# Trump haters only: what were his accomplishments? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [December 10, 2020, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735 "2020-12-10T08:19:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/61 "2020-12-10T19:59:24Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > I’m not sure what this program had to do with getting the vaccine to us quicker. I know that was the goal, but it it responsible? Other countries got the vaccine at the same time or sooner than we will. These are multi-national drug companies. Did they get any actual help from the US government? Pfizer got no help for the development costs from the government; Moderna did get help. What they both got was a guarantee from the US to buy 100 million doses of a safe effective vaccine. Trump would at the very least have signed off on that. On the other hand, he lobbied mightily to get them approved before the election and they refused to look at the results early and he excoriated them for that. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/62 "2020-12-10T20:01:50Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I am not the OP, but I don’t think sarcastic replies fit the vein of what the OP was asking for. I beg to differ. The OP said, and I quote, “Exactly the type of response I’m looking for. The prick did do THAT.” ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/63 "2020-12-10T20:10:54Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Yeah, I always hear about “deregulation” being a good thing, but no one can ever point to a specific regulation that they want to get rid of. They hate clean air and water. I’m sure I can find other things if I think about it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/64 "2020-12-10T20:18:32Z")
IMHO as a bona fide Trump-hater, Trump could go a good way towards redeeming his f\*ckups on Covid if he, cheerfully without any complaining, takes one of the Covid vaccines (he can even pick one other than Pfizer if he’s still sore at them) on national television. Unlike wearing a mask, it’s within the realm of possibility that he could actually do this. Alright, not an accomplishment yet, but I’d be ecstatic if we looked back from Christmas and it was one of his accomplishments. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/65 "2020-12-10T20:22:23Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > Plus he gets to sit wherever he is now and go, “They forced ME to resign, and this yutz got a full four years?! WTF!” To be fair, Nixon _got_ his four years. It was his second lap where he tripped up and angling for it is what he tripped over. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/66 "2020-12-10T20:24:33Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > IMHO as a bona fide Trump-hater, Trump could go a good way towards redeeming his f\*ckups on Covid if he, cheerfully without any complaining, takes one of the Covid vaccines (he can even pick one other than Pfizer if he’s still sore at them) on national television. Unlike wearing a mask, it’s within the realm of possibility that he could actually do this. > > Alright, not an accomplishment yet, but I’d be ecstatic if we looked back from Christmas and it was one of his accomplishments. But it would make no sense for him to get a vaccine, since he’s already had COVID. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/67 "2020-12-10T20:26:07Z")
Except as a (for once in his miserable existence) positive signal to his Covid-skeptical followers. ---
**Author:** ![mattgg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ccd318/32.png) [@mattgg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattgg)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/68 "2020-12-10T20:28:29Z")
> [@Railer13](#): > > > As of August 2020, eight companies were chosen for funding of some $11 billion to expedite development and preparation for manufacturing their respective vaccine candidates. > > This money came from the CARES act. Would you consider this material help? Yes I would. I was focused on Pfizer, which didn’t take money for the research. I should have done more research myself. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/69 "2020-12-10T20:31:36Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > He got the Republicans to tear off their mask of propriety and euphemism and expose themselves as the party of racist power-hungry fascists, unmoored from any form of loyalty to democracy or human morality, that they’ve been dogwhistling about for the last forty years. Exactly what I would have posted. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/70 "2020-12-10T20:34:10Z")
Remember Trump’s “Coronavirus Guidelines for America” postcard? I know a lot of Trump haters threw it away immediately, but the advice on it was pretty solid. I know he didn’t write it, but what the hell, I’ll let him have credit for it. The card didn’t mention masks, but that was back in the olden days when the authoritative opinion was that masks didn’t work (and there were almost none that you could buy anyway). ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/71 "2020-12-10T20:37:27Z")
I had a short laundry list of things I’ve forgotten because they’re so swamped by… well… everything else. Here are a few things I can think of: 1. Interest rates. He’s dead right that the Fed was too cautious with rates during his term. There was never any credible threat to inflation. I think the Fed was just flexing their independence as they tend to do. He was motivated by callow self-interest, ignorant of all the issues, but I’ll take the right thing for the wrong reason. 2. Pacifism. War is bad, mkay? Again, I’m sure his avoidance of war was 100% cowardice in the face of political (and possibly corporeal) destruction, and he very nearly muffed it with his bluster. His pathetic cozying up to Kim Jong-Un made me retch. But any reason to avoid war with Iran and North Korea is good enough for me. 3. Withdrawing from the International Postal Treaty. I’m not an anti-globalist crank or against sensible treaties, but he’s right, that particular treaty has been outrageously unfair to the US for a long time now. He didn’t follow through on this, but if he had, I’d actually credit him for the right action for the right reason. Having said that, I think he’s done things in his term of office that could probably get him executed, and I’d like to see the Justice Dept follow through on that. But OP asked for credit where credit is due, and that’s how I see it. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/72 "2020-12-10T20:37:30Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > My reply was dead serious, not sarcastic. Getting the GOP to show its true face is a good thing in the long run. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/73 "2020-12-10T20:37:38Z")
> [@John\_Bredin](#): > > Except as a (for once in his miserable existence) positive signal to his Covid-skeptical followers. I think in the last four years we’ve seen enough of him saying or doing things that make no sense whatsoever. He could, however, say very loudly and publicly, “These are MY VACCINES, I made them happen, their the greatest Vaccines ever, no one’s ever seen Vaccines like this, and anyone who says they dont work is A LIAR LIKE OBAMA.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/74 "2020-12-10T20:41:20Z")
True, he could. It’d be one of the few times feeding his ego would align with good public policy. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/75 "2020-12-10T20:50:14Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > To be fair, Nixon _got_ his four years. It was his second lap where he tripped up and angling for it is what he tripped over. Right you are. I should have said “got to finish his term”. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/76 "2020-12-10T20:50:25Z")
I’ll give him points for pardoning Jack Johnson. Sure, purely symbolic and no practical effect for a guy who had been dead for 70 years. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/77 "2020-12-10T20:56:38Z")
He got elected president was a major accomplishment, he almost achieved something akin to a coup to retain the presidency for a second term. Trump also has to be credited to expose many weaknesses with our democratic system which are exploitable. Trump also has exposed much hatred in many of our citizens which needs to be addressed. ---
**Author:** ![asahi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asahi/32/8693_2.png) [@asahi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asahi)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/78 "2020-12-10T21:25:15Z")
It’s possible that they might agree to de-nuke or effectively limit their weapons programs and make them transparent, provided that their regime has some protections in return. I can’t pretend to know what’s on the minds of the Ayatollah or the Kims, but nukes are a kind of leverage. The assumption and the rationale for crippling international sanctions is that we can maximize pressure so that regimes come to their senses and stop developing weapons. However, it is just as likely that weapons programs progress not just in spite of sanctions, but because of them. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/79 "2020-12-10T21:32:19Z")
> [@stuccosuperstar2020](#): > > Trump and Pence, in the debates, promised he would deliver a COVID vaccine by the end of the year. We can question what he did to make this happen more than any other President, but the fact is under his watch, it will be shortly delivered to our shores, even if not everyone is going to get it right away. The Pfizer vaccine had noting to do with Operation Warp Speed. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2020, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735/80 "2020-12-10T23:37:56Z")
Nicely put. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trump-haters-only-what-were-his-accomplishments/927735.md?page=5)