Trump...One Year In

The conventional wisdom (at least in the media and certain sections of the population) is that Trump has been an abject failure in his first year in office.  They cite that he has gotten Justice Gorsuch seated in dubious means and everything else has been a failure.  International relations, domestic policies, relations with Congress, staff chaos, investigation by a Special Prosecutor, and the horrific tax reform bill that allows people to keep more of their money and gives corporations a break so they'll hire more people have all been failures.  If you listen to Democrats in Congress or the average celebrity from Hollywood, Armageddon is just around the corner because of the mess and chaos that Trump is creating.

Of course, there is a different view.  In the last week or so there have been a lot of articles assessing Trump's first year.  Some are more generous than others but I've noticed a little grudging admission that there have been some things that have been okay.  All of the articles have some sort of spin so I thought I'd go to the source.  Copied below is the White House list of accomplishments.  Now, you might say that this is wildly skewed because it comes from the heart of the chaos.  But if you think about it, this list is probably as comprehensive as you can get.  Because it's in their interest to brag about what they have done.  So you can take what you want from it.  It will probably come as no surprise that I tend to believe there's way more positive than negative.  So I'll just highlight the areas I agree with or think are significant so you know where I'm coming from.  But of course it's not all good.  So at the end I'll add my own little list of "others".

Below are the 12 categories and 81 wins cited by the White House.

Jobs and the economy

Passage of the tax reform bill providing $5.5 billion in cuts and repealing the Obamacare mandate.

Increase of the GDP above 3 percent.

Creation of 1.7 million new jobs, cutting unemployment to 4.1 percent.

Saw the Dow Jones reach record highs.

A rebound in economic confidence to a 17-year high.

A new executive order to boost apprenticeships.

A move to boost computer sciences in Education Department programs.

Prioritizing women-owned businesses for some $500 million in SBA loans.

Killing job-stifling regulations

Signed an Executive Order demanding that two regulations be killed for every new one creates. He beat that big and cut 16 rules and regulations for every one created, saving $8.1 billion.

Signed 15 congressional regulatory cuts.

Withdrew from the Obama-era Paris Climate Agreement, ending the threat of environmental regulations.

Signed an Executive Order cutting the time for infrastructure permit approvals.

Eliminated an Obama rule on streams that Trump felt unfairly targeted the coal industry.

Fair trade

Made good on his campaign promise to withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Opened up the North American Free Trade Agreement for talks to better the deal for the U.S.

Worked to bring companies back to the U.S., and companies like Toyota, Mazda, Broadcom Limited, and Foxconn announced plans to open U.S. plants.

Worked to promote the sale of U.S products abroad.

Made enforcement of U.S. trade laws, especially those that involve national security, a priority.

Ended Obama’s deal with Cuba.

Boosting U.S. energy dominance

The Department of Interior, which has led the way in cutting regulations, opened plans to lease 77 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling.

Trump traveled the world to promote the sale and use of U.S. energy.

Expanded energy infrastructure projects like the Keystone XL Pipeline snubbed by Obama.

Ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to kill Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

EPA is reconsidering Obama rules on methane emissions.

Protecting the U.S. homeland

Laid out new principles for reforming immigration and put hardliners in charge of his program.

Made progress to build the border wall with Mexico.

Ended the Obama-era “catch and release” of illegal immigrants.

Boosted the arrests of illegals inside the U.S.

Doubled the number of counties participating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement charged with deporting illegals.

Removed 36 percent more criminal gang members than in fiscal 2016.

Started the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program.

Ditto for other amnesty programs like Deferred Action for Parents of Americans.

Cracking down on some 300 sanctuary cities that defy ICE but still get federal dollars.

Added some 100 new immigration judges.

Protecting communities

Justice announced grants of $98 million to fund 802 new cops.

Justice worked with Central American nations to arrest and charge 4,000 MS-13 members.

Homeland rounded up nearly 800 MS-13 members, an 83 percent one-year increase.

Signed three executive orders aimed at cracking down on international criminal organizations.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions created new National Public Safety Partnership, a cooperative initiative with cities to reduce violent crimes.

Accountability

Trump has nominated 73 federal judges and won his nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

Ordered ethical standards including a lobbying ban.

Called for a comprehensive plan to reorganize the executive branch.

Ordered an overhaul to modernize the digital government.

Called for a full audit of the Pentagon and its spending.

Combatting opioids

First, the president declared a Nationwide Public Health Emergency on opioids.

