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Trump: He kept his promises

Trump at a recent rally
He does what he says.

In my long life, I have seen many politicians come and go. The one abiding constant for them all was that you could expect them to break their promises once elected.

Until 2000 Democrats routinely spouted moderate and even conservative ideas during campaigns, only to quickly move left once elected. Some, like Bill Clinton, lied routinely on all matters, simply to please whoever he was talking to. After he left office Democrats have since been more public about their socialist and even communist ideologies, but still they have often lied whenever they found it convenient, such as Barack Obama’s support for normal marriage, until he found he could support perversion and get away with it.

Republicans have been even more dishonest. For decades they would paint themselves as the defenders of small and limited government, of freedom, of balanced budgets, only to throw all those ideas out the window once they gained control. Until 1994 they could make these claims without fear of revealing their untruthfulness, since they had not run both houses of Congress since just after World War II. They were the loyal opposition, whining from the sidelines about Democratic overreach.

After 1994 that excuse disappeared, and the result was blatant lying. Even though the Republican Congress during the latter half of Bill Clinton’s administration managed to balance the federal budget for several years, they did not do this by reducing government. No, all they did was allow inflation to catch up so that a thriving economy would cover their big budgets. No agency got trimmed. No agency got eliminated. Power and money continued to flow into Washington and into the pockets of politicians of both parties.

Under George Bush Jr. this dishonesty became even more obvious. Though Bush had Republican control of both the House and Senate for the first six years of his administration, spending skyrocketed, deficits bloomed, and the federal government became even more bloated. And the Republicans under Bush did this despite years of election campaign promises to do the opposite.

The prevarication of Washington politicians however was not simply limited to budget issues. For example, in the 1990s Congress passed a law stating that the U.S. would move its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, though it also included a weasel clause allowing each President to delay that move if he or she felt it necessary.

For more than twenty years every president, from both parties, campaigned with a platform that promised if elected they would move the embassy. Gore did it. Bush did it. Kerry did it. McCain did it, Romney did it. (I am not sure if Obama did it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, and then broke the promise.) In every case the promise was not kept. Even more disgustingly, these same politicians, once elected, continued to funnel large amounts of cash to the terrorist leaders in both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, money used to fund acts of violence.

Trump at press conference
Telling the leftist press off during
a press conference

And then, in 2016, in an upset of historic proportions, a non-politician and an outright businessman, Donald Trump, was elected president, maybe the first true businessman elected to that office in generations, if ever.

Trump ran making a few basic promises. He would reduce the power and size of the EPA, while squelching the federal government’s ferocious appetite for imposing new regulations. He would drain the Washington bureaucracy of its worst actors. He would get us out of the Paris climate accords and the Iran deal, while renegotiating the NAFTA agreement created under Clinton. He would appoint conservative judges to shift the courts to the right. He would move our Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, while cutting off any funding with links to terrorism. He would put an end to illegal immigration.

And unlike any elected official in my lifetime, he followed through on every one those campaign promises, heartily and without fear. More important, in every case his actions worked to everyone’s benefit.

In the Middle East he ended U.S. funding to Hamas, which has shut off its ability to fund terrorism and to launch rockets into Israel. This action, combined with the move of the American embassy to Jerusalem, made it possible for Arab countries to finally negotiate with Israel, and to recognize its right to exist. There is more likelihood of Middle East peace now than in decades. The bad players are being isolated, and hopefully will soon be removed.

NAFTA was renegotiated. I do not have any idea if the new deal is better, but Trump promised he would do it, and he did.

The porous southern border of the U.S. was sealed to illegal traffic, mostly because Trump finally put hard pressure on Mexico to force that nation to enforce its own border laws, thus blocking the transport of illegals through Mexico to our border.

Trump exited the very bad Paris climate accord, a deal that did nothing to stop global warming or the rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but was instead designed to crush the American economy while allowing China and others to do whatever they wanted, for decades.

Trump also ended the even worse Iran deal, which had not only funded the terrorism that radical Islamic state was fomenting worldwide, but was acting to stymie any peace agreements between Israel and the Arab world.

Trump appointed more judges than any president in decades, whose qualifications were vetted not by liberal organizations like the ABA but by the very Constitutionally-based Federalist Society.

The power grab by EPA and the climate lobby was finally killed. While the climate lobby still pushes hard in corrupt branches in both NOAA and NASA, they no longer have the power of the entire federal government in their back pocket.

In fact, the only campaign promise that Trump has failed to completely fulfill is his promise to drain the swamp in Washington. He has not cleaned house, though he has made a start. This lack is one of the reasons his first term was embroiled in numerous fake scandals, all instigated by false charges by that swamp.

Other than this one failure, Trump followed through on every one of his major campaign promises. You might not agree with every one of these decisions, but no one can accuse Trump of being mendacious, as have been all politicians for decades. He said what he wanted to do, and then he did it.

