Trump’s Top Ten

By Robert Schütze

 

Donald Trump has been President for almost four years now. He’s a loud-mouth and a straight-talker. He has a very different style than Barack Obama. He questions politics as usual and thinks out of the box. That’s all Never-Trump journos and politicians need to attack and demonize him, to undermine all his great successes, to portray him as unliked and unpopular, and to blame him for all the ills of the world.

 

If we take a neutral, objective view of Trump’s first term, however, without all the Trump derangement, we are left with an astonishing success list. So, without further ado, here are Trump’s Top Ten!

 

 

1. Israel and Iran

 

Ex-President Obama left the Middle East in shambles for his successor. He ruined US relations with Israel, the only democracy in the region, and wooed the tyrants in Teheran instead. Trump more than normalized the relationship with Israel right off the bat, and restored the firm stance of previous US administrations toward Iranian President Hassan Rohani’s destabilizing regime. Trump knows Iran is a clear and present danger in the Mideast. Iranian-controlled militias are fighting in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, with the goal of creating a Shi’ite crescent from Persia to Lebanon. On January 8, 2020, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard shot down a Ukrainian aircraft flying to Kiev from Teheran, killing all 176 aboard, mostly Iranians. The regime didn’t admit its guilt until after several days of denial. When people marched in protest against the regime’s lies, the secret police used violence to silence them.

 

Violence against their own people is no exception for the regime in Teheran, it’s the rule. In 2015, there were 977 executions in Iran by hanging or stoning – the most executions in the world after China – including several public hangings and executions for religious reasons, after terrible torture. On the world list of press freedom, Iran ranks 173rd out of 180 nations.

 

“Donald, let me tell you how much your new foreign policy toward Iran means,” said Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in the name of almost all Mideast leaders, for almost all of Iran’s Sunni neighbors feel threatened by its bellicose policies. The shared enemy has united the Arab states with Israel and created the chance for a major peace deal for Israel and the “Palestinian” territories. To this end, Trump will even woo Saudi Arabia. Many Arab states are now prepared to rethink their hostility toward Israel. The prudent steps Donald Trump began in 2017 are bearing fruit now: The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed the historic Abraham Accord peace deal with Israel at the White House on Sept. 15, normalizing relationships and the assumption of diplomatic relationships. There hasn’t been a positive development like this in decades in the Mideast. Several people have nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. Unlike his predecessor, who received the award 2009 without actually having done anything, Trump actually may deserve it.

 

European and our own German politicians like to belittle Trump’s huge steps toward peace to distract from their own lies and misjudgements. They don’t understand how finally moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, often promised by his predecessors but never followed through on, the liquidation of dangerous Iranian terror mastermind Qassem Suleimani in January, and Netanyahu’s steps toward recognizing Israeli sovereignty in Judea and Samaria (called the “West Bank” in the media) were all puzzle pieces in Trump’s long-game peace plan, demonstrating strength and resolve, putting Iran in its place with hardly any consequences, and putting the pieces in place for successful negotiations and possible concessions to the Arab states.

 

 

2. Destroying the Islamic State

 

In contrast to all his predecessors, Trump has not started any new wars, but contained, prevented or even ended several wars. When he took office, the so-called “Islamic State” was the worst crisis hot spot in the world. The brutality they unleashed on the region was unspeakable and a serious threat – not only to the Mideast, but to the whole world, thanks to terrorist squads sent in all directions. Ex-President Obama called IS the “junior varsity team” and yet failed to stop it. Some say he even permitted its growth. Obama installed Brett McGurk, one of the best Syria and Iraq hands, to fight the IS terrorist militia 2015. McGurk constantly visited the front lines of the US-led anti-terror alliance’s battle against IS. In a press conference 2017, he admitted efforts had picked up significantly since Donald Trump took office, due to the new administration’s smarter strategy, letting commanders in the field call the shots instead of the White House. Also, the Trump administration made sure not to let defeated IS fighters in Northern Syria escape, for instance. Communication channels with the Russian leadership backing Assad in Syria were also improved. Attacks on IS were coordinated with the Russians, and a cease-fire arranged for Southern Syria to avoid any further bloodshed between Russian-backed Syrian government troops and the US-supported opposition forces.

