What the President is Doing for Us by J. E. Dean

Sometimes, the comments made on editorials are more interesting than the editorials themselves. Take mine, for example. With admirable regularity, I find something negative to say about the President. One week, I complained about his cabinet appointments. The next, I complained about the tariffs. I also have written against Trump’s denying deportees’ due process. I wrote that seizing suspected illegal immigrants off the street, loading them onto planes, and delivering them to South Sudan is wrong.

Several readers have asked me why I can’t simply acknowledge all the good that Trump is doing for America. The idea, I think, is that Trump may be quirky, but he is doing a lot to make America better.  We need to overlook things about Trump such as his name-calling or redecorating the White House in gold and focus on the good stuff. 

One reader even reminded me, as the White House Press Secretary does frequently, that Trump is a highly successful businessman who has given up “everything” to Make America Great Again.” This obviously isn’t true. 

I wish I could write something positive about Donald Trump, but I can’t. I’m not able to point to a single positive thing that he deserves credit for. 

What about border security, you ask?  I support rational regulation of immigration, including securing the borders. Trump lost me with the prison in El Salvador and the flights to South Sudan.  

What about the decrease in the rate of inflation?  Less inflation is a good thing, but did Trump make it happen? I don’t think so. The CPI was headed down before Trump took office.  Did the possibility of Trump winning the election do the trick? Of course not.

 Inflation peaked at more than 9 percent in 2022 when Biden was President. Economists tell us that disruptions in the supply chain resulting from the pandemic and increases in the cost of energy resulting from Russia’s war against Ukraine contributed to the increase.  Biden did not cause the pandemic.  It started in March 2020.  Trump was president and ignored covid until it was a national crisis. (You can be sure that if Biden had been president when the pandemic began, Trump would have blamed it on Biden.)

And who believes Trump when he claims that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine had he been President? Remember that Trump also claimed he would end the war “on Day One” of his second term or even before taking office? I do.  Blaming Biden for the war is, to put it mildly, a stretch. 

 And what about Biden’s spending? By 2024, the annual rate of inflation was down to 3.3 percent, despite the enactment of Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar bills to address climate change and other domestic policy needs. And, as a resident of the Eastern Shore, I enthusiastically supported federal spending and regulation to address climate change.

Had Biden been reelected, inflation may have continued to decrease, but we’ll never know. What we do know is that four months into his presidency, Trump is taking credit for fixing the