More important, he has been very careful to follow the law, and the Constitution, in all these actions. Democrats might routinely accuse him of being a fascist, but that is just another lie these politicians tell routinely.

During the 2016 campaign I had doubts about Trump. His history was that he was a liberal Democrat who only recently switched parties. He often said things that indicated he would be quite willing to make bad deals with the Democratic leadership in Congress. In the end however their own unmitigated hate for Trump pushed him from them, and made him even more conservative than he even knew.

My doubts are now gone. I would vote for Trump in a heartbeat. He might not do everything I want, and he might often be far more crude than I can tolerate, but he above all appears to be honest, something that cannot be said for practically every professional politician, from your local city council to just about every president since Calvin Coolidge. It certainly cannot be said about the Democratic candidates for president, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

For this alone, Trump deserves every American’s vote.

I say this on top of what I consider the desperate imperative to defeat the Democratic Party at all levels in November. The Democrats are corrupt, a party of lies, of looting, of riots, of bigotry, and of stolen elections. They should be run out of town, at all levels of government.

Vote against the Democrats wherever you can, but also vote for Donald Trump, as it is now clear that he can be trusted to follow through with his promises. A big victory in November will finally give him the power to truly clean house, and drain the swamp, as he promised in 2016.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

27 comments

  • Cotour

    Every other modern day president was UNABLE to accomplish ANYTHING in the middle east. Because they were politicians. The only thing that they accomplished was war and more war.

    And timing is everything in life and this is a event at this time accomplished by this particular president.

    This is a big deal.

    And the Trump opponents will posit: What did trump have to promise, give away and guarantee to get this done at this opportune time?

    (And I am certain that it will not have anything to do with giving them $150 billion + $1.8 billion in cash)

  • Kevin R.

    Agree completely. Before he actually took office Trump was still unproven politically. I voted for him with fingers crossed. In 2020 President Trump is very much proven. And thank goodness he is here.

  • Warren

    Great summary. This is why I will be voting for Trump this November.

  • Gary

    His second term must reinstate the “rule of law” where all are impartially judged. Coup by political and media deception, lawless streets and what I’m anticipating will be organized voter fraud will end our form of government if not stopped. The next six months will try us all.

  • Garry

    This essay articulates my perspective well, but I wanted to provide more info on one point

    Robert Zimmerman wrote,

    “NAFTA was renegotiated. I do not have any idea if the new deal is better, but Trump promised he would do it, and he did.”

    USMCA definitely is better than NAFTA; the only ones who lose are multinational corporations and the Chinese. Auto manufacturers in particular have invested a lot of money into plants in the US and Mexico, because the new rules under USMCA give them an incentive to do so. Mexico can manufacture its own parts, rather than assemble parts made in China.

    The Conservative Treehouse has written much about this agreement; this is the best summary I could find quickly.

    https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/07/01/usmca-officially-in-effect-statement-from-ustr-robert-lighthizer/

    In addition, sealing the border should take away a lot of power from coyotes and thereby eliminate a lot of human trafficking (along with drug trafficking). Illegal aliens pay thousands of dollars per person to be smuggled across the border, and live in fear for years until they successfully pay off their debts to the coyotes. Many illegals are willing to work themselves nearly to death, because they’re desperate to not miss a payment.

    I hope that, as part of reinstating the rule of law (suggested by Gary above) in his 2nd term, President Trump helps Mexico eliminate much of its corruption. Economic opportunities for the people and weakening of the cartels / coyotes would allow Mexico to prosper.

  • Nitecat

    I strongly agree with Mr. Zimmerman and all of those replying. The abuse of the illegal aliens for decades , including the commonplace rape of women and children , is an evil on par with slavery. It could be called the new version of it , once again promoted by the same party ! Run them out of town , then clean the treasonous vermin out of the FBI , CIA , DOJ , and all colleges and universities. ( This may take a while. ) This should cause the deadbeats in the Republican party to shape up or ship out.

  • ARR

    I’m old enough to remember the great Republican campaign of 2016 when they were going to repeal Obamacare. I was elated when they won and controlled the house and senate and presidency. It was as good as done. The check was in the mail. Then …

  • Spectrum Shift

    I don’t consider President Trump’s promise to drain the swamp a failure. Rather, I see, so far, results that can be said to be a work in progress. The deep state of both parties have incestuous roots grown over decades. Both parties were surprised by Trump’s win in 2016, democrats for sure and Never Trumpers as well. Do Never Trumpers really wish Hillary had won? Trump has changed Washington, and the swamp may find it is already caught in a political riptide.

  • Brian

    ARR ,and then John McCain came along and pulled the football away like Lucy does Charlie Brown.

