Trump’s Legacy

I know it’s rather early to start considering what Trump’s legacy will be. But there are some rather clear things that he has changed that will live on after he has departed the White House. Here are my takes:

- The president’s “magic wand” of tax cuts and regulation reforms has kicked up the rate of economic growth to above 3% from the previous “new normal” of below 2%. And the stock market is up over 50% combined with energy independence, strong consumer confidence, employment and domestic manufacturing. And inflation has been modest to boot. Not bad!

- The U.S.’s national image will have flipped from apologizing for our success to being proud of it ... and resolving to return to our past glories. We will have recaptured our greatness ... and be proud of it.

- Like Ronald Reagan did to restore our defense dominance, so Donald Trump will be equally lauded ... but he will also be praised for his restraint in using this military might. In the process, he has put, at least for the moment, North Korea and Iran in a box. If either of these countries capitulates, it will be the first sentence in his history book write up.

- Exactly opposite to the current media narrative, NATO will have been substantially strengthened by Trump’s insistence that our European partners live up to their financial and troop obligations under this decades-old pact.

- Although Trump will not have destroyed terrorism, he likely will have partially defanged it.

- Despite enormous sticky resistance in Congress and in the courts, Trump has made some progress in securing our borders and reforming our immigration process ... less than the majority of Americans want ... but still progress.

- Trump’s agenda has pushed the Democrat party to show its colors as being far more radical left in its actions than its deceptive rhetoric.

- If nothing else, President Trump will be remembered for his focusing on how China has become a hegemonic threat to America ... and his developing strategies to counter same. So far his success here has been modest but, if re-elected, I expect much more progress.