US Politics Thread 2016-2020

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Yeah, he does, but class and style didn't do anything to help the country during his 8 years.

Originally Posted by Skybird

And Trump...?

Let's see...

* Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.
* Trump finalized the creation of Space Force as our 6th Military branch.
* Trump signed a law to make cruelty to animals a federal felony so that animal abusers face tougher consequences.
* Violent crime has fallen every year he’s been in office after rising during the 2 years before he was elected.
* Trump signed a bill making CBD and Hemp legal.
* Trump’s EPA gave $100 million to fix the water infrastructure problem in Flint, Michigan.
* Under Trump’s leadership, in 2018 the U.S. surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the world’s largest producer of crude oil.
* Trump signed a law ending the gag orders on Pharmacists that prevented them from sharing money-saving information.
* Trump signed the “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act” (FOSTA), which includes the “Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act” (SESTA) which both give law enforcement and victims new tools to fight sex trafficking.
* Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.
* The 25% lowest-paid Americans enjoyed a 4.5% income boost in November 2019, which outpaces a 2.9% gain in earnings for the country's highest-paid workers.
* Low-wage workers are benefiting from higher minimum wages and from corporations that are increasing entry-level pay.
* Trump signed the biggest wilderness protection & conservation bill in a decade and designated 375,000 acres as protected land.
* Trump signed the Save our Seas Act which funds $10 million per year to clean tons of plastic & garbage from the ocean.
* He signed a bill this year allowing some drug imports from Canada so that prescription prices would go down.
* Trump signed an executive order this year that forces all healthcare providers to disclose the cost of their services so that Americans can comparison shop and know how much less providers charge insurance companies.
* When signing that bill he said no American should be blindsided by bills for medical services they never agreed to in advance.
* Hospitals will now be required to post their standard charges for services, which include the discounted price a hospital is willing to accept.
* 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 nine of the last ten months, with a 1.1% drop as of the most recent month.
* He created a White House VA Hotline to help veterans and principally staffed it with veterans and direct family members of veterans.
* VA employees are being held accountable for poor performance, with more than 4,000 VA employees removed, demoted, and suspended so far.
* Issued an executive order requiring the Secretaries of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to submit a joint plan to provide veterans access to access to mental health treatment as they transition to civilian life.
* Because of a bill signed and championed by Trump, In 2020, most federal employees will see their pay increase by an average of 3.1% — the largest raise in more than 10 years.
* Trump signed into a law up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave for millions of federal workers.
* Trump administration will provide HIV prevention drugs for free to 200,000 uninsured patients per year for 11 years.
* All-time record sales during the 2019 holidays.
* Trump signed an order allowing small businesses to group together when buying insurance to get a better price
* President Trump signed the Preventing Maternal Deaths Act that provides funding for states to develop maternal mortality reviews to better understand maternal complications and identify solutions & largely focuses on reducing the higher mortality rates for Black Americans.
* In 2018, President Trump signed the groundbreaking First Step Act, a criminal justice bill which enacted reforms that make our justice system fairer and help former inmates successfully return to society.
* The First Step Act’s reforms addressed inequities in sentencing laws that disproportionately harmed Black Americans and reformed mandatory minimums that created unfair outcomes.
* The First Step Act expanded judicial discretion in sentencing of non-violent crimes.
* Over 90% of those benefiting from the retroactive sentencing reductions in the First Step Act are Black Americans.
* The First Step Act provides rehabilitative programs to inmates, helping them successfully rejoin society and not return to crime.
* Trump increased funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) by more than 14%.
* Trump signed legislation forgiving Hurricane Katrina debt that threatened HBCUs.
* New single-family home sales are up 31.6% in October 2019 compared to just one year ago.
* Made HBCUs a priority by creating the position of executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs.
