Guest post by Joe Hoft
In the two years since the 2016 Presidential election, President Donald J. Trump amassed numerous successes. His efforts are arguably the best of any President during this relative time period in spite of massive headwinds from the corrupt prior administration, the Fed, the Democrat Party and their MSM!
Below is a list of President Trump’s major accomplishments.
President Trump won the 2016 Presidential election on November 8th, 2016, two years ago. It was a miracle. The Mainstream Media said he wasn’t supposed to win.
Since that day President Trump’s accomplishments are nothing short of miraculous. In spite of massive attacks from the MSM, an investigation created through the efforts of the prior corrupt administration, and a Democrat Party that does all they can to derail him, the President kept his promises and did all he could to Make America Great Again. The results speak for themselves.
The Economy –
The DOW
The US stock market is a barometer of economic activity and since President Trump was elected President it has skyrocketed.
The stock market on Wednesday, January 17th, 2018, said it all. On that day the Dow broke 26,000 points for the first time in its history. As a result the Dow broke the record for the fastest 500, 1,000, 2,000, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 and 7,000 point increases between major milestones in the history of the Dow. All of these increases occurred since Donald Trump was elected President.
After President Trump was elected the DOW exploded. On November 8th, 2016, the DOW stood at 18,332. Since that date the DOW has soared and it never looked back.
Not only has the DOW skyrocketed since Donald Trump was elected President, the market’s rise is record breaking. Since the 2016 election, the DOW has closed at new record all-time highs 103 times! (President Obama never saw a new all-time high in the DOW his entire first term and only saw 105 all-time closing highs from his first election win until Trump’s.)
President Trump’s first year in office (2017) saw the most all-time stock market closing highs (71) as well as the largest increase in DOW history (4,956 points). Prior to 2017, no year in the DOW’s more than 100-year history ever saw the DOW increase by more than 3,500 points, let alone 4,900. The most all-time highs in a year prior to 2017 was 69 in 1995.
Since President Trump was elected President the DOW tied the record for the most consecutive all-time closing highs in a row. In January of 1987 President Reagan saw the DOW increase to new all-time highs a record 12 days in a row. In February of 2017, President Trump matched Reagan’s record.
The DOW today stands at nearly 40% up from where it was in November of 2016, the day of the election!
Americans of all walks of life are seeing their 401k’s explode because of President Trump.
GDP and Debt
Rex Sinquefield at Forbes in October of 2016, shortly before the 2016 election, wrote the following –
The Obama recovery of the last seven years remains the worst in postwar American history. Average gross domestic product (GDP) growth since the bottom of the recession in 2009 was barely above 2.1% per year. The average since 1949 is well above 4% per year during the previous 10 expansions.
This result is not just bad, it is catastrophic. The average American should not be wondering if his or her income is a bit above or below 2007 levels. Just by historical averages, the average American should be 20% better off than in 2007. And this slow growth is settling in as a permanent new-abnormal.
I believe the root cause of abysmal growth is the huge tax increases imposed by Obama and the Democrats in Congress since 2008. The most harmful were the increase in the capital gains tax from 15 to 20 percent, the increase in top bracket income from 35 to 39.6 percent, and the new tax of 3.8 percent on investment income in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The massive increase in regulatory burden through the ACA and Dodd-Frank bills are also crushing, but unfortunately are harder to measure.
President Trump however reached a GDP of 4.2% in the 2nd quarter of 2018 and 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. With a GDP in the 4th quarter of around 3%, the GDP for the year will be greater than 3%. Something the prior President Obama never did and said no longer could be done.
In regards to debt, President Obama increased the amount of US debt astronomically. By the time Obama left office he had doubled the US debt to $20 trillion and incurred as much debt as all previous Presidents combined. President Trump is slowing that trend.
President Trump has added about $1.7 to the national debt and spending must come down. But because of the increase in GDP, the Debt to GDP ratio under President Trump is declining. President Obama increased the US debt to GDP ratio by 40% from around 60% in 2009 to over 100% in 2016.
