Trump’s Broken Promises
By: Richard D Debacher
Tags: Democrats, Republicans, Politics And Elections, Donald Trump, Campaign

Trump’s Broken Promises

Bloomberg News columnist and political scientist Jonathan Bernstein is filling in for David Leonhardt at the New York Times editorial page while the latter takes his summer break. In that role Bernstein penned today’s cover letter for the Opinions section of the paper. I receive this letter each day by email. Bernstein’s commentary this morning ran under the headline, “Has Trump Kept His Promises?” If you haven’t seen it, here it is:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/22/opinion/trump-promises-campaign-2016.html

I was stunned that anyone would bother to pose the question. Trump’s accumulation of failed undertakings, broken promises and flim-flam reversals is so large and unmistakable one wonders why the Democratic candidates tear into one another over policy details when they should be hammering home the fact that Trump’s Presidency is a massive failure in nearly every respect. What’s more, the few promises he’s kept are disastrous blunders that have made things worse, not better. Unless you’re a plutocrat or the head or a large corporation, or a single issue “pro-life” or Second Amendment devotee, Trump has likely made your life more difficult, not better.

He promised to repeal and replace Obamacare with something better. He failed to repeal and never had a plan to replace and still doesn’t. His administration and Republicans in Congress continue to attack, sue, and undermine the Affordable Care Act in every way possible. The number of people left without insurance has grown. Life expectancy in America is declining. He said he would build a great border wall from sea to sea and Mexico would pay for it. Hasn’t happened. Trump’s threats to close the border sparked a new wave of migrants from Central America. When he came to office, illegal border crossings were at the lowest point in years. His hateful policies sparked a new crisis to which he responded with brutal inhumanely. He said he had a plan to eliminate the debt and deficit in eight years. His irresponsible tax cuts and spending increases, especially those for the military, have ensured trillion-dollar deficits for years to come. Of course, debts and deficits matter to Republicans only when there’s a Democrat in the White House. He said he had a great infrastructure plan — nothing at all has materialized. Roads, bridges, the power grid, water treatment systems and gas pipelines continue to decay with no plans for their improvement. He promised a huge tax cut and he said it would pay for itself — instead it’s leading us to trillion dollar deficits. See point 3. He promised us four, five or even six percent growth. We’re on the same economic trajectory he inherited from Obama except the only thing sustaining the continuing expansion is more borrowed money thanks to the tax cuts. Had he delivered on an infrastructure plan, paid for with taxes on fossil fuels, the expansion would be on solid footing and real jobs would have been created. He promised to make our allies and adversaries “respect” us. Our allies no longer trust us, our adversaries ignore his threats and get their way with flattery. He “loves” Kim Jong Um, speaks admiringly of Rodrigo Duterte, Vladimir Putin, and other thugs, and insults the Prime Minister of Denmark for rebuffing his ludicrous offer to buy Greenland. He’s a laughing stock around the world. He promised to drain the swamp; instead government agencies are run by former lobbyists for or former heads of the industries these agencies are supposed to regulate. Wall Street billionaires hold key cabinet posts. Critical posts go unfilled for months and a revolving door is needed to accommodate the flow of departing administrators, many leaving in disgrace, and the flood of temporary appointees making their way in. Total chaos. What’s more, he besmirched the good reputation of swamps which are critical environmental wetlands. Instead he’s given us a sewer. He promised to unite us; he’s done just the opposite.

What about the promises kept? He doesn’t get credit on cutting taxes because the cuts have not paid for themselves and he did not, as promised, close corporate loopholes, and the cuts did in fact benefit Trump and the 1% contrary to what he alleged. The cuts did not spark a permanent boost in GDP growth, did not result in sustained business investment and what little stimulus it afforded to the economy has faded. If, as many economists predict, the economy slides into recession, there are few arrows left in the fiscal or monetary quivers to deal with it since interest rates already stand at historically low levels, and the deficit has already exploded. Nice job, Donald.

