It’s Time for the Trump Report Card – “The Sunday Political Brunch”- December 20, 2020

Sunday, December 20, 2020

Mark Curtis, MINDSETTER™

 

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President Donald Trump PHOTO: GoLocal

This week the Electoral College voted to certify the 2020 Presidential Election. The result of the November 3rd election was the same: 306 votes for President-elect Joe Biden, to 232 votes for President Donald Trump. So, with Trump departing I think it’s fitting we issue a report card for his one term in the White House. Remember, my grades are based on the perceived effectiveness of his policies, not whether I like or agree with them. Let’s “brunch” on that this week.

 

“A Truly Supreme Court” – Grade: A+ Look, whether you like his picks or not, Trump reshaped the court for a generation by appointing one-third of its membership. Justice Amy Coney Barrett is 48; Justice Neil Gorsuch is 53; and Justice Brett Kavanaugh is 55. Each could be on the high court for the next 25 to 30 years. The oldest Justice is Clinton appointee Stephen Breyer, age 82, whom Biden would replace with another liberal, so the court’s 6-3 balance would not change. The next oldest justice is 72-year-old Clarence Thomas. But the chances of him retiring under Biden are nil.

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“It’s the Economy, Stupid” – Grade A- Presidents live and die by the economic numbers. In my lifetime Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and now Donald Trump, were voted out of office because of a sharp economic downturn. But the big focus is in the timing (which no one can control). Prior to COVID-19, the U.S. financial markets were cooking with a 30,000 Dow Jones Industrial Average. U.S. unemployment was at a 50-year low, and minority employment of Blacks and Hispanics was at an all-time high.

 

“But Timing is Everything” – Grade C- Remember this. All the good economic news I just talked about happened between January 2017, and February 2020. Then COVID-19 hit in March 2020, and unemployment spiked, and the financial markets tanked, and we entered a recession. As with many people, my retirement and investment accounts lost at least one-third of their value. But by mid-December 2020, the markets came roaring back. All my losses have rebounded, and in fact my accounts corrected in my favor plus 15-percent. Like many people, my investments have been made whole, even better. But the timing happened too late to help Trump in November.

 

“Immigration Reform” – Grade: F One of the main reasons Donald Trump was elected was because of the failed and ineffective immigration policies of the United States. And let me be frank, as BOTH parties were to blame. Democrats hoped the waves of illegal immigrants would eventually gain legal status and pad their voter rolls. Republicans saw illegal immigrants as a great source of underground, “off the books,” cheap labor in the agriculture and hospitality industries. Good jobs would result in GOP votes. No significant immigration legislation passed in the Trump term (or since 1989), and all the problems still exist. Yes, some hodge-podge sections of a wall were built. But patchwork is not long-term policy.

 

“Bipartisanship” – Grade: D  Washington, DC has a need for bipartisanship. Every side gets something, in the “are of the deal.” Trump failed to lead with his own book. But equal blame goes to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The “all or nothing” negotiating style gets us nowhere. It’s why they are still working this weekend to try to get another COVID-19 relief package done that could have been accomplished months ago.

 

“Tough on the Enemy” – Grade: C  Trump would get an A for his toughness on Iran, a nation that still presents a global threat. He cancelled the Iran nuclear deal signed by the Obama Administration. He also ordered the hit that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, a notorious terrorist. But he stood silent while standing next to Russian President Vladamir Putin when it was quite clear that the Russians at least tried to interfere with the 2016 U.S. Elections. Tough on Iran, but weak on Russia seems grossly inconsistent.

 

“A Free Press” – Grade: F Look I get criticism of the press. We are an imperfect institution.  I have plenty of complaints, too. But we are a public “lightning rods” of the governing process.  Regardless of our faults, we are a Constitutionally protected industry. To taunt us as “an enemy of the people” at rallies is offensive. In Wheeling, West Virginia in September 2018 people were openly encouraged to throw things at us, and the popcorn buckets flew. Not cool. At other rallies reporters and photographers were pushed and shoved for no reason. I had an angry man scream inches from my face about CNN. “Sir, I am not with CNN.” In one live shot a man who was listening threatened to beat me up after I said, “Perhaps no where in America is President Trump more popular than in West Virginia.” A factually true statement which he called “fake news!”

 

“Words Matter” – Grade C- “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the ship of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” That’s our First Amendment, and arguably our most important amendment. Everything else we have flows from those basic freedoms.

 

“COVID-19” – Grade: C- This is really a mixed bag. For helping urge and coordinate the rapid development of vaccines, I give the president an A-. White House leadership from Drs. Fauci and Birx on down to the drug companies was well done. But the poor leadership and lack of mask-wearing example-setting by President Trump, Rudi Giuliani and Chris Christie, all of whom contracted COVID-19, gets an F. Wear the mask folks!

 

What grades would you give President Trump? Add a comment below.

 

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Mark Curtis, Ed.D. is the Chief Political Reporter for the six Nexstar Media TV stations serving West Virginia, its five neighboring states and most of the Washington, DC media market. He is also a MINDSETTER contributing political analyst for www.GoLocalProv,com and its affiliates.

 

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