Year 2 of the Trump Presidency Highlighted by Major Policy Successes

President Donald Trump speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington on April 3, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

As Americans crawl through rush-hour traffic, trying in vain to avoid spilling our coffee, while glaring resentfully at the endless cars sluggishly ushering us to our workplaces, we glance at our phones to see ceaseless coverage of alleged “Russia collusion.”

As we’ve tried to unwind and disconnect, watching weekend sports with friends and neighbors, we’ve been startled by predictions of impending doom over our North Korean foreign policy.

And while we relax with a glass of wine in front of a cozy fireplace on a cold winter’s night at the start of this New Year, our ears are bludgeoned with the shrewish chatter of pundits assigning blame over the government shutdown.

By all accounts, and at all times, there seems to be a full-on assault against the administration of President Donald Trump.

However, what we rarely hear about are the successes that this effective, yet peculiar, administration has had over the past year. The president delivered major policy wins in 2018 for the United States and it’s worth taking note:

• Manufacturing jobs were up 31,000 in February 2018; 263,000 since Trump took office.

• Black unemployment numbers last year marked the “best in recorded history.”

• Walmart raised wages and gave bonuses to its employees, thanks to the Republican tax reform.

• Apple said it was investing $30 billion in capital in the United States and was creating 200,000 jobs.

• Apple also announced that it will pay $38 billion in taxes on offshore money.

• The International Monetary Fund raised the Global Growth Forecast, crediting the Republican tax cuts.

• Home Depot employees received $1,000 bonuses, because of the Republican tax cuts.

• The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended January 2018 with its best winning streak since 1959.

• Veterans Administration (VA) facilities began to offer same-day care for urgent primary and mental health care needs.

• Jobless claims dropped to a 45-year low.

• MetLife announced that “in light of tax reform,” it was increasing its minimum wage and benefits.

• North Korea met with President Trump to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Such high-level talks between the two nations had been unprecedented.

• U.S. Steel called back 500 employees, after President Trump’s announcement on tariffs.

• The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting showed the strongest average monthly job growth since 1997.

• 14 states set records for low unemployment.

• 1.9 million fewer people are using food stamps.

• In July 2018, private payrolls boomed, increasing by 219,000 versus the 185,000 estimate.

• Consumer confidence neared an 18-year peak.

• Worker pay hit its highest level since 2008.

•  The Miami Herald reported higher wages for construction jobs nationwide because of Trump’s tight labor market.

• Thanks to GOP tax cuts, utilities lowered rates for electric, gas, and water.

• The United States’ booming economy delivered the highest number of job openings ever for Americans.

• President Trump signed into law The First Step Act, a prison reform bill designed to help reduce recidivism, to start to undo the damage caused by the 1994 Clinton Crime Bill, and to create a fairer criminal justice system.

•  President Trump signed into law the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act, a bill to address the growing crisis of opioid and drug addiction in the United States.

• 18 new appeals court judges were confirmed in 2018.

• President Trump signed legislation to boost quantum computing research, which could have significant economic and national security implications.

• President Trump signed the Music Modernization Act into effect, creating digital performance fair-pay standards for musicians and producers.

• President Trump signed the Save our Seas Act, a law to boost the government’s ability to curb trash and plastic in the ocean.

• The U.S. economy added 312,000 jobs in December, far more than expected.

• The United States added 284,000 manufacturing jobs in 2018 alone, the best numbers since 1997.

While incomplete, this list paints a markedly different picture to that shown by U.S. establishment media figures, who allow their vision of success to be skewed and tarnished by blinders of hatred for the commander-in-chief.

The sky isn’t falling. The country is doing rather well. And though it’s unlikely you will hear much about the administration’s successes from establishment media, the aphorism “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” plays well into the idea of a second term for the president.

Adrian Norman is a writer and political commentator.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.