He promised to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accords. He’s done so. Climate change poses an existential threat to the future viability of the planet and for our “civilization,” yet our leader has chosen to reward the fossil fuel industries and let China take the lead in developing sustainable energy and electrical vehicles. Great move.

He promised the return of millions of manufacturing jobs. Hasn’t happened. Even with tariffs in place to protect domestic steelmakers, U.S. Steel just announced closures and layoffs. Corporations leaving China aren’t moving back to America; they’re heading to Southeast Asia, Mexico and other low-wage countries. GM closed its Lordstown plant and even Harley-Davidson moved a plant from Kansas to Europe.

He said he loved coal and would bring jobs back to coal country. Despite his efforts, coal mining employment has remained flat, coal consumption by power plants continues to diminish as power companies convert to natural gas or renewable energy sources. The administration has done nothing to address pleas from retired coal miners to shore up their underfunded pension plans.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/01/01/trumps-u-s-coal-consumption-is-less-than-obamas/

He promised to secure our borders against the threat of illegal immigration. He lied about the threat — calling it an invasion when border crossings were at the lowest levels in years, and he lied about the immigrants, calling them rapists and criminals when in fact undocumented immigrants commit fewer violent crimes than do citizens. As stated above, he threatened to close the border, sparked a new wave of asylum seekers and would-be immigrants, and responded with inhumane policies that separated children from their parents. He said he would support a bipartisan immigration reform bill, then he walked away from his promise. Yes, he kept an implied promise to his base to treat immigrants with shameful brutality and in doing so he’s brought disgrace and ridicule upon our country and made the entire situation worse.

He promised to “stand up to China,” and most everyone agrees something needed to be done to bring Chinese trade and business practices in line with international norms. But Trump’s trade war and tariffs are not likely to do the job. Support from his base is flagging. U.S. farm income is down, key industries are feeling the pain. Clearly a multilateral effort to address the problem rather than Trump’s “I alone can fix things” approach might have led to better results with less pain.

Sadly, he’s kept his promise to the Evangelicals and the Federalist Society and, with Mitch McConnell’s help, packed the federal courts with radical conservatives, many disposed toward overthrowing Roe v. Wade or opposing any new gun control legislation. Some of these appointees are woefully unqualified; a few had to withdraw when the inadequacy of their records was exposed. The result — many years of rulings by hard-right conservatives who are out-of-step with mainstream America on key issues.

He promised to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and he delivered. But Donald the dealmaker got nothing for it. The move had been on hold by all previous administrations with the aim of using it as a bargaining chip in a final peace settlement with the Palestinians. Trump gave the chip away for nothing, his son-in-law’s vaunted peace plan is going nowhere, and the embassy move has further exacerbated Palestinian hostility and frustration. Meanwhile, after weeks of attacking Muslim women in Congress, alleging anti-Semitism for their criticism of Israeli settlement policies, Trump attacks American Jews for supporting Democrats, charging them with “disloyalty” and falling into an anti-Semitic trope himself. For all his efforts, he gained nothing but enmity from the Palestinians and American Jews. Smooth move, Donald!

He promised a clean environment. His executive orders and cabinet secretaries have facilitated the exploitation of public lands often for the extraction of fossil fuels that should remain in the ground. He’s reduced the power of the Endangered Species Act to protect our wildlife, ensuring the acceleration of the sixth great extinction event. One of his first deregulatory acts allowed coal companies to dispose of toxic waste with less concern about the contamination of waterways. Again, I could go on, but you get the picture.

Trump’s failed to deliver on most of his biggest promises. On those he’s fulfilled or partially addressed, the results can be judged in most cases as negative if not disastrous.

In his column today, Jonathan Bernstein credits Trump with doing a good job in persuading his base that he’s done what he said he’d do. I’ll dispense with elitist snide remarks about the capacity of Trump’s base to discern fact from fiction. I think key elements of his first term voters, especially college-educated suburban women, have had enough. If Democrats stop quibbling over details in their pie-in-the-sky policies and get on with calling out Trump on his many broken promises, we can hope for better times ahead.