You May Not Like What Donald Trump Tweets, but He’s Got a long List of Accomplishments

by David Churchman

David Churchman is a three-time Fulbright Scholar (Cyprus, Ukraine, Norway) and California State University professor emeritus who held a dual appointment teaching graduate courses in Middle East history in the Humanities Department and teaching conflict theory and negotiation and chairing the Behavioral Science Programs.

Related Link 12 Months of Horror By Ronald Feinman

Karl Rove wrote in the WSJ that, “If President Trump could control himself, people might notice his accomplishments.” Accomplishments are defined by campaign and post-election promises, not each person’s opinion of what is good and what is bad, a legitimate but different topic. Presidential accomplishments also include actions taken by subordinates that have at least presidential approval. With that in mind, Mr. Trump’s accomplishments through December 2017 include at least the following 82:

100% vote by UN Security Council to sanction North Korea.

41% decline in illegal southern border crossings

97,482 illegal immigrant arrests, 70% convicted of additional crimes, 52,169 expelled

Adopted a resolute policy on Afghanistan

Advocated for practical tertiary education

Advocated for skills-based immigration policies

American companies now expanding rather than shipping jobs overseas

Announced sanctions targeting Iran’s Revolutionary Guards

Appointed a Transportation Secretary who is modernizing air traffic control

Appointed an Education Secretary who is correcting abuses of Title IX

Appointed an EPA administrator who has rescinded over 30 regulations

Appointed an FDA director who is facilitating generic drug competition

Appointed an Interior Secretary to improve forest management and expand users of public lands

Approved the Keystone pipeline

Called for international support of Iranian protesters

Canceled school lunch program that failed to force children to eat unpopular foods

Constructed test models of the border fence

Convinced Japan and South Korea to increase defense spending

Convinced NATO members to honor minimum financial commitments

Decertified Iranian nuclear treaty and sent it to Senate as constitutionally required

Designated North Korea as a state-sponsor of terrorism

Eliminated prohibition on interstate health insurance sales

Ended abuses of the student loan forgiveness program

Ended forced provision of contraception by Catholic nunneries

Ended requirement for state funding of Planned Parenthood

Ended research into Y2K preparedness

Ended rule requiring employers to report pay data by gender and race

Expanded school-choice efforts

FCC has begun to dismantle unnecessary Internet “Neutrality” regulations

Foreign firms building plants and creating jobs in the U.S.

Improved rules of engagement for military in combat situations

Initiated resistance “sue and settle” tactics against EPA

Initiated sanctions on Venezuelan dictatorship

Introduced regulatory budgeting requiring agencies to rescind two rules to issue a new one

ISIS bombing ramped up from about 20 to 500 or more airstrikes per week

ISIS ground campaign intensified; Raqqa captured, its fighters surrendering in large numbers

Issued a National Security Strategy

Kate's Law passed House now pending in Senate

Leveraged U.S. contribution to UN budget to force 5% budget cut and reduce staffs

NLRB reversed rule making indirect employee control sufficient to be “joint employees”

Nominated 60 judges, 21 confirmed, none yet denied

Nominated a new Fed chief

Nominated one Supreme Court judge, who was confirmed

Obtained release of Aya Hijazi after three years in Egyptian prison

Obtained release of Caitlan Coleman and husband from Haqqani

Obtained release of UCLA basketball players from China

Raised awareness of Opioid addiction crisis

Recognized Jerusalem as Israeli capital and announced plan to move U.S. embassy there

Reduced excess size of two national parks in Utah

Reduced permanent staff in all Cabinet agencies except VA, HS and Interior

Reduced White House staff by 110

Repeal of ACA mandate included in tax change bill

Requested increased funding for missile defense in face of North Korean and Iranian threats.

Rescinded (temporarily) the Jones Act, facilitating speedier emergency shipments to Puerto Rico

Rescinded 2015 Waters of the United States rule

Rescinded ban drilling in the Arctic and coastal areas

Rescinded coal mining ban on public lands

Rescinded criminalization of accidental killing of migratory birds

Rescinded Cuban cash give-away

Rescinded the “Clean Power Plan”

Rescinded the “War on Coal”

Rescinded threat to pull funds from schools that prohibit transgenders picking their bathrooms

Rescinded Title IX “guidance letter” on sexual harassment

Restored policy barring federal funding of abortions overseas

Restoring military capability in the face of personnel shortages and equipment failures

Revamped U.S. space program, assigning ambitious new objectives

Revised rules for screening potential terrorist tourists

Sanctioned Venezuela for human rights violations

Sanctuary cities legislation passed House pending in Senate

Signed 74 legislative bills (13 reversing executive orders) and 23 joint resolutions into law

Signed comprehensive tax change bill containing most of the changes he proposed

Signed legislation opening Arctic Natural Wildlife Reserve [ANWR] to oil drilling

Signed legislation to expedite firing of incompetent VA officials

Supreme Court largely upheld ban on selected travelers

Taking steps to control the rogue Consumer Finance Protection Agency

Targeted MS13 gang members for priority deportation

The president’s lawyers announced a framework for restoring the separation of powers:

Congress should cease delegating its legislative power to the executive branch

Courts should stop rubber-stamping regulations and orders that lack force of law

Executive will end informal “guidance documents” that undermine due process

U.S. energy production is on the upswing

U.S. sorties and assisted forces reduced ISIS to 2% of the area controlled in 2016

Unemployment is at 4.1 percent, a 17-year low

Withdrew from Paris Climate Accord

Withdrew from UNESCO (a warning to other wasteful, overstaffed UN agencies)

Generalizing, under Mr. Trump we’re seeing a wide-ranging reduction of regulatory overreach and restoration of the separation of powers now specified in speeches to the Federalist Society, elements in a coherent policy aimed at making the US the dominant center for investment globally. The National Security Policy concentrates on two areas. In the Near East, it focuses on Iran and drops the long-moribund Israeli-Palestinian negotiations until the latter become more realistic, less violent, and more dependable in keeping agreements in favor of the quietly emerging alliance of several Arab states with Israel. In the Far East, it seeks increased cooperation with Australia, India, Japan, Philippines and Vietnam in efforts to halt Chinese imperialism in the South China Sea. Overall, like it or not, Mr. Trump has enacted many of his campaign promises and is working to implement others. Perhaps of greatest distress to the Democrats, he has done so by turning the Alinsky playbook against the left which had thought of them as exclusively its own.