Donald Trump Is Not As Scary As Portrayed. Why Americans Still Support Him
Published in Rzeczpospolita
(Poland) on 6 March 2024
by Paweł Łepkowski (link to original)
(Poland) on 6 March 2024
by Paweł Łepkowski (link to original)
Translated from
by Danuta Kowalska.
Edited by Patricia Simoni.
Donald Trump not only brags about his achievements, but he has hard evidence they’ve been put into action. It is worth looking at these achievements to understand why conservatives in the U.S., and also the moderate center, want him back in office.
Let's start with U.S. defense policy. The Republican strategy from 2017 and 2018 transformed the huge Defense Department bureaucracy into a functioning defense complex. The Pentagon stopped focusing on the fight against terrorists in the Middle East and began on the long-term strategic rivalry with China and Russia. As a result, since 2017, the U.S. military has been changing the way it trains personnel, updating the technologies it buys and focusing on those geographical areas of the world. Previous White House leaders overlooked these areas in their policy.
Trump's team emphasizes that it was Trump who put the Pentagon budget in order and selected new investments supported by a cross-party majority in Congress. During his presidency, Congress allocated billions of dollars to the federal budget to strengthen the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Trump Raises Fears in Moscow
People have accused Trump of creating confusion among the ranks of NATO. This is not surprising given his blunt remarks to the malcontents that he does not intend to defend those countries that fail to comply with the 2014 agreement on allocating a minimum of 2% of gross domestic product to defense. In 2018 alone, under Trump’s administration, $716 billion was allocated to the annual U.S. defense budget. Beginning in 2017 when he took office, Trump forced allies to increase defense spending by $69 billion. When Europe was considering the production of tanks, Trump made the U.S. Space Force the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Trump raises fears not only in Moscow and Beijing. No one likes him in Paris or Berlin, either. It is hardly surprising, since France, Germany, Slovakia, Albania, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, the Czech Republic, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Slovenia, Turkey, Portugal, Canada, Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg expect America to defend them, and allocate approximately 1% of their GDP to the NATO defense budget. This is particularly unfair to Polish taxpayers, who collectively spend nearly 4% of GDP on improving the defense of the Polish Armed Forces. Trump may be making European capitals anxious, but if it frightens Moscow, then we should applaud it.
The Far Right? Extreme Economic Liberalism?
People accuse Trump of extreme economic liberalism and indifference to the plight of the poor. Republicans, however, believe that when it comes to social issues, the Trump administration has nothing to be ashamed of, and in many ways, it did better than the Democrats. They remind us that just after two years of Trump's presidency, nearly 4 million jobs were created, including more than 400,000 in the manufacturing industry.
They point out that this was the largest increase in employment in 30 years. Supporters of the 45th U.S. president emphasize that during the first three years of his presidency, the dynamics of economic growth were much higher than even during the exemplary — in this regard — presidency of Bill Clinton. They cite the results announced by the Federal Reserve's Bureau of Statistics in 2020. It was not until 2020 that COVID-19 caused a collapse in growth.
Republicans point out that despite the tragedy wreaked by the pandemic, the number of newly unemployed people fell to the lowest level in 49 years during the Trump presidency. The median household income reached its highest level in history and, key to the Democrats' narrative, unemployment among African Americans plunged to its lowest level since the advent of civil rights legislation. Similarly, unemployment among Latinos fell to the lowest level in history. After two years in the White House, Trump boasted that unemployment among women had reached its lowest level in 65 years and, among young people, the lowest in almost half a century.
Some 3.9 million Americans were able to get off food stamps, an indication that they were actively working. Promoted by Trump's federal program, Pledge to America's Workers, employers were forces to train more than 4 million Americans. The days when people lacked professional qualifications came to an end.
Entrepreneurs Support Trump
A survey of satisfaction in the business environment showed that during the Trump administration, 95% of American entrepreneurs and employers were optimistic about the future. This was the highest percentage in the study’s history. To this day, Trump's staff proudly point out that under his presidency, retail sales increased by 6% compared to previous years. Why? Because he removed the fiscal muzzle from entrepreneurs. One of the largest tax cut packages in history took effect under Trump.
As a result of the new tax law, the top tax rate for small businesses was reduced to the lowest level in more than 80 years. Trump agreed to regulatory relief for local banks and credit unions. His administration eliminated a controversial penalty for avoiding the mandatory choice of insurance under President Barack Obama’s health care program known as the Affordable Care Act. In return, Republicans introduced cheaper health care plans and short-term health care plans.
Under pressure from the White House, the Food and Drug Administration approved cheaper drugs for older people, and pharmaceutical companies withdrew planned price increases. Anyone who accused Trump of destroying the Affordable Care Act must have noticed the sweeping reform of Medicare, which tightened control of hospitals that charged high fees for medicines for low-income seniors, among other reforms. Trump signed bill that expanded the use of telehealth services and required clinics and hospital emergency centers to provide primary and psychiatric medical care on the day of the call.