 

In October 2019, the US Delta Force tracked down IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in northern Syria, chased him into an underground tunnel, into which he dragged two children as human shields and finally blew himself up with the innocent kids. Thanks to Donald Trump’s resolute actions, peace broke out all over the unstable Mideast, which should technically allow many of the so-called refugees in Europe to go home again and help rebuild their country, as the Syrian government has encouraged them to do.

 

 

3. The Silent Death of TTIP

 

In 2015-2016, hundreds of thousands of mostly left-wing protestors went out on the streets in Germany against TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, some of the largest protests in Germany in recent years. The ruling Merkel government in Berlin and the Obama administration had already agreed on the transatlantic free trade deal. The protestors, including many radical leftists and communists waving red flags or wearing Soviet Red Army uniforms, feared an erosion of consumer protection and food regulations, and an American take-over of the German economy. Trump needed one day to dump a deal that had been 10 years in the making, fulfilling one of his major campaign promises. But did the left-wing opponents give him any credit for it? Hardly. No one mentions the fact he did what they were demanding so loudly. In their eyes, the Bad Orange Man can do no good.

 

 

4. Lowest US Unemployment in 50 Years

 

In late 2019, unemployment in the United States fell to its lowest level in 50 years. According to the US Department of Labor, the unemployment rate was just 3.5 percent, the lowest it has been since 1969. For black workers, the rate even fell to an all-time low. So Trump has brought more black people into the work force than his black predecessor. At the beginning of the year the labor market in the USA was doing better than that in Germany. Like everywhere in the world, US unemployment has risen due to COVID-19, of course – but since May, it has been falling sharply again. In contrast, German unemployment only began to recover in September, and much more slowly. The president quickly recognized the COVID epidemic is less dangerous than feared, and promptly got the economy going again.

 

 

5. Economy and Stock Market Boom

 

All the pundits and prophets were wrong about the stock market, just like they were about 2016 US election results. Instead of falling by five to ten percent, as Deutsche Bank and Hypovereinsbank forecast for the major stock indices after Donald Trump won the election, the Dow Jones had its best weekly result since 2011 and rose to a new all-time high at 18,934 points in the week after the election.

 

The stock market has been booming ever since the Republican took office. All the major indices are up - despite the brief COVID slump. Trump's policies are manna for the markets. On August 1, 2017, he proudly tweeted: “Stock Market could hit all-time high (again) 22,000 today. Was 18,000 only 6 months ago on Election Day. Mainstream media seldom mentions!” In 2019, the US economy grew by 2.3 percent. In Germany, growth was only 0.6 percent.

 

 

6. Stopping North Korea with China’s Help

 

President Trump prevented the conflict with dictator Kim Jong Un from escalating - first with tough talk, then with tough sanctions. For the first time, he was able to get China to participate in joint import and export restrictions for North Korea, via the UN Security Council. Beijing has usually been Pyongyang's most important ally and trade partner. Now, the US and China stand together against North Korean aggression. Experts believe the sanctions will prevent nuclear missiles components being smuggled into North Korea. Trump wants to force the dictator to sign a disarmament treaty. Meanwhile, mainstream media are so misguided they portray the democratically elected US President and the crazy tyrant as "equally dangerous".

 

 

7. Trump’s Lasting Popularity

 

Donald Trump won the 2016 US election hands down, despite all the polls and predictions. Crowds still throng his rallies. Celebs like Hollywood legends Clint Eastwood and Jon Voight, singer-actress Jessica Simpson, "Look who's talking!" star Kirstie Alley, singer Kid Rock, martial artist and actor Chuck Norris, wrestler Hulk Hogan, Kim Kardashian or African-American superstars Mike Tyson and Kanye West support him.