  • Steve

    I didn’t so much vote for Trump as against Shrillary. But I give every new President a chance. Trump has won me over. I agree with everything you said. He’s not a perfect human being. But he’s the best president in at least a century. And we don’t elect them to be our friend. We elect them to run our country to our benefit. Which he has done in spades. This time I WILL be voting for HIM.

  • wayne

    Steve–
    Pretty much the same for me.

    Trump wasn’t Hillary, that was the existential question on the table for me. [although–highly agree with Edward’s numerous comments over the years– we’re still living in obama’s-amerika]

    Anything else Trump did after making Hillary cancel the free-pizza & fireworks on Election night, good/bad/neutral, would be icing on the cake and I’d have to put up with it. (so to speak)

    I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Trump. And I’ll gladly walk across the street and stand in line (again) to vote.

    The Debt however, will drag us all under. It’s impossible to grow our way out of this pit.

  • LocalFluff

    What’s the outlook for the Republicans winning back the House of Representatives in 2020? I don’t see much about the congressional elections in national news. Lock downs and riots might cause surprises, right?

    The Democrats need to be soundly defeated. I hope that in the case of a backlash moderate Democrats, who lie low today, will take back the party from the extreme left, or probably easier found a new center party for 2024. The left must’ve gone way too far in several ways.

  • Richard M

    But where is the wall?

  • sippin_bourbon

    Richard M

    Rome was not built in a day.
    He has built walls in some areas, and the Border Patrol and/or Local LE in that area says the drop off in illegal traffic has been dramiatic.

  • Rose

    LocalFluff> “What’s the outlook for the Republicans winning back the House of Representatives in 2020?”

    Not good. Recent projections I’ve seen suggest that not only is that highly unlikely, but there is a decent chance of the Democratic Party taking control of the Senate, by either gaining a net of 3 seats if Mr. Biden wins or 4 seats if he doesn’t. Democratic Alabama Senator Doug Jone’s win in the 2017 special election was a fluke brought about by his opponent’s unique liabilities, and in this year’s regular election Senator Jones will almost certainly lose. But what looks like a median projection would have the Democrats loose that seat but gain four others, namely those in Arizona, Colorado, Maine, and North Carolina, dividing the senate and giving control to the party which wins the presidency since the vice president casts tie-breaking Senate votes. (Much more is needed for complete control of the Senate, given its various parliamentary procedures such as the filibuster, but the Senate rules which codify most of those supermajority requirements can be amended by a simple majority vote, and they have been eroded by both parties over the past couple decades, a trend which seems likely to continue.) With that 50-50 tie as a median outcome, an absolute majority win by either party is certainly a possibility.

    I suspect that a President Biden, with his connections and legislative experience, would put control of both houses to much more effective use than President Trump did during his first two years in office.

  • Cotour

    My Liberal lawyer Soros loving friend the other day sends me this email:

    “You’ve been suckered again by your own propagandists:”. (He reads the Daily Beast, and he is objective?)

    And he included The Daily Beast article about how Bannon, a now discredited Trump supporter, was the creator of the rumor that the Chinese manufactured the virus that is now infection the world. Obviously he is unable to recognize propaganda, whether it be from the Left or the Right.

    ————-

    And this is my response to him this morning, I think it is relevant:

    IF YOU ARE ABLE TO BE OBJECTIVE

    I think that if you are able to be objectively honest here we can both agree that these two sets of stories in the media: The Bannon: “The Chinese created the virus as a weapon”, rumor V “The Virus is a weapon”, as per the Chinese doctor, “And I will provide evidence”.

    And the, “Good vaccine” V “The Vaccine has been rushed and is dangerous”, are strategically placed in the media and intended to oppose each other at the same time in the news cycle and designed to confuse and obfuscate in the minds of the public. We all tend to default to our own developed tribal story line. But what happens when its all revealed?

    Information? Or Disinformation?

    This clearly demonstrates the activities and influence of both political machines and / or deep state / CIA (?) operatives who have and have had their influence in media for many years. Choose one. Or both. (This is all based in S.O.M. principles)

    https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannon-linked-groups-push-study-claiming-china-manufactured-covid?ref=home
    https://www.techtimes.com/articles/252589/20200916/whistleblower-li-meng-yan-claims-covid-as-china-made-virus-other-scientists-call-it-conspiracy.htm

    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-02/cdc-tells-states-to-get-ready-for-nov-1-vaccine-distribution
    https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-global-rush-to-approve-a-covid-19-vaccine-keeps-getting-worse?ref=home

    That’s if you are able to be objectively honest. But it must be recognized that the Left because of the Trump non politician and actually accomplishing what he says he will accomplish threat, like it or not, that forces them to be revealed more than the Right. And the Left has had to take this to a ridiculous level and because of that they reveal themselves much more than the Right, over and over. Very obvious, and if I see it others must see it. Like it or not.