A Fait Accompli Strategy
Republicans are not ashamed of the fact that between 2017 and 2021, there was a growing dislike of Trump around the world, incited primarily by environmentalists. They forget that under his administration, the U.S. quickly withdrew from the Paris Agreement and the “anti-carbon” clean energy plan, increasing coal exports by 60%. American oil production reached its highest level in history. The consequences of these decisions will only be known to future generations.
But voters live in the present. For a large part of the American public, it is important that Trump was guided primarily by the national interest. He also effectively transformed the judicial branch, where he increased the number of federal district court judges to a record high and appointed three Supreme Court justices.
He adopted a fait accompli strategy in foreign policy. He moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem without a lot of discussion. He signed a trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to replace NAFTA. He negotiated a landmark deal with the EU to boost U.S. exports. Likewise, he imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum to protect the domestic metallurgical industry. In response to forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft and chronic abuses by China, he imposed harsh tariffs on the country. The effects were visible to the naked eye: U.S. net exports increased by $59 billion.
Despite his harsh language regarding immigrants, his administration dealt with foreigners far more humanely than the Obama administration did. The refugee status verification system was improved, so that people who really needed help could apply for permanent residency in the U.S. Trump;s administration did not deport immigrants who were in this country illegally but had not otherwise committed any crimes.
The Democrats' foremost argument against Trump was the border wall with Mexico. The Democrats accused him of isolationism, racism and a lack of empathy for people who sought to improve their lives. But no one on the American left has recognized that sealing the border reduced the number of casualties among those trying to enter the U.S. illegally. There was a decrease in the number of people who died from exhaustion and dehydration, or who were shot on the U.S.-Mexico border while sneaking across.
Biden Faces Tough Election Campaign
Americans feel that Trump was protecting the streets of their cities from Mexican drug cartels and local gangs. American’s sense of security increased significantly, whereas that sense of security has regressed during Biden's presidency. Even Democratic voters are disappointed.
The 46th U.S. president is getting a great deal of flak from Trump staffers. Americans will not forget that Biden, when faced with a record crime wave in American cities, canceled the Justice Department's Operation Legend program, under which Trump deployed federal officers to help local law enforcement, leading to 6,000 arrests.
Americans will also not forget such mistakes as allowing armed FBI agents to enter schools during a pandemic, forcing employers employing more than 100 people to lay off unvaccinated workers, reducing oil production thus making the fuel market dependent on OPEC and giving the green light to the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany.
Republicans blame Biden for pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Russian energy dominance over his country. They haven't forgotten that the current president showed weakness in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine, causing Russian President Vladimir Putin to threaten Ukraine just a few months after Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and his surrender on Nord Stream 2. There have been many mistakes in the last four years. Biden faces a difficult campaign during which he will have to explain himself.
Let's start with U.S. defense policy. The Republican strategy from 2017 and 2018 transformed the huge Defense Department bureaucracy into a functioning defense complex. The Pentagon stopped focusing on the fight against terrorists in the Middle East and began on the long-term strategic rivalry with China and Russia. As a result, since 2017, the U.S. military has been changing the way it trains personnel, updating the technologies it buys and focusing on those geographical areas of the world. Previous White House leaders overlooked these areas in their policy.
Trump's team emphasizes that it was Trump who put the Pentagon budget in order and selected new investments supported by a cross-party majority in Congress. During his presidency, Congress allocated billions of dollars to the federal budget to strengthen the U.S. military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.
Trump Raises Fears in Moscow
People have accused Trump of creating confusion among the ranks of NATO. This is not surprising given his blunt remarks to the malcontents that he does not intend to defend those countries that fail to comply with the 2014 agreement on allocating a minimum of 2% of gross domestic product to defense. In 2018 alone, under Trump’s administration, $716 billion was allocated to the annual U.S. defense budget. Beginning in 2017 when he took office, Trump forced allies to increase defense spending by $69 billion. When Europe was considering the production of tanks, Trump made the U.S. Space Force the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces.
Trump raises fears not only in Moscow and Beijing. No one likes him in Paris or Berlin, either. It is hardly surprising, since France, Germany, Slovakia, Albania, Croatia, Denmark, Italy, the Czech Republic, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, Slovenia, Turkey, Portugal, Canada, Belgium, Spain and Luxembourg expect America to defend them, and allocate approximately 1% of their GDP to the NATO defense budget. This is particularly unfair to Polish taxpayers, who collectively spend nearly 4% of GDP on improving the defense of the Polish Armed Forces. Trump may be making European capitals anxious, but if it frightens Moscow, then we should applaud it.
The Far Right? Extreme Economic Liberalism?
People accuse Trump of extreme economic liberalism and indifference to the plight of the poor. Republicans, however, believe that when it comes to social issues, the Trump administration has nothing to be ashamed of, and in many ways, it did better than the Democrats. They remind us that just after two years of Trump's presidency, nearly 4 million jobs were created, including more than 400,000 in the manufacturing industry.