 

However, ever since he took office, mainstream media on both sides of the Atlantic have wanted us to believe Trump is unpopular in the USA and only won the election due to “Russian meddling.” In support of this crazy left-wing conspiracy theory, they regularly cite opinion polls, such as “Gallup: Only 37 percent of Americans back Trump policies” (dpa, March 20). On May 11, the "Zeit" and the Berlin "Tagesspiegel" headlined: "Donald Trump Poll: US voters call Trump an Idiot".  Reporting on a survey by the Washington Post and ABC, Austria’s "Presse" writes: "Trump's Popularity Nose-Dives".

 

But does anyone ever take a closer look at these “surveys”?

 

In all of these surveys, the sample group was never more than 1,500 out of a total US population of 328 million, making these numbers about as representative as a drop of water for the Atlantic Ocean. Even though these polls are in no way representative, the media suggest they represent the opinion of the entire American population. If we take a closer look at the survey in particular, according to which “US voters call Trump an Idiot”, we find only 39 out of 1,000 respondents called the US President an “Idiot”. This minimal value was enough for mainstream journalists to write countless inflammatory anti-Trump headlines of the worst kind.

 

However, there have been several popularity indicators in recent years in which Trump and his party did surprisingly well:

 

In June 2017, special elections were held in four US states for seats in the House of Representatives, several million voters were eligible to vote. In Kansas, Montana, Georgia and South Carolina, Republican candidates clearly prevailed over Democrats.

 

In the midterm elections on November 6, 2018, all Americans were called to the polls for the House of Representatives, as well as several Senators as well as governors. Trump's Republicans did well. The president’s party almost always loses seats in the House of Representatives in midterms. Like his Democratic predecessors Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, Trump also lost the majority in the House, but the Democrats before him lost significantly more seats, and Bill Clinton even lost the Senate majority two years after his election as president. Trump’s results were exactly the opposite: Republicans did not lose seats in the Senate, but were able to expand their lead by two senators. Republican candidates also won important gubernatorial elections in Florida, Ohio, Georgia and Alaska. The midterms clearly showed above-average support for Trump.

 

Instead of trying to pass useful legislation that would help the country, the Democratic leadership used their newly-won majority in the House of Representatives to launch a hopeless impeachment against Trump, which - as expected - failed miserably in February 2020. Not even all the House Democrats voted in favor of the most spurious impeachment in US history. However, the wholly superfluous sham cost American taxpayers several million dollars.

 

 

8. Campaign Promise Fulfilled: Reducing Illegal Immigration

 

One of Donald Trump’s main campaign promises 2016 was to reduce and deter illegal immigration. Like most of his promises, he kept this one in no time. The last remaining gaps in the border fortifications between Mexico and the USA (where border fences and walls were erected by his predecessors decades ago) are being closed.

 

Until these last gaps are closed, border controls have been tightened. Immediately after he took office, the US President hired 10,000 new ICE officers and 5,000 border patrol officers. The impact quickly became evident: In 2017, illegal border crossings in the southern United States fell to its lowest level in 17 years, falling by over 60 percent between January and April 2017 alone. Trump also hired more immigration justices to help catch up on the deportation backlog.

 

Trump used money from various sources to build the wall, including $ 2.5 billion from the defense budget. He also plans to have solar panels mounted on the wall to produce green energy and partially finance itself.

 

In 2019, Trump concluded key deals with Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, which stipulate migrants must apply for asylum in the respective Central American countries they enter on their way to the USA. Otherwise, they can be sent back. Mexico also committed to deploy its National Guard and improve its own border fences and walls to limit migration to the USA from the south. Ever since then, illegal border crossings to the USA have continued to fall significantly - by 84 percent between May 2019 and May 2020.

 

As an additional border security measure, Trump imposed entry restrictions on people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela and North Korea. “As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm. I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens and who will be hard-working and productive,” he said. Trump wants to protect his country from terrorist tourism from unstable states that can barely control their own borders, or that don’t exchange security data during visa checks. Leftist judges in lower federal courts tried to override the restrictions, but the US Supreme Court ruled the restrictions were legal and should be applied. A huge achievement for the US government and citizens.

