Trump’s First Year
Published in Listín Diario
(Dominican Republic) on 1 January 2018
by J.C. Malone (link to original)
(Dominican Republic) on 1 January 2018
by J.C. Malone (link to original)
Translated from
by Madeleine Brink.
Edited by Helaine Schweitzer.
President Donald Trump, against all odds and predictions, won the U.S. presidential election in 2016. On Jan. 20, he will have been in office for one year. Those who claimed his victory was impossible and who believed he would be removed have been disproved.
Trump was successful because he challenged the high-profile partisan elite, bringing with him a new style of politics and of governing. As of today, which is all we have, he continues to do well even in the face of stormy predictions. He forces through his politics, which is, after all, the goal of governing.
Trump was able to pass his pre-Jurassic tax reform, transferring trillions of dollars from society’s poorest to its richest. This may be despicable to some of us, but we lost. And yet the tax cuts and deregulation during the Clinton and Bush years, as well as Obama’s bank bailout, had exactly the same effect and their actions got good reviews. Rather than causing damage to immigrants and ethnic minorities, Trump has just been sincere; former Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama gave beautiful speeches but had no real or permanent victories. Clinton and Bush went after undocumented immigrants.
Obama controlled Congress but never passed immigration reform. He chose to temporarily legalize minors brought by their parents, but he could have done so permanently.
Trump has had some success in foreign policy. The Islamic State, the legitimate child of Obama’s policies that Hillary Clinton carried out in the Middle East, is on the run.
That is undeniable.
Any optimistic thoughts about removing Trump clash with reality: Republicans control Congress.
Politics can and ought to be guided by ideologies and aspirations, but always, politics are controlled by unavoidable realities.
We can get rid of Trump if Special Counsel Robert Mueller can effectively connect him to a Russian conspiracy or if Republicans lose congressional elections this year.
If not, we’ll have Trump until the end.
Trump was successful because he challenged the high-profile partisan elite, bringing with him a new style of politics and of governing. As of today, which is all we have, he continues to do well even in the face of stormy predictions. He forces through his politics, which is, after all, the goal of governing.
Trump was able to pass his pre-Jurassic tax reform, transferring trillions of dollars from society’s poorest to its richest. This may be despicable to some of us, but we lost. And yet the tax cuts and deregulation during the Clinton and Bush years, as well as Obama’s bank bailout, had exactly the same effect and their actions got good reviews. Rather than causing damage to immigrants and ethnic minorities, Trump has just been sincere; former Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama gave beautiful speeches but had no real or permanent victories. Clinton and Bush went after undocumented immigrants.
Obama controlled Congress but never passed immigration reform. He chose to temporarily legalize minors brought by their parents, but he could have done so permanently.
Trump has had some success in foreign policy. The Islamic State, the legitimate child of Obama’s policies that Hillary Clinton carried out in the Middle East, is on the run.
That is undeniable.
Any optimistic thoughts about removing Trump clash with reality: Republicans control Congress.
Politics can and ought to be guided by ideologies and aspirations, but always, politics are controlled by unavoidable realities.
We can get rid of Trump if Special Counsel Robert Mueller can effectively connect him to a Russian conspiracy or if Republicans lose congressional elections this year.
If not, we’ll have Trump until the end.
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