* Trump received the Bipartisan Justice Award at a historically black college for his criminal justice reform accomplishments.
* The poverty rate fell to a 17-year low of 11.8% under the Trump administration as a result of a jobs-rich environment.
* Poverty rates for African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans have reached their lowest levels since the U.S. began collecting such data.
* President Trump signed a bill that creates five national monuments, expands several national parks, adds 1.3 million acres of wilderness, and permanently reauthorizes the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
* Trump’s USDA committed $124 Million to rebuild rural water infrastructure.
* Consumer confidence & small business confidence is at an all time high.
* More than 7 million jobs created since election.
* More Americans are now employed than ever recorded before in our history.
* More than 400,000 manufacturing jobs created since his election.
* Trump appointed 5 openly gay ambassadors.
* Trump ordered Ric Grenell, his openly gay ambassador to Germany, to lead a global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality across the globe.
* Through Trump’s Anti-Trafficking Coordination Team (ACTeam) initiative, Federal law enforcement more than doubled convictions of human traffickers and increased the number of defendants charged by 75% in ACTeam districts.
* In 2018, the Department of Justice (DOJ) dismantled an organization that was the internet’s leading source of prostitution-related advertisements resulting in sex trafficking.
* Trump’s OMB published new anti-trafficking guidance for government procurement officials to more effectively combat human trafficking.
* Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations arrested 1,588 criminals associated with Human Trafficking.
* Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services provided funding to support the National Human Trafficking Hotline to identify perpetrators and give victims the help they need.
* The hotline identified 16,862 potential human trafficking cases.
* Trump’s DOJ provided grants to organizations that support human trafficking victims – serving nearly 9,000 cases from July 1, 2017, to June 30, 2018.
* The Department of Homeland Security has hired more victim assistance specialists, helping victims get resources and support.
* President Trump has called on Congress to pass school choice legislation so that no child is trapped in a failing school because of his or her zip code.
* The President signed funding legislation in September 2018 that increased funding for school choice by $42 million.
* The tax cuts signed into law by President Trump promote school choice by allowing families to use 529 college savings plans for elementary and secondary education.
* Under his leadership ISIS has lost most of their territory and been largely dismantled.
* ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was killed.
* Signed the first Perkins CTE reauthorization since 2006, authorizing more than $1 billion for states each year to fund vocational and career education programs.
* Executive order expanding apprenticeship opportunities for students and workers.
* Trump issued an Executive Order prohibiting the U.S. government from discriminating against Christians or punishing expressions of faith.
* Signed an executive order that allows the government to withhold money from college campuses deemed to be anti-Semitic and who fail to combat anti-Semitism.
* President Trump ordered a halt to U.S. tax money going to international organizations that fund or perform abortions.
* Trump imposed sanctions on the socialists in Venezuela who have killed their citizens.
* Finalized new trade agreement with South Korea.
* Made a deal with the European Union to increase U.S. energy exports to Europe.
* Withdrew the U.S. from the job killing TPP deal.
* Secured $250 billion in new trade and investment deals in China and $12 billion in Vietnam.
* Okay’d up to $12 billion in aid for farmers affected by unfair trade retaliation.
* Has had over a dozen US hostages freed, including those Obama could not get freed.
* Trump signed the Music Modernization Act, the biggest change to copyright law in decades.
* Trump secured Billions that will fund the building of a wall at our southern border.
* The Trump Administration is promoting second chance hiring to give former inmates the opportunity to live crime-free lives and find meaningful employment.
* Trump’s DOJ and the Board Of Prisons launched a new “Ready to Work Initiative” to help connect employers directly with former prisoners.
* President Trump’s historic tax cut legislation included new Opportunity Zone Incentives to promote investment in low-income communities across the country.
* 8,764 communities across the country have been designated as Opportunity Zones.
* Opportunity Zones are expected to spur $100 billion in long-term private capital investment in economically distressed communities across the country.
* Trump directed the Education Secretary to end Common Core.