With his increasing GDP and slowing of debt increases, President Trump has managed to decrease the debt to GDP ratio in the 2 years since the 2016 election. This is a very good result that is rarely mentioned by the MSM.
President Trump has done this in spite of headwinds from the Fed. Under President Obama the Fed lowered the Fed Funds rate to 0% and kept it at this rate for seven of Obama’s eight year’s in office. After President Trump was elected President the Fed increased the Fed rate seven times for nearly a 2% increase in rates. Still, the Debt to GDP is decreasing.
Jobs, Employment and Wages
President Trump is the ‘Jobs President’. Yesterday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 250,000 new jobs were created in October. In President Trump’s first two years since elected President, the US has gained over 4.3 million jobs. (In President Obama’s first two years the US lost over (4.2) million jobs.) More people are working in the US than ever before and unemployment is at 50 year lows landing at 3.7% last month.
The President’s tax plan passed in late December 2017 is greatly benefiting Americans and American companies. Employees will see increases in their income tax refunds next year due to the lower Federal taxes. Millions of Americans received bonuses due to the tax cuts and major companies announced plans to move capital and operations to the US due to these cuts. On top of income tax refund increases, Americans also are benefiting from the highest wage increases in a decade.
Foreign Policy
President Trump vowed to destroy ISIS. Despite President Obama saying that ISIS will be around for a generation, these murderers and terrorists in the Middle East were decimated over the President’s first year in office. Both Syria and Iraq declared victory over ISIS and due to President Trump’s resolve, less than 1,000 ISIS fighters remain.
President Trump met with the Pope, leaders of 50 Muslim countries and Israeli and European leaders in his first trip abroad. He demanded that the Muslim leaders remove radicals from their countries.
The President refused sending Pakistan security assistance in the millions due to the Pakistani’s harboring terrorists. He stopped an Obama last minute $221 million transfer to Palestine and cut aid to Palestinians in half. He showed that the US is unwilling to work with Muslim entities that support radical Islam.
On President Trump’s successful trip to Asia he bundled an estimated $300 billion in deals for the US. He met with Asian leaders and was the first US President and foreign leader to dine in China’s Forbidden City since the founding of modern China.
The President’s meeting in Singapore with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un shocked the world. At the end of the summit they signed an agreement and North Korea is now dismantling their nuclear test sites and facilities.
US Policy
The President named and successfully put in place Supreme Court Justice, Neil Gorsuch in 2017. In his second year he again nominated and put in place a second Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh. In spite of Democrats’ attempt to prevent Kavanaugh’s nomination by accusing him of being a gang rapist nearly 40 years prior, the President stood with Kavanaugh and he is now a Supreme Court Justice.
President Trump signed more than 90 executive actions in his first 100 days alone. The White House.gov site lists 81 pages of Executive Actions in the two years since the President was elected into office. The actions include –
* Dismantling Obama’s climate change initiatives.
* Travel bans for individuals from a select number of countries embroiled in terrorist atrocities.
* Enforcing regulatory reform.
* Protecting Law enforcement.
* Mandating for every new regulation to eliminate two.
* Defeating ISIS.
* Rebuilding the military.
* Building a border wall.
* Cutting funding for sanctuary cities.
* Approving Keystone and Dakota pipelines.
* Reducing regulations on manufacturers.
* Placing a hiring freeze on federal employees.
* Exiting the US from the TPP.
The list of POTUS 45’s successes goes on and on. The Washington Examiner listed 289 accomplishments in the President’s first 20 months alone. This list is amazing, especially when compared to prior Presidents. The Heritage Foundation ranked President Trump’s accomplishments in his first year ahead of Reagan.
Undoubtedly there is more to do. The wall is not yet fully built. The FBI and DOJ are still dysfunctional and involved in corrupt and criminal activities. A bogus investigation was created by these scoundrels and the current AG who recused himself from anything Russia appears to be inept and sleeping. But based on President Trump’s performance to date, he will address these issues successfully as soon as the mid-term election is over.
