obama.
Trump harnessed the power of social media and blurred the lines between entertainment and politics in ways that allowed him to bypass critics and connect directly to his supporters in an unfiltered way.
Trump Is Making A Last
In 2016, Trump won just 8 percent of Black voters. The same holds true in 2020 his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, leads Trump with Black voters, 83 percent to 8 percent, a 75-point margin, according to CNN. However, Trumps support among Black voters ages 18 to 44 has jumped from 10 percent in 2016 to 21 percent this year, according to FiveThirtyEight, while older Black voters look as if theyll vote for Biden by margins similar to Clintons in 2016.
Black voters remain an overwhelmingly Democratic-leaning constituency, but a notable reduction in their support could still be a problem for Biden, according to the publication.
In a last-ditch effort to attract more Black voters, Trump unveiled his Platinum Plan for Black Americans mere weeks before the election. It includes proposals to designate the Ku Klux Klan and antifa as terrorist organizations, make lynching a hate crime, recognize Juneteenth as a federal holiday, and increase investments in Black communities by supporting Black homeownership, small businesses, and job creation. The plan is vague it lists what Trump would seek to accomplish but doesnt explain how hed get there.
Ultimately, the idea of whos done more for Black people homogenizes Black communities stripping them of their diverse identities and backgrounds and makes elected officials accountable during election season only.
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Achieving A Secure Border
Secured the Southern Border of the United States.
- Built over 400 miles of the worlds most robust and advanced border wall.
- Illegal crossings have plummeted over 87 percent where the wall has been constructed.
- Deployed nearly 5,000 troops to the Southern border. In addition, Mexico deployed tens of thousands of their own soldiers and national guardsmen to secure their side of the US-Mexico border.
- Ended the dangerous practice of Catch-and-Release, which means that instead of aliens getting released into the United States pending future hearings never to be seen again, they are detained pending removal, and then ultimately returned to their home countries.
- Entered into three historic asylum cooperation agreements with Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala to stop asylum fraud and resettle illegal migrants in third-party nations pending their asylum applications.
- Entered into a historic partnership with Mexico, referred to as the Migrant Protection Protocols, to safely return asylum-seekers to Mexico while awaiting hearings in the United States.
Fully enforced the immigration laws of the United States.
Ended asylum fraud, shut down human smuggling traffickers, and solved the humanitarian crisis across the Western Hemisphere.
Secured our Nations immigration system against criminals and terrorists.
Protected American workers and taxpayers.
Trump Signed A Law Ending The Gag Orders On Pharmacists That Prevented Them From Sharing Money
True. Mr. Trump tweeted in support of this law and deserves credit for using the bully pulpit of the presidency to demand transparency in drug prices. But Congress deserves most of the credit for the unanimous 2018 passage of this transparency law, which prohibits gag orders that prevent pharmacists from sharing prescription drug prices with customers.
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When He Appointed An Anti
Who is the best person to head up family planning funding allocations for low-income communities, aka ensuring people with wombs have a right to choose whether they give birth or not?
According to Donald Trump, its Teresa Manning, a loud anti-abortion advocate and birth control sceptic.
Manning was appointed deputy assistant secretary for population affairs in 2017, where she oversaw Title X funding — money for contraceptive and sexual health services.
Her previous experience in the field came from stints at two large anti-abortion groups.
Eventually, Manning resigned in 2018, with her successor Valerie Huber being a a staunch advocate of abstinence-only programs.
Just the person for the job then.
Things Donald Trump Did As President You Might Have Missed
Trumps presidency may be best remembered for its cataclysmic end. But his four years as president also changed real American policy in lasting ways, just more quietly. We asked POLITICOs best-in-class policy reporters to recap some of the ways Trump changed the country while in office, for better or worse.
President Donald Trump changed some key areas of federal policy in ways that may have lasting impact well after his four years are up. | AP/Getty Images/POLITICO illustration
01/18/2021 06:30 AM EST
Many Americans will remember President Donald Trumps presidency as a four-yearlong storm of tweets, rallies and on-air rants that ended in a mob riot and historic second impeachment. But there was more to the Trump presidency than attention-hogging political drama and conflict often unnoticed, Trump and his administration actually did succeed in changing some of the ways Washington works.
From imposing a ban on Chinese-made drones to rolling back rules on sexual harassment, from cracking down on robocalls to letting states legalize marijuana, Trump changed some key areas of federal policy in ways that may have lasting impact well after hes gone.
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Effects On Corporate Taxation And Behavior
The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy reported in December 2019 that:
- The Tax Act lowered the statutory corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% in 2018, although corporations continued to reduce their taxes below the statutory rate via loopholes. The Tax Act closed some old loopholes, but created new ones.
- The effective corporate tax rate in 2018 was the lowest rate in 40 years, at 11.3%, versus 21.2% on average for the 2008â2015 period.
- Of 379 profitable Fortune 500 corporations in the ITEP study, 91 paid no corporate income taxes and another 56 paid an average effective tax rate of 2.2%.
- If the 379 businesses had instead paid the 21% tax rate, it would have generated an additional $74 billion in tax revenue.
The Economic Policy Institute reported in December 2019 that:
- Working people saw no discernible wage increase due to the Tax Act. The tight labor market and higher state-level minimum wages can explain the wage growth in 2018.
- The Tax Act has not increased business investment, with the small increase in 2018 a “natural bounceback” from a weak 2015â2016, and a sizable decline in 2019.
- Companies used much of the tax benefit for stock buybacks, to the tune of $580 billion in 2018, an increase of 50% from 2017.
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.
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When He Attacked Former Prisoner Of War John Mccain As A Loser
There was no love lost between late Republican Senator John McCain and Donald Trump.
But Trump certainly got in some low blows against his rival.
Upon McCains death in 2018, from a brain tumour, it was reported by witnesses that Trump was angered by his funeral being officially commemorated.
“Were not going to support that losers funeral, witnesses claimed the president said.
However, Trump then denied hed ever called McCain a loser.
The only problem was that footage from Trumps 2015 campaign run shows him clearly slamming McCain as just that.
YOU CAN’T MAKE THIS UPMultiple Anonymous sources: “Trump called John McCain a loser.”Trump last night: “I never https://t.co/T3giTywGXl Dark Brandon 1599224443
“He lost, he let us down… I never liked him as much after that because I don’t like losers, Trump says during the clip.
He follows it up by denying McCain deserves the epithet of war hero.
“He is not a war hero Trump said.
He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.
A Reckoning Over Racial Inequality
Racial tensions were a constant undercurrent during Trumps presidency, often intensified by the public statements he made in response to high-profile incidents.
The death of George Floyd, in particular, brought race to the surface in a way that few other recent events have. The videotaped killing of the unarmed, 46-year-old Black man by a White police officer in Minneapolis was among several police killings that sparked national and international protests in 2020 and led to an outpouring of public support for the Black Lives Matter movement, including from corporations, universities and other institutions. In a survey shortly after Floyds death in May, two-thirds of U.S. adults including majorities across all major racial and ethnic groups voiced support for the movement, and use of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag surged to a .
Attitudes began to change as the protests wore on and sometimes turned violent, drawing sharp condemnation from Trump. By September, support for the Black Lives Matter movement had slipped to 55% largely due to decreases among White adults and many Americans questioned whether the nations renewed focus on race would lead to changes to address racial inequality or improve the lives of Black people.
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‘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.