* Trump signed the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund into law.
* Trump signed measure funding prevention programs for Veteran suicide.
* Companies have brought back over a TRILLION dollars from overseas because of the TCJA bill that Trump signed.
* Manufacturing jobs are growing at the fastest rate in more than 30 years.
* Stock Market has reached record highs.
* Median household income has hit highest level ever recorded.
* African-American unemployment is at an all time low.
* Hispanic-American unemployment is at an all time low.
* Asian-American unemployment is at an all time low.
* Women’s unemployment rate is at a 65-year low.
* Youth unemployment is at a 50-year low.
* We have the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded.
* The Pledge to America’s Workers has resulted in employers committing to train more than 4 million Americans.
* 95 percent of U.S. manufacturers are optimistic about the future— the highest ever.
* As a result of the Republican tax bill, small businesses will have the lowest top marginal tax rate in more than 80 years.
* Record number of regulations eliminated that hurt small businesses.
* Signed welfare reform requiring able-bodied adults who don’t have children to work or look for work if they’re on welfare.
* Under Trump, the FDA approved more affordable generic drugs than ever before in history.
* Reformed Medicare program to stop hospitals from overcharging low-income seniors on their drugs—saving seniors 100’s of millions of $$$ this year alone.
* Signed Right-To-Try legislation allowing terminally ill patients to try experimental treatment that wasn’t allowed before.
* Secured $6 billion in new funding to fight the opioid epidemic.
* Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA telehealth services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
* The U.S. is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957.
* U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high so we are less dependent on oil from the Middle East.
* NATO allies increased their defense spending because of his pressure campaign.
* Withdrew the United States from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord in 2017 and that same year the U.S. still led the world by having the largest reduction in Carbon emissions.
* Has his circuit court judge nominees being confirmed faster than any other new administration.
* Had his Supreme Court Justice’s Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh confirmed.
* Moved U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
* Agreed to a new trade deal with Mexico & Canada that will increase jobs here and $$$ coming in.
* Reached a breakthrough agreement with the E.U. to increase U.S. exports.
* Imposed tariffs on China in response to China’s forced technology transfer, intellectual property theft, and their chronically abusive trade practices, has agreed to a Part One trade deal with China.
* Signed legislation to improve the National Suicide Hotline.
* Signed the most comprehensive childhood cancer legislation ever into law, which will advance childhood cancer research and improve treatments.
* The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed into law by Trump doubled the maximum amount of the child tax credit available to parents and lifted the income limits so more people could claim it.
* It also created a new tax credit for other dependents.
* In 2018, President Trump signed into law a $2.4 billion funding increase for the Child Care and Development Fund, providing a total of $8.1 billion to States to fund child care for low-income families.
* The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) signed into law by Trump provides a tax credit equal to 20-35% of child care expenses, $3,000 per child & $6,000 per family + Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) allow you to set aside up to $5,000 in pre-tax $ to use for child care.
* In 2019 President Donald Trump signed the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act (CARES) into law which allocates $1.8 billion in funding over the next five years to help people with autism spectrum disorder and to help their families.
* In 2019 President Trump signed into law two funding packages providing nearly $19 million in new funding for Lupus specific research and education programs, as well an additional $41.7 billion in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the most Lupus funding EVER.
* Another upcoming accomplishment to add: In the next week or two Trump will be signing the first major anti-robocall law in decades called the TRACED Act (Telephone Robocall Abuse Criminal Enforcement and Deterrence.) Once it’s thelaw, the TRACED Act will extend the period of time the FCC has to catch & punish those who intentionally break telemarketing restrictions. The bill also requires voice service providers to develop a framework to verify calls are legitimate before they reach your phone.
* US stock market continually hits all-time record highs.

