Trump's Sneakily Successful First Year

Rachel Alexander

While the left complained nonstop about Trump’s tweeting and boisterous language, Trump buckled down and accomplished an incredible amount during his first year as president. The Washington Examiner counted an impressive 81 major achievements and another 100 minor achievements. Some of the largest include substantial tax cuts, increasing U.S. energy production and getting Neil Gorsuch confirmed to the Supreme Court. Other notable accomplishments include appointing more judges to the federal appellate courts than any other president during their first year and reducing illegal immigration. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reports a 23 percent decline over the previous fiscal year.

The left is excitedly churning out articles gloating about a handful of items Trump was unable to accomplish, such as repealing Obamacare and getting Congressional funding for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico. One Green Party candidate actually said, “Trump is a failure his first year.” These armchair critics conveniently ignore Trump’s long list of accomplishments – as if they don’t exist. Some even claim that the economy isn’t doing any better. But GDP has increased above 3 percent and 1.7 new jobs have been created, reducing unemployment to 4.1 percent.  

The left can claim all it wants that Trump has had a bad year, but people see the results and feel them in their pocketbooks. Trump may not be very likable in this ultra-politically correct era, but he doesn’t have to be likable to get things done. Three of our greatest presidents have been characterized as having only average charisma: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. James Madison was described as “noticeably below average.”

Call Trump names but it’s not going to change anything. Most Americans are probably sick of the media blasting Trump constantly. Only five percent of the media’s coverage of Trump is positive, three times more negative than for President Obama. Maybe this explains why Trump’s approval rating at the end of his first year in office is almost the same as Obama’s was at the end of his first year. Rasmussen Reports found that Trump has 46 percent approval and 53 percent disapproval among likely voters; Obama had 47 percent approval and 52 percent disapproval. Americans see through the media spin and find it unfair.


No reasonable person believes that Trump is an “idiot” or whatever other choice words the left uses to describe Trump’s intelligence. He wouldn’t be where he is now, accomplishing a vast amount his first year in office, if he was really stupid. When the left can’t think of a substantive argument, they resort to 4th-grade name calling. Since they can’t refute his presidential success, they ridicule his personality. But Trump’s crude style may be a product of the left. He was a Democrat from 2001 to 2009. He produced and hosted The Apprentice, a reality TV show, from 2003 to 2015. He was enmeshed in the crudeness of Hollywood at the peak of his Democratic affiliation. The left dominates Hollywood, which is known for its lack of moral values. So it’s a little hypocritical for the left to attack Trump for vulgarity now. Trump’s comment he made about inappropriately grabbing women? He said that during a 2005 interview – after he’d been a Democrat for four years.

No matter how much the left calls Trump names, they can’t hide the fact he’s accomplished an incredible amount this past year. Once they wise up, they’re going to start seriously looking into removing him from office, whether by impeachment or the 25th Amendment. This means they are going to double down on their efforts to taint him criminally. Since they can’t beat him fair and square, they will try and take him out illegitimately through bogus accusations.  


The left hates Trump because he has turned out to be a populist, rough-around-the-edges version of the right’s revered President Reagan. Most conservatives were wary of Trump at first, fearing his checkered political past might result in more of a moderate presidency. It turns out they had nothing to worry about. He may ultimately end up accomplishing more for the right than Reagan did. Just don’t expect his Facebook Live chats with the American people to be like Reagan’s Saturday radio addresses.

https://townhall.com/columnists/rachelalexander/2018/01/01/trumps-sneakily-successful-first-year-n2428791