Americans shouldn’t forget President Trump’s successes

I’ve had countless conversations with faithful Republicans about their dissatisfaction with presidents both Republican and Democrat. Often, there seems to be more emphasis on personality and charisma. As candidates go, Republicans such as George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney had about as much charisma as a wet paper bag. Truthfully, Republicans are more interested in hearing the candidate articulate how they would help make life better for everyday Americans.

Both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama articulated what they would do. Most conservatives knew that their policy prescriptions would not end with the results they promised.

Sadly, since President Ronald Reagan, presidents have failed to deliver what the American people needed most: a booming economy, economic and physical security, and job growth so robust that more total dollars would roll into state and federal treasuries even with tax cuts.

People argue what they didn’t like in President Trump, but his results speak for themselves. Here are the highlights:

Before the pandemic, the U.S. saw the lowest unemployment rates for black and Hispanic Americans in history and the second-lowest unemployment rate for women in history. We had the lowest overall unemployment rate in over 50 years. By January 2020, this had equaled an average annual income increase of $5,000 per family.

The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost by 2018, which outpaced a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country’s highest-paid workers. Average incomes went up for every economic class, something that has not happened in more than 20 years. Prior to Covid-19 arriving, more than 7 million jobs created, more Americans employed than any other time in our history, including more than half million manufacturing jobs.

Low-wage workers are benefiting from higher minimum wages and from corporations that are increasing entry-level pay.

Companies brought back more than a trillion dollars from overseas because of the TCJA bill that Trump signed.

The U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer and exporter of crude oil.

Trump took significant steps toward fixing the broken VA system. VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended. Availability and access to and quality of care for Veterans has improved dramatically.

Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade.

Trump facilitated Middle East peace agreements once thought to be impossible.

Trump allowed drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down. This overturned the price gouging permissions given to Big Pharma in Obamacare. In the eight years prior to President Trump’s inauguration, prescription drug prices increased by an average of 3.6% per year. Under Trump, drug prices have seen year-over-year declines in eleven of the last fourteen months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.

The DOW closed at new all-time highs more than 100 times! The markets reached 131 new all-time-high closings.

His historic tax cut legislation included new Opportunity Zone Incentives to promote investment in low-income communities across the country, with 8,764 communities across the country benefiting. This brought $75 billion in long-term private capital investment in economically distressed communities.

You may not like Trump’s personality, but he delivered on more promises than any president since Reagan. Apparently, a political outsider with acumen for business and great negotiating skills is what we need in a president these days.

Desiree Zapata Miller of Charlotte is a contributing columnist for the Editorial Board. She can be reached at dzmiller81@gmail.com .