 

In contrast to European leaders like Angela Merkel, Donald Trump proved borders can be enforced. Doing what Trump did in thze USA could have prevented a lot of suffering in Germany, the country Trump's grandparents are from. In July 2016, a Syrian asylum seeker set off a bomb in Ansbach, Bavaria, injuring twelve people, three of them seriously. Germany’s borders have been wide open for years, which the German people are paying for with a major spike in crime. According to German Federal Police, rapes rose by about 60 percent from 36,532 in 2015 to 57,616 in 2019. In 2018, asylum seekers committed at least 16 rapes per day. These are only the cases that have been solved, and is by no means the total of all daily rapes by migrants. Since German media rarely report these facts correctly, Trump made the world aware of the increase in crime in this country with a tweet June 18, 2018:

 

“The people of Germany are turning against their leadership as migration is rocking the already tenuous Berlin coalition. Crime in Germany is way up. Big mistake made all over Europe in allowing millions of people in who have so strongly and violently changed their culture!”

 

 

9. COVID-19

 

Most mainstream media failed utterly in the COVID crisis. Instead of providing neutral, objective information, they used scare tactics to fuel people’s fears. In regard to Donald Trump, the misreporting was particularly bad:

 

As probably the only Western leader, the US president has privately been intensely concerned with the dangers of viruses, germs and bacteria for decades. As early as 2004, he warned against shaking hands in his book "Think Like a Billionaire"! He prefers a Japanese-style bow, because he knows how pathogens are transmitted. There are good reasons for his interest in the subject: His grandfather died of the Spanish flu.

 

During the Corona crisis, German mainstream media left no stone unturned to portray US President Donald Trump as an ignorant clown. As so often, this is a gross distortion of reality. In stark contrast to the German government, he acted decisively and quickly to prevent entry from the hot spots in China, Iran and the EU (Jan. 31st from China, March 12th from the EU: entry restrictions for Iranians have been in place for a long time). In Germany, however, planes from China, Iran and Italy were still arriving weeks later. Passengers arriving on those flights were neither checked nor isolated. Especially ironic was the fact that passengers from Germany arriving in China had to be quarantined in March, while Chinese entering Germany did not.

 

Travelers from high-risk countries only had to give their address at German airports, which is standard for every flight internationally anyway. The German Ministry of Health recommended people returning from Italy quarantine themselves voluntarily! At that time, there were massive restrictions on public life in Germany already. Once again, foreigners were treated less strictly than native citizens. It’s unclear how many infected people were able to sneak in due to inadequate German screening. This dangerous negligence of the Merkel government was only stopped by EU rules.

 

On March 15, 2020, Jan Dams reported in the “Welt” newspaper that, according to sources in the German government, US President Donald Trump was allegedly trying to secure a vaccine allegedly developed by Tübingen biotech startup CureVac exclusively for the United States. This bogus nonsense – which caused a temporary uptick in the CureVac share price – was parroted uncritically by almost all German media and became one of the most read stories of the month online in Germany. The gist was clear: The Bad Orange Man only cares about Americans and wants the rest of the world to die! US Ambassador in Berlin Richard Grenell quickly labeled the report untrue on Twitter. The Tübingen-based company itself also denied any knowledge of a US buyout attempt onn Twitter: "CureVac has not received from the US government or related entities an offer before, during and since the Task Force meeting in the White House on March 2. CureVac rejects all allegations from press.” The quick debunking did not prevent the German media from parroting this fake news. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD), Green Party co-chair Katrin Göring-Eckardt (Greens) and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) also participated in these dangerous scare tactics. It is still unclear which government official was the source for this dud and why, but at least it distracted from the Berlin government’s haphazard corona policy.

