# From a Democratic POV, what positives have Republicans done recently? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 20, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-democratic-pov-what-positives-have-republicans-done-recently/824848 "2018-11-20T14:10:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-democratic-pov-what-positives-have-republicans-done-recently/824848/21 "2018-11-20T20:17:50Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > 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. Interestingly, this sounds a lot like the list of concerns that Justin Trudeau’s government were trying to push in the NAFTA re-negotiations, a list for which Mr. Trudeau has been widely attacked by conservatives in Canada. I guess it’s different when a Republican does it. But that’s probably where Trump got the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-democratic-pov-what-positives-have-republicans-done-recently/824848/22 "2018-11-20T20:25:03Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > 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. This was actually a Canadian proposal ([cite](https://apma.ca/from-nafta-to-usmca-inside-the-tense-negotiations-that-saved-north-american-trade/)) that got imposed on Mexico late in the game. ETA: Ninja’d, sort of. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-democratic-pov-what-positives-have-republicans-done-recently/824848/23 "2018-11-20T22:52:56Z")
Rats. OK then,“They sorta support prison reform” it is! ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2018, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-democratic-pov-what-positives-have-republicans-done-recently/824848/24 "2018-11-20T23:22:47Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > 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 Bears Ears National Monument. The issue was that Obama made that proclamation single-handedly, which is [absolutely within his power](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiquities_Act). But he did it at zero hour (December 28, 2016), and so Trump was able to reverse it in the same manner. There was also talk about reducing Katahdin Woods Monument, also controversial, but that didn’t come about. Just because dingbats like Lee or LePage are opposed does not automatically make it a bad decision. It’s complicated. His pick for Interior (Zinke) was not as bad as I expected, supporting e.g. grizzly bear restoration against ranchers and others who theoretically have Trump’s ear. I don’t know any major people who object to Mattis. And the North Korea thing is still playing out, but might end up good. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-democratic-pov-what-positives-have-republicans-done-recently/824848/25 "2018-11-21T03:27:25Z")
> [@senoy](#): > > 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.” While I agree with much of what you wrote, you left out the war in Iraq (unless you intended to include that under his response to terrorism). The justification for the war was transparently false to me, a random schmoe, even at the time. Kicking off an unnecessary war based entirely on lies is a pretty big black mark on his legacy. Trump is a racist monster, an authoritarian who sees the Presidency as a revenue stream, a dimwitted laughingstock, and a vindictive bully who uses his power to retaliate for petty personal slights. But he has yet to order the deaths of a few hundred thousand people for no good reason. But, then, GWB didn’t get around to that till just after his second anniversary in office, so Trump has some time to catch him. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2018, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-democratic-pov-what-positives-have-republicans-done-recently/824848/26 "2018-11-21T17:12:02Z")
I absolutely agree with Trump on [this](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/us/politics/trump-china-shipping.html) and I hope he goes through with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-a-democratic-pov-what-positives-have-republicans-done-recently/824848.md?page=1)