When Donald Trump was inaugurated as president more than a year ago, many citizens descended into a state of chaos in fear that Trump would start World War III and build a wall on the Mexican border.
It was an irrational fear that mostly originated from the president’s Twitter account. Tweets from Trump that were aimed at North Korea’s Kim Jong Un sounded like a second grader complaining to his parents about someone at school: “Why would Kim Jong-un insult me calling me “old,” when I would NEVER call him “short and fat?””
The Twitter account has given many citizens a reason to despise the president even more, but to get a true assessment of the president’s freshman year, we must look past his absurd immature tweets and look into what his administration has accomplished.
Throughout his campaign, he promised economic growth and he has delivered.
In late December, when Trump signed a $1.5 trillion measure in the Oval Office, he enacted historic tax and regulatory reform that skyrocketed the economy and cut taxes for large corporations and various states in the United States.
One main concern people had with Trump’s election was his lack of foreign policy experience, especially in dealing with a determined enemy like ISIS, but Trump silenced all the doubters with a strong military offensive that has left the group struggling to survive.
After Trump removed various constraints President Obama applied to the military, the Islamic State’s physical caliphate has been dramatically decreased to the point of near nonexistence.
Since ISIS’s peak in 2015, in which they controlled 27,000 square miles of territory, about 8000 miles have already been reclaimed by the military under Trump.
Another concern people had with Trump’s brash attitude toward various mutual treaties was that he would ruin relations and isolate the country.
Under previous administrations, the U.S. has been short-changed as countries have failed to meet their financial commitments and have ignored Bush’s and Obama’s begging.
One example of this is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), in which countries such as Canada failed to boost their military budgets toward the collective defensive budget of the alliance.
Instead of angering foreign leaders through his tough talk and beratement, Trump made them cower in fear, and he got U.S. allies to spend around $12 billion more on military defense this year.
Lastly, and perhaps the least influential but the most important, was Trump’s recognition as Jerusalem being the capital of Israel.
Trump’s recognition cemented the U.S. and Israel as close allies after decades of failed policy on Jerusalem.
More importantly, the last three presidents promised to deliver on the same act, but after their presidency, absolutely nothing changed.
Simply put, it proves that Trump will follow on his promises and will not leave citizens feeling cheated for voting for him, unlike previous presidents who have left promises unfulfilled and empty.
Sure, he acts like a child at times, but doubters of the president need to open their eyes to the Trump’s accomplishments throughout his first year and give the man some credit.