[eddie]

I might check the unemployment stats right now,lol

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Let's see...
list

That's impressive but I'd like to see a similar list of all legislation signed by Obama in his first term. Where did you find it?

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by mapuc

Regarding August picture above

Why is people saying those things ?

Projecting.

Psychological projection is a defense mechanism in which the human ego defends itself against unconscious impulses or qualities by denying their existence in themselves while attributing them to others.

[Hawk66]

These statistics seem impressive on the first look and I guess some issues are benefical and triggered by Trump. The problem with such a list is, that all negative issues are missing.

But a bigger problem is that you need to check causality and see the raw data.
For instance regarding poverty rate...it seems that started already declining on 2015 under Obama with 1.3 % (highest drop)

https://www.jonpeddie.com/press-rele...llars-in-pc-ga

I would not look so much on the data and statistics which depicts the last 4-8 years. Often these figures are not really influenced by the current responsilbe persons or government because decisions usually need time to get reflected.

The figures next year will be much worse due to the Corona mismanagement by Trump's government (and some states).

And just to take the health care system as an example: It is nice and good that for instance HIV treatment is provided for all....but the main issue is only solved if all citizens get a health insurance. That the health system of the US is quite ineffective (not concerning the quality of treatment but the ratio spending/benefits) and more expensive than typical European systems, although they provide a health insurance usually for all of their people.

[Dowly]

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

Let's see...

* Trump recently signed 3 bills to benefit Native people. One gives compensation to the Spokane tribe for loss of their lands in the mid-1900s, one funds Native language programs, and the third gives federal recognition to the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana.

You know your list has some problems when the very first item on it is a bit misleading when put in broader context.

In December 2019, Trump signed three bills directly relating to Native American issues into law, one in support of the Spokane Tribe, one reauthorizing funding for Native language initiatives, and one federally recognizing the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians in Montana. However, these are the only pro tribal bills signed into law so far this legislative session; and according to Indianz.com, historically about 20 tribal bills have been signed into law during any particular session of Congress, regardless of which parties are running the show in Washington. In the previous session, passage of bills in favor of Tribes was down by about 40% compared to previous years.

Meanwhile, under Trump the Department of the Interior seems to be moving to restrict how tribes in the lower 48 states and in Alaska can reclaim their homelands via land trusts. In 2018, the Department of Interior, under the Trump administration, took Mashpee Wampanoag land in Massachusetts out of trust. This marks the first time Native land has been taken out of trust since the “termination era” of the 1940s-1960s in which the US government intentionally attempted to assimilate Native Americans into the broader culture.

From: Presidents Day 2020: 11 Ways Trump Dishonors Native Americans & How Natives Fight Back

[skidman]

And another gem:

Originally Posted by Onkel Neal

* Trump signed a bill to require airports to provide spaces for breastfeeding Moms.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/08/h...dor-trump.html

The intensity of the administration’s opposition to the breast-feeding resolution stunned public health officials and foreign diplomats, who described it as a marked contrast to the Obama administration, which largely supported W.H.O.’s longstanding policy of encouraging breast-feeding.

[Skybird]

That list. I cannot evaluate it point by point, but I know one or two things about politics, and legislation in general. First, I miss the price tags, and everything has a political and financial costs. Then, I miss the contexts of the bigger picture the details are embedded in. This has been hinted at by others in their postings before. And then there are quite some points where I simply disagree to see them positive. All in all such a list is not much more than another TV snippet where we see a great ego pathetically signing a document and then holding it up into the cameras, craving for applaus.



We need now a list listing the negatives. And a list with the positives of his predecessorss. Mind you, these lists would necessarily be object of comparable criticism.



Nothing is free. Not even Trumps deeds.

[Skybird]

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/22/e...hnk/index.html

Becasue a single indiviodual'S ego was hurt and Merkel MUST! be PUNISHED!, said single individual imposes billions in costs on the tax payers of his nation, imposes signficiant logicstaicla and strageicla handicaps on the arme dforce sof his nation, and wnats to move some symbolic numbers of troops from once o****ry admittely< not paying what it should pay to NATO according to its treaty obligations two two or three countries (POoland, Belgium and some third was mentioned) of which Belgium even pays smaller percentages than Germany. That all makes so juch sense!

The US troops in Germany for the most are no longer there to secure German borders and protect Germany. They are still there because it is a signficant straegic interets of the US to have them there, due to immense investments made to logistical and supply and intel strucxtures of the US inside Germany. Germany is the logistical centre for military traffic and supply lines to the africna and ME operaiton areas.

