THE MANY TRUMP PROMISES NOT KEPT

…President Trump in Rose Garden Press Conference

Trump blames others for problems that he has caused.

This was a recent statement in The Post: “Trump took office on a pledge to buck conventional wisdom, sideline Washington’s political class and tackle long-standing problems with a mix of outside-the-box improvisation and deal-making skills honed during his real estate career. “I alone can fix it,” he declared at the Republican National Convention in 2016.”

This is total B.S.

Trump has yet to fulfill a number of his signature campaign promises, and he has consistently blamed others for problems he, himself has caused.

Trump has had the “cojones”  to criticize both the administrations of President Obama and President George W. Bush for not reforming the immigration system or reining in North Korea.  He has gone after Democrats for failing to support his proposed bogus border wall and has implored them to ratify new, suspect trade deals.   He has even attacked his fellow Republicans, by slamming former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) during a White House Rose Garden news conference for not having pushed faster to get a deal on the wall

But Trump’s critics have continued to say that Trump’s policies have made things worse.

On immigration, the administration has sought to block asylum seekers at legal ports of entry along the border, prompting them to try to find alternative ways to enter the country. The president shut down parts of the federal government for 35 days, the longest such closure in US history, in an ill-fated fight for border wall funding.  This was even though the experts said the surge of migrant families was not a threat to our national security and that a wall would do little to curb it.

On trade, Trump’s tariff war with China has harmed US farmers as Beijing slashed agricultural imports.  Although the president has falsely signaled that a trade deal was close, analysts said an accord would not fundamentally alter the US trade relationship with the world’s second-largest economy.

And on North Korea, officials have said, the president’s decision to rush forward with bilateral summits with Kim have led to difficulties for US negotiators.  The summits have  kept key US personnel from engaging with their counterparts over technical and complicated nuclear matters.  Instead, Kim has preferred to deal directly with Trump.  And that’s because Kim has learned that he is smarter than Donald Trump.

Simon Rosenberg, founder of the “think tank” NDN, noted that the tax cut has not even come close to GOP projections for economic growth, and the cuts have added significantly to the ballooning federal deficit.  “The reality is he [Trump] can’t point to a single thing that’s better today than when he came to office,” Rosenberg said.

Although he has projected confidence, Trump has fretted in private over his difficulties. During the government shutdown, the president’s approval ratings dipped to 37% in a Washington Post/ABC News poll, one of the lowest marks of his tenure.

Since then, Trump’s numbers have fluctuated. This week, a Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll put his approval at 46%, while a QUINNIPIAC University survey pegged it at 38%, (and this poll is usually much more friendly for Trump)

During his marathon speech to the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC), Trump once again veered off script, spending much of his long, 2 hour speech attacking his rivals. This included congressional Democrats; special counsel Robert Mueller III; and most news organizations (Except FOX).  Trump spent virtually zero time on his poor governing record.

On trade, Trump defended his use of tariffs and suggested the United States had accrued large trade deficits because past administrations were afraid to use that tool as leverage.  (Trump has totally ignored the fact that his tariffs have negatively affected American consumers more than the countries with the tariffs.)  On North Korea, Trump blamed the Obama administration for allowing the Kim regime to send “rockets flying all over the place” and he said his team was “making a lot of progress.”  But now, North Korea seems to be rebuilding their ability to deliver their nuclear devices to anywhere on the globe.  Kim has Trump's number, and he uses flattery to get what he wants from Trump. 

On immigration, Trump called current US laws “crazy” and said he felt empowered to declare a national emergency “because our Congress can’t act.”  But many of those in Congress don’t agree with the president, and some of them are Republicans.  Trump could have gotten a lot done when he had a Republican Congress, now it’s impossible.

“Not my fault I inherited this mess, but we’re fixing it,” he falsely said this during the CPAC speech.   But he did not inherited it, and he’s not fixing it.

Trump at times appears determined to prove that he is making progress.  This is blatantly false.  He publicly contradicted his own intelligence chiefs, who testified to Congress that there is no evidence that North Korea would be willing to give up its nuclear program.  Trump has made Kim an international figure.  He was virtually unknown before he and Trump started their Twitter war.

Asked by a reporter about the satellite images that showed construction work at the N.K. ­Sohae Satellite Launching Station, Trump said he would be “very disappointed” if the news is confirmed, but he added that it was “a very early report.”  Sorry Mr. President, but pictures don’t lie, and the North Koreans are building structures over whatever they are rebuilding, so that the satellite cameras can’t see what they are doing.

Senior White House aides have sought to cast the Hanoi summit as a sign of Trump’s negotiating fortitude and unwillingness to settle for a bad deal.  However, Trump has grown frustrated by the largely truthful, but negative coverage of the summit in Vietnam.  A senior White House official briefed lawmakers this week to explain Trump’s goals.  As usual, the official spoke on the condition of anonymity for these internal discussions.

“He [Trump] thought they closed the gap on some issues,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) said. “He just said, ‘North Korea isn’t ready to make a deal.’ ”  (It's called dealing for the time to rebuild their capability.)

Last year, Trump berated Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen over the rising border crossings.  Trump actually had the gall to tell his staff that the shutdown dispute had sent an important message to his conservative base that he is fighting for them.  (I doubt that much of his base saw it that way.)

On trade, Trump postponed a March 1 deadline to impose another round of tariffs on China in hopes of a deal that today, appears stalled.  White House aides are planning events for Trump and Vice President Pence in the Midwest this spring to tout an updated trade deal reached last year with Canada and Mexico.  They can plan all they want for months, but the US Congress has yet to ratify any of Trump's deals.

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) said in an interview that his farmers have supported Trump, but they are losing agricultural sales big time, and today they are growing very antsy.

“These folks are with you, they want to see you be successful,” Rounds said, speaking as if he was sending a message to Trump. “But you’re going to have to deliver some positive results soon.”

The experts are now confirming that the growing US deficit is due to Trump’s Tax Cuts.

The critics of President Donald Trump’s tax cut had warned that the cuts would send the deficit skyrocketing by dramatically shrinking federal revenues, and it’s happening as we speak.

And this man Trump says he will win again in 2020.

Copyright G. Ater 2019