MangoMan wrote: ↑Sat Sep 01, 2018 9:20 am
moda0306 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 01, 2018 8:47 am
MangoMan wrote: ↑Fri Aug 31, 2018 6:14 pm
Moda, there has been a ton of this progress going on since Trump took office. If you can get past the tweets, blustering and the media's constant attacks on him, there have been some HUGE things going on.
Not to be a broken record, but I find most pro-trump sources to be ridiculous partisan garbage, so could you give me some sources to follow you've found reliable?
The basic problem is that you dislike him so much that you can't see past it to the accomplishments. If you can ignore the abrasive personality (which I agree is difficult), here are just a few off the top of my head:
Unemployment, particularly for African Americans
- This is largely cyclical and outside of any president's hands in the short term imo. I didn't give obama a ton of credit for 7 years of lowering unemployment after the financial crisis. I certainly don't give Trump much for another year and a half of it absent some thorough evidence.
the Economy
Too vague. Need more specific markers. Or actual policy changes like the one I praised in that previous post.
the stock market
See comment above about unemployment.
consumer confidence
Terrible measure imo. Usually a harbinger for bad things.
near destruction of ISIS
I'd be open to an analysis on this, but my main go-to on foreign policy these days is the very anti-war Scott Horton, and I haven't heard anything impressive as it pertains to isis. Their time was bound to be limited.
better NAFTA
Open to evidence on this. Need actual evidence though not just a broad claim. Problem is most folks don't know jack about international trade so Trumpers are now learning on the fly as they try to give him credit on a complex topic they knew nothing about before his admin came to power.
trade policies with China
See NAFTA comment above.
progress on North Korea
I'll give small credit here but I have huge doubts whether flapping between threats of nuclear wa and heaping ridiculous praise are part of a cogent policy. Scott Horton who I mentioned above seems to like some of it though so I'm reserving judgment. Once again, N Korea is a complex topic so watching most Trumpers try to feign expertise on the topic leaves me annoyed. Waiting for a cogent Chomsky-esque Analysis that doesn't wreak of pro-Trump partisan drivel.
defunding of UN
Mostly ok with this.
defunding of European defense
Same.
defunding of the Palestinians
I think our funding of the Israeli apartheid state is far worse than anything we've ever done to help Palestinians out. His continued pandering to Israel is one of the reasons I think he's just another wolf-in-rapist-antiestablishment-maverick's-clothing.
I'd recommend a podcast on the Israel/Palestine conflict. Martyrmade by Darryl Cooper. "Fear and Loathing in New Jarusalem." Absolutely gut-wrenching stuff. He is pretty balanced, but I came away shocked at how little I knew about the topic.
Do you disagree that any of this has happened, or that is not MAGA?