    The truth cares not whether you like it or not.

  • Cotour

    A little more back up:

    You want actual honesty in American politics? Then go to someplace like Australia and get their take on a Joe Biden event:

    https://youtu.be/CJURG-4Y8Wo Reality all in 1:43 minutes.

    This is who the Democrat leadership have offered the American people the most powerful job on the planet to vote for. (You understand and know he is a crippled candidate.) And the “polls” in America say that he is the logical winner based on their polling research. This is elder abuse to me.

    Biden is just being used as a beard for Harris and she is a zero, an empty vessel. The Democrat party leadership and those who control them are waiting to see if their fraud works.

    The Democrats and the Leftist media whores that are tied to them so closely are the enemy here, journalism is dead in America.

    Are you paying attention America? I certainly hope so.

  • Margarita

    Richard M,
    Trump’s pressuring Mexico to enforce its own border laws to mitigate the flow of illegals from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, and Mexico itself, etc. into our border is as good as building the wall and having Mexico pay for it. And that’s just a start.
    I’m hoping that in his second term, Trump will be able to completely build a physical wall to filter out unlawful aliens from lawful immigrants, and enforce our just immigration laws that the Democrats have all but destroyed.

  • TGeorge

    Hehe… Maybe Hillary is running again, but using Biden as an avatar :)))
    Regarding President Trump, didn’t he say as a candidate that low interest rates are killing the middle class ppl, savers having interest-earning bank accounts? And the stock market as being in a “big fat ugly bubble”?
    If so then why is he calling for lower rates and touting the all time highs on wall street, during his term?
    This is in addition to the deficits issue.

  • LocalFluff

    @TGeorge
    I followed Trump’s campaign from December 2015, and I don’t recall that. Instead he said that he is “The King of Debt”. I never had any hopes that he would change the monetary policy in any good way. He’s made a career in real estate after all, which is all about maximizing debt to get leverage.

  • LocalFluff

    Trump’s mother grew up on the Outer Hebrides northwest of Scotland. So I first thought that she had Norwegian heritage, because who but Norwegian wikings would sail by some barren rocks in a stormy sea and think: “-This is a nice place to settle!” (oh, well, some space enthusiasts have similar ideas today…)

    But then I read that English was not her native language, she learned English only in school. At home they spoke gaelic. So she was a celt, of the people that inhabited the British islands long before in order the Romans, the Jutes, the Frisians, the Saxons, the Anglians and the wikings arrived there. The celts were the guys who wore helmets with horns, fought the Romans naked, tattooed their whole bodies and who had today very poorly understood and complex views of life and the universe.

  • TGeorge

    @LocalFluff
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4xn9jLy_TB4&t=1m

    There’s more but don’t have the time to look things up right now.
    The thing is, savers are robbed blind, binging on credit is “stimulated”, zombie companies all around us and the stock market is in an even bigger fatter uglier bubble, a setup for 401Ks to plunge into nothingness. Corporations having cash galore get their bonds bought by the Fed and folks are supposed to get by with a 1200 check while small business is obliterated thanks to the batflu craze.
    Don’t get me wrong, I like Trump but we need to be aware of these things. Either he doesn’t care or can’t do anything, whatever the case I don’t think things are good.

  • LocalFluff

    @TGeorge
    Yes, but he didn’t argue for lowered interest rates. When the FED did hike the rates after he was elected, I’ve only heard him complain about it.

    First time I followed, and learned something about, US politics was during the 2012 Republican nomination. Because I found Ron Paul very interesting. Trump isn’t Paul, at all. And he never pretended to be. Trump’s gonna use negative interest rates, trade tariffs whathaveyou as it serves his purposes.

    But remember that naked libertarianism doesn’t work in a world that isn’t an unregulated market! If he can inflate or extort och somehow cheat an advantage for the US by gunboat diplomacy or such, he will. He’s tit for tat, not much for principles.

    I go hard!
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcGPSnswzjc

  • Andrew M. Winter

    I think this needs looking at.

    As far as I can tell. The Swamp Dwellers, Also Known As “The Deep State”, are in place and protected by this: https://www.seiu.org/. This ability to create a union based collective bargaining protection system for government workers is the keystone to the arch of The Deep State.

    What I feel may be key is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_10988.

    If Trump would see this and do what he does in the vein of “What the Executive Order Giveth, the Executive Order may taketh away, and simply revoke EO 10988 it would send shock waves through the entire Deep State. Might be enough of a shock wave to crack open the bottom of the Swamp and really kick start the drainage process.

  • Cotour

    Andrew:

    Recently the Supreme Court in their ultimate wisdom ruled that one president can not undo an Executive order of another president.

    And I agree with your point about government workers being able to unionize, it creates the enemy within atmosphere.

  • Thanks for sharing this! All the best!

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