They point out that this was the largest increase in employment in 30 years. Supporters of the 45th U.S. president emphasize that during the first three years of his presidency, the dynamics of economic growth were much higher than even during the exemplary — in this regard — presidency of Bill Clinton. They cite the results announced by the Federal Reserve's Bureau of Statistics in 2020. It was not until 2020 that COVID-19 caused a collapse in growth.
Republicans point out that despite the tragedy wreaked by the pandemic, the number of newly unemployed people fell to the lowest level in 49 years during the Trump presidency. The median household income reached its highest level in history and, key to the Democrats' narrative, unemployment among African Americans plunged to its lowest level since the advent of civil rights legislation. Similarly, unemployment among Latinos fell to the lowest level in history. After two years in the White House, Trump boasted that unemployment among women had reached its lowest level in 65 years and, among young people, the lowest in almost half a century.
Some 3.9 million Americans were able to get off food stamps, an indication that they were actively working. Promoted by Trump's federal program, Pledge to America's Workers, employers were forces to train more than 4 million Americans. The days when people lacked professional qualifications came to an end.
Entrepreneurs Support Trump
A survey of satisfaction in the business environment showed that during the Trump administration, 95% of American entrepreneurs and employers were optimistic about the future. This was the highest percentage in the study’s history. To this day, Trump's staff proudly point out that under his presidency, retail sales increased by 6% compared to previous years. Why? Because he removed the fiscal muzzle from entrepreneurs. One of the largest tax cut packages in history took effect under Trump.
As a result of the new tax law, the top tax rate for small businesses was reduced to the lowest level in more than 80 years. Trump agreed to regulatory relief for local banks and credit unions. His administration eliminated a controversial penalty for avoiding the mandatory choice of insurance under President Barack Obama’s health care program known as the Affordable Care Act. In return, Republicans introduced cheaper health care plans and short-term health care plans.
Under pressure from the White House, the Food and Drug Administration approved cheaper drugs for older people, and pharmaceutical companies withdrew planned price increases. Anyone who accused Trump of destroying the Affordable Care Act must have noticed the sweeping reform of Medicare, which tightened control of hospitals that charged high fees for medicines for low-income seniors, among other reforms. Trump signed bill that expanded the use of telehealth services and required clinics and hospital emergency centers to provide primary and psychiatric medical care on the day of the call.
A Fait Accompli Strategy
Republicans are not ashamed of the fact that between 2017 and 2021, there was a growing dislike of Trump around the world, incited primarily by environmentalists. They forget that under his administration, the U.S. quickly withdrew from the Paris Agreement and the “anti-carbon” clean energy plan, increasing coal exports by 60%. American oil production reached its highest level in history. The consequences of these decisions will only be known to future generations.
But voters live in the present. For a large part of the American public, it is important that Trump was guided primarily by the national interest. He also effectively transformed the judicial branch, where he increased the number of federal district court judges to a record high and appointed three Supreme Court justices.
He adopted a fait accompli strategy in foreign policy. He moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem without a lot of discussion. He signed a trade agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to replace NAFTA. He negotiated a landmark deal with the EU to boost U.S. exports. Likewise, he imposed tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum to protect the domestic metallurgical industry. In response to forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft and chronic abuses by China, he imposed harsh tariffs on the country. The effects were visible to the naked eye: U.S. net exports increased by $59 billion.
Despite his harsh language regarding immigrants, his administration dealt with foreigners far more humanely than the Obama administration did. The refugee status verification system was improved, so that people who really needed help could apply for permanent residency in the U.S. Trump;s administration did not deport immigrants who were in this country illegally but had not otherwise committed any crimes.
The Democrats' foremost argument against Trump was the border wall with Mexico. The Democrats accused him of isolationism, racism and a lack of empathy for people who sought to improve their lives. But no one on the American left has recognized that sealing the border reduced the number of casualties among those trying to enter the U.S. illegally. There was a decrease in the number of people who died from exhaustion and dehydration, or who were shot on the U.S.-Mexico border while sneaking across.
Biden Faces Tough Election Campaign
Americans feel that Trump was protecting the streets of their cities from Mexican drug cartels and local gangs. American’s sense of security increased significantly, whereas that sense of security has regressed during Biden's presidency. Even Democratic voters are disappointed.
The 46th U.S. president is getting a great deal of flak from Trump staffers. Americans will not forget that Biden, when faced with a record crime wave in American cities, canceled the Justice Department's Operation Legend program, under which Trump deployed federal officers to help local law enforcement, leading to 6,000 arrests.
Americans will also not forget such mistakes as allowing armed FBI agents to enter schools during a pandemic, forcing employers employing more than 100 people to lay off unvaccinated workers, reducing oil production thus making the fuel market dependent on OPEC and giving the green light to the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany.
Republicans blame Biden for pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept Russian energy dominance over his country. They haven't forgotten that the current president showed weakness in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine, causing Russian President Vladimir Putin to threaten Ukraine just a few months after Biden's disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan and his surrender on Nord Stream 2. There have been many mistakes in the last four years. Biden faces a difficult campaign during which he will have to explain himself.
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