A third of the US troops moving out will hurt some German towns and villages and their economic structure, yes. The point is it will hurt and cost the US military much more.

Does not matter. Punishing the Germans it must be! Said individual has bashing Germans as his primary hobby, judging by the past three and a half years. For faults that are made in America (lakcing industrial and product compettitveness regarding those branches that Trump complain about he Germans beign "Unfair!(tm)" As if German companies hold revolvers at Americans' heads to make them want our products. They want and buy them all by themselves, you know.

[August]

[skidman]

[u crank]

I think this guy sums up the dilemma Americans are facing in November.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...mn/3401605001/

Objectively speaking, President Donald Trump gives you every reason to believe he’s not a good person. He has not treated the people in his personal life well, and several professional associates went to jail or are perhaps headed that way. Not saying that Trump is responsible for their bad judgment, but … come on.

He says rude and self-defeating things which leave members of own party defending the indefensible. He’s driven everyone crazy (including the media, which is endearing to his supporters). His embrace of conspiracy theorists is a dead end for his party and corrosive to our national political culture. He has said things during moments of crisis that were, charitably, extremely harmful to his political position, leaving the nation wondering what the hell is going on up there.

On the other hand, he has delivered on deeply held Republican priorities and offers a reasonable center-right path for the nation — tax cuts, conservative judges, pro-life policies and scaling back government regulations. He built a rocking economy that worked for everyone. He cut a major peace deal in the Middle East, proving wrong those who said his style would lead to instability or war. He is dead right about Democratic mayors allowing lawless rioters to destroy parts of American cities. And he has stood up to China after presidents of other parties would not.

And then there is Biden/Harris.

Just a few months ago Harris was landing broadsides on Biden as a toady for segregationists; today, she pitches him as a modern day Nelson Mandela.

That sound is your BS detector screaming.

Nonetheless, the Democrats march on, desperate for any drink of water as they wander a post-Obama political desert. They presented no platform in the past week beyond “not Trump, with a side of empathy,” although I think their convention, given the COVID-related challenges, as executed well enough. They are hoping you don’t think too hard about the Green New Deal, massive tax increases and a further government takeover of your health care.

Which ticket will America choose? Biden is winning, sure, but if you think Trump can’t find a way out of the wilderness, think again.

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

That's impressive but I'd like to see a similar list of all legislation signed by Obama in his first term. Where did you find it?

FB, naturally. I have no idea how much of it is accurate. Probably depends on who is spinning it.

[Skybird]

The New Yorker:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/campa...ection-results

Der Tagesspiegel:

http://translate.google.com/translat...F26118172.html

[Armistead]

I never quite understood minorities embracing Dems. It seems every major Dem state and city creates class warfare, taxes are very high, including property tax, this creates a high cost of living and it basically prices minorities out into slums. They then kill the average trade skill economy that use to supply jobs to non college folk. The high tech and globalist institutions seem to be OK with the high taxes on two levels, it drives minorities out and they can buy up cheap and it supplies a mass of voters that allow these institutions to go play all over the world for the cheap via Dem policy. The GOP isn't much better, but they do seem to attempt a balance to keep taxes lower and promote more middle class jobs or at least Trump is.

I look at how the rural county I live in, the small cities, 15-25k once thrived. In fact, one town once had more millionaires per population than any city in the US. There are literally 100's of massive plants and factories empty and rotting away....until Trump. Not that it was major, but several new ones opened up and several others reopened. When you add a few 1000 job paying jobs with great benefits to a small town, the impact really shows. This resulted in a lot of other supported businesses coming here and a new industrial park was in the works. It was bringing life back to a dying town before the virus hit. When Obama was in office, about 40% of people were dependent on some sort of govt asst. That was cut in half under Trump in a few years. My guess is if Biden is elected, the possible hope of towns like mine will fade away again.