No. of Recommendations: 12
Or..... secure the border, improve the economy, restore some coherence to foreign policy, and tamp down hard on our crime problem. That’s quite a list. Let’s look at it.
(1) “Secure the border”. Both Trump and Biden have a fail here.
President Trump Reduced Legal Immigration. He Did Not Reduce Illegal Immigration cato.org - President trump reduced legal immigration he did not reduce illegal immigrationI give Biden a fail because numbers are up. I give Trump a fail because of the headline above, and because he torpedoed the best chance to do something about it solely because he wanted an issue to run on. This is a “me first” policy, not a “the country first” policy.
(2) “Improve the economy”. The stock market is at an all time high. Wages are rising faster than inflation. There is a “help wanted” sign in front of every third business. It’s true that bankruptcies are up, 445,000 cases in 2023. That appears to be in some part because Covid relief for individuals and businesses, as well as other “relief” measures have ended. In any event it’s still 30% lower than the 760,000 in 2019, Trump’s final year before the pandemic hit.
reuters.com - US bankruptcies surged seen rising again report(3) “Restore some coherence to foreign policy”. I’m not sure about this one. Ending NATO after 50 years? That was “coherence”? I note that several long-time holdouts now have joined or want in. Here’s how an Obama voter/writer, who thought Obama’s foreign policy was mostly a failure, has to say about Trump’s:
So how did this all work out? Although Trump can claim a few foreign-policy successes, his overall record is dismal. America’s adversaries are more dangerous than they were in 2016, the United States is weaker, sicker, and more divided, relations with many U.S. allies are worse, and any aspirations to moral leadership that Americans might have harbored have been badly tarnished. foreignpolicy.com - Trumps final foreign policy report card(4) “Tamp down hard on our crime problem”. You know that crime statistics are down - WAY down from the Trump years, right? I’ll let the headline do the talking:
Joe Biden is correct that violent crime is near a 50-year low poynter.org - Crime rate up or down united statesSo to quote Jeff Daniels in the 1st episode of “The Newsroom”, I don’t know what the **** you’re talking about”