 

At the end of April, mainstream media gave the impression Trump had recommended swallowing or injecting disinfectant against corona. This was nonsense. At a press conference, Trump encouraged scientists to press ahead with the search for a vaccine and to explore all avenues. Trump himself recommended the tried and true malarial drug hydroxychloroquine and has already taken it personally. In many cases, it shows positive effects. There was no such impetus from German politicians in terms of COVID treatment. At the end of June, when there were practically no corona deaths in Germany, the German government launched a completely ineffective COVID app, which cost taxpayers around 70 million Euros.

 

Based on his experts, Trump predicted in February the COVID pandemic would soon subside on its own. Many journalists mocked him for this, but that is exactly what happened in most all countries so far - regardless whether they took countermeasures or not. Since May, for example, the death rate has fallen in Sweden, Great Britain, Germany and also in the USA (according to government statistics offices). In Sweden, the country with the least COVID measures, the death rate has been barely measurable for months - as in Germany. In countries where the death rate hasn’t declined yet, the pandemic usually started later. Trump’s prediction was correct and reassuring for Americans, instead of frightening them like Angela Merkel with a constant barrage of new scare numbers.

 

What the media won’t tell you is the fact that the number of infections and the number of deaths - used to incite fear - hardly matter. Only seen a minimal percentage of cases display COVID symptoms, and it is often not clear whether victims died “of COVID” or “with COVID.” According to the CDC, COVID is the sole cause of death in only six percent of all Covid-19 deaths. For all other so-called COVID fatalities in the USA, there were an average of 2.6 co-morbidities also potentially responsible for the deaths. So Trump knew his October 2 COVID infection is no big deal. Brazil’s President Bolsonaro and British Prime Minister Johnson also survived their infections fairly well.

 

The only figures that matter are total mortality in the first half of 2020 (all deaths in a country - regardless of the cause of death). Only by comparing these total numbers with the previous year can one see whether there is excess mortality from COVID in a country, and how the death rate has developed (all deaths in relation to the total population). According to studies by several government offices - including the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden, there was no excess mortality in Germany due to COVID. The 2018 death rate was much higher, due to the flu epidemic. The comparison of the death rates in Germany and the USA reveals a truth that is frightening for Germany: Although the USA has an increased absolute number of deaths in the 1st half of 2020, the American death rate of 0.48 in this period is actually lower than Germany's 0.58.

 

Naturally, the media never mention the fact that the vast majority of US corona deaths so far were been reported in the Democrat-run state of New York.

 

 

10. Obamacare

 

If you ask an Obama fan what their candidate’s greatest achievement is, Obamacare may be the only thing they can think of, after a long pause. The fact is, Obamacare was an unmitigated disaster!

 

Mainstream journalists want us to believe Obamacare is the best thing that ever happened to Americans since the Declaration of Independence 1776. Obamacare is, of course, perfect and shouldn't be changed because it was an Obama project. If you believe the media, evil Trump wants to abolish oh-so-perfect Obamacare. But is that true?

 

First of all, only a tiny fraction of the American population chose to be insured under Obamacare. Many of them would rather pay the Individual Mandate penalty because Obama's pet project only offers rudimentary protection, there are long wait times at the doctor, and you often have to pay extra. Insurance monopolies have emerged in some states that exclude options and impede free competition, to the detriment of patients. Three quarters of Obamacare insurances are in the red due to regulations and depend on government subsidies. High premiums are becoming widespread and getting more expensive. For millions of people, their perfectly fine insurance policies suddenly became invalid. Employers are deterred from creating jobs because they fear more costly insurance red tape. In short, Obama's health reform is not healthy, and in need of reformed.

 

US citizens and their President have recognized this. Republicans do not want to abolish Health Care, they want to change it: More choice, more competition, lower premiums. For example, instead of fines, Trumpcare provides incentives like tax breaks for US citizens who are still struggling with their insurance. On May 5, 2017, the House of Representatives approved a revision of the Affordable Care Act - a first successful step. The fact that there is still no substitute for Obamacare is not because representatives see no need for reform, but because they want even more far-reaching reforms. or have not yet been able to agree on a draft bill. Meanwhile, Trump has helped patients with an executive order enabling them to buy insurance from cheaper insurance companies in other states.