And I’m looking for serious responses. I’m assuming there are some things they have done that I would appreciate. Historically they made the Interstate National Highways along with at least one Civil Rights Act. What else have they recently accomplished that Democrats like?
It’s not done yet, but a bipartisan group of senators is working on criminal justice reform. And Trump is even backing it, or at least not actively opposing the idea. Apparently Jeff Sessions was opposed to the idea, and this couldn’t happen while he was attorney general.
I’m no fan of Donald Trump but if this happens, it would be a good thing.
To find good things they’ve accomplished, you’d have to start with a list of what they’ve accomplished at all, and then pick out the good things. But what they’ve accomplished isn’t much.
The republican party of the 50s and 60s isn’t the same as the party today. Most of the democrats who opposed the Civil rights act in the 60s are Republicans now for example. Many of the northern and western Republicans who supported it are probably democrats now.
The Trump administration is discussing making it easier to post transparent prices and promote competition in the medical system. If they pull that off that will be good.
Medicare D was a good idea although imperfect.
Criminal justice reform.
I supported air strikes on Syria.
I also agree with Criminal Justice Reform. That’s all I got.
Trump has also said that he’s going to address cannabis reform once the new Congress convenes in January.
[ul]
[li]a) No one’s really clear on what he means by that, and[/li][li]b) I’ll believe it when I see it.[/li][/ul]
But if it’s true, this will bring to two the number of things the Trump regime has done that I agree with.
Criminal justice reform (assuming it passes the Senate)
Raising child tax credit
Drug price transparency
I think Trump has named a national monument or two (I realize he’s also worked to dismantle some designations but this is about positives)
I recall a couple other bipartisan softballs being signed just before the midterms but they don’t spring immediately to mind.
Job support for political pundits and comedians. (Of course, they have made work tight for the satire writers).
His renegotiation of NAFTA included requirementa for higher wages to Mexican workers exporting to the US. The labor provisions that were forced on Mexico by the USMCA were loved by this Democrat anyway. Higher Country of Origin percentages also shifts production from more exploitative countries to Mexico. It forced women’s rights protections in the workforce as well as migrant worker protections, so Mexico has become a much nicer place to work. That’s a pro in my lefty heart.
Conceding when beaten by a Democrat.
I haven’t taken the time to really dig into it, but the criminal justice reform bill looks good, especially if it really is a First Step toward even more reforms.
Oh dang, that’s right. Cross them off.
I’m glad to see some though, positive thoughts for my parents coming to Thanksgiving.
I could say bringing unemployment (including minority unemployment) to historic lows. But I won’t bother, because I’m sure you’ll all attribute that to Obama (even though Obama himself said “those jobs aren’t coming back!”)
Are the jobs that have opened up in the past three years the manufacturing jobs of the rust belt? You know, “those jobs.”
I didn’t know any of this. If it’s a fair characterization then I’d agree that was a good thing. Buuuuuuuut, it’s easier for me to believe he wanted something more hegemonic and these positives were just side effects. Because I can’t bring myself to believe for one instant he would care about decent wages, women, migrants, and general working conditions at all. Unless, of course, he felt it would cause considerable harm to Mexico in the long run by forcing them to adopt more humane practices. Then I could totally see it happening.
No, he’s not an altruist sticking up for poor Mexicans. He likely sees it in his best interests. Pushing wages and workers rights in Mexico makes it a more attractive place to live. If you’re anti-immigration, that’s what you want. You want those immigrants to stay where they are. It provides negative pressure on migration north. It’s important to note that his position is not “I hate Mexicans.” but rather “I hate Mexicans coming to America.”
It’s also good economically. His complaint with NAFTA was that low wages and looser workplace regulations in Mexico undercut American competitiveness. If you force their wages to grow and make them follow more liberal labor policies, then it lessens their competitive advantage and presumably encourages more companies to stay in the US.
Regardless of his reasons for doing so, I’m in favor of worker’s rights no matter what country they are in, so I see it as a good thing.
LOL :rolleyes:
I could support criminal justice reform.
While I’m happy unemployment is low, I fear that the cost (deficits) is too high to make it a net positive achievement. I’d also suggest that the same result could have happened under Obama, but he was working with a Congress that didn’t like deficit spending, for some reason.
Cannabis reform would be welcome.
Recent is a relative term. My mother just turned 75. She turned 21 the year the Civil Rights act was signed.
More recent historical events I was personally in favor of… I thought Bush’s leadership immediately post 9/11 was excellent. At the time I thought the choice to invade Afghanistan was justifiable. I now believe differently and am unhappy because the leadership of my country is supposed to know better than the average joe, and should have known the cost of waging war(s) better than me.
I’ll also go on the record as not liking drug price transparency, as it serves only to delay what should happen with drug prices. Perhaps it is a first step toward proper price management, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Even if there were jobs created due to red policies (which is at the very best too early to say IMO), it would ironically be unfair to give credit to GOP politicians for them. Because they were the ones who used inflated bogus unemployment numbers in the first place - remember 40% unemployment anyone? Reducing it from 5% to 4% is much less impressive. Better yet, let’s flip it and say that they increased unemployment from 5% to 30%!
If you want to go back to the Bush era, there were lots of things that he did that I liked. How he handled the 2008 financial crisis was actually very solid and I think saved us from a far worse recession. PEPFAR ranks as one of the greatest things that any American President has ever done for the world and I’m not just saying that. It has saved literally millions of lives. The Medicare Drug benefit was a great program. W was actually not that bad of a president. He wasn’t particularly far right. He did love his tax cuts, but he wasn’t a slash and burn spending cutter. His greatest failure was in regards to terrorism and I’m not sure that anyone could have done a good job with that-a better job than W, almost certainly, but a good job? I don’t know. September 11 was just so mind-bogglingly insane that a lot of stupid stuff happened and was supported even by lefties like me. It was really like an emotional wound that skewed everything for a long time. I think that it was a lot easier to look back and say “This is where we went wrong.” than it was at the time to say “This is what we need to next.”