His Council of Economic Advisors played a role in determining that overdoses are underreported by as much as 24 percent.

The Department of Health and Human Services laid out a new five-point strategy to fight the crisis.

Justice announced it was scheduling fentanyl substances as a drug class under the Controlled Substances Act.

Justice started a fraud crackdown, arresting more than 400.

The administration added $500 million to fight the crisis.

On National Drug Take Back Day, the Drug Enforcement Agency collected 456 tons.

Protecting life

In his first week, Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy that blocks some $9 billion in foreign aid being used for abortions.

Worked with Congress on a bill overturning an Obama regulation that blocked states from defunding abortion providers.

Published guidance to block Obamacare money from supporting abortion.

Helping veterans

Signed the Veterans Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act to allow senior officials in the Department of Veterans Affairs to fire failing employees and establish safeguards to protect whistleblowers.

Signed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act.

Signed the Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act, to provide support.

Signed the VA Choice and Quality Employment Act of 2017 to authorize $2.1 billion in additional funds for the Veterans Choice Program.

Created a VA hotline.

Had the VA launch an online “Access and Quality Tool,” providing veterans with a way to access wait time and quality of care data.

With VA Secretary Dr. David Shulkin, announced three initiatives to expand access to healthcare for veterans using telehealth technology.

Promoting peace through strength

Directed the rebuilding of the military and ordered a new national strategy and nuclear posture review.

Worked to increase defense spending.

Empowered military leaders to “seize the initiative and win,” reducing the need for a White House sign off on every mission.

Directed the revival of the National Space Council to develop space war strategies.

Elevated U.S. Cyber Command into a major warfighting command.

Withdrew from the U.N. Global Compact on Migration, which Trump saw as a threat to borders.

Imposed a travel ban on nations that lack border and anti-terrorism security.

Saw ISIS lose virtually all of its territory.

Pushed for strong action against global outlaw North Korea and its development of nuclear weapons.

Announced a new Afghanistan strategy that strengthens support for U.S. forces at war with terrorism.

NATO increased support for the war in Afghanistan.

Approved a new Iran strategy plan focused on neutralizing the country’s influence in the region.

Ordered missile strikes against a Syrian airbase used in a chemical weapons attack.

Prevented subsequent chemical attacks by announcing a plan to detect them better and warned of future strikes if they were used.

Ordered new sanctions on the dictatorship in Venezuela.

Restoring confidence in and respect for America

Trump won the release of Americans held abroad, often using his personal relationships with world leaders.

Made good on a campaign promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Conducted a historic 12-day trip through Asia, winning new cooperative deals. On the trip, he attended three regional summits to promote American interests.

He traveled to the Middle East and Europe to build new relationships with leaders.

Traveled to Poland for the annual. G-20 meeting where he pushed again for funding of women entrepreneurs.

I think all of the above are arguably important and significant, it's just that I'm more attuned to some than others.  There wasn't much about personnel on the list but I think he's had some brilliant hires.  Of course Gen Mattis is right at the top of the list.  Others include Gen Kelly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, LtGen McMaster, Rex Tillerson at State, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Scott Pruitt at Interior, and Betsy DeVos at Education.  There are others but these come immediately to mind.  However, I think his A-number one hire was Nikki Haley as UN Ambassador.  She is fierce, brilliant, and very impressive.  I'd like to see her eventually move to State.

So what about the things that haven't gone so well?  Here's my list.

Charlottesville was a disaster.  He was tone deaf in that whole experience.

The whole Mike Flynn/Steve Bannon dustup.  He should never have developed a relationship with those knuckleheads.  

The failure to repeal Obamacare is a black mark but with the repeal of the individual mandate in the tax reform bill, it is effectively repealed.  It will implode.

I get why he fired Comey, but he should have done it right away.  Like the first week of his Presidency.  

Roy Moore endorsement was dumb.  That will be a lode around his neck.  He put votes before decency.  And it wasn't about the accusations with the girls.  It's about Roy Moore's fitness to serve.

Tweeting.  A lot of people hate it.  Like really hate it.  But I'm a bit ambivalent.  I get his need to strike back when someone strikes out at him.  And I like that he can go direct to get his message out.  But the snark factor can be too high sometimes.  He should stop with the original attacks.

So after all that two things stand out for me.  The first is that even with all the resistance, the investigations for what most believe are unfounded allogations, the personal hatred of him, the constant harangue from the press, and all the palace intrigue, he has still accomplished quite a bit.  Second, he's not Hillary.  For that fact alone, I will support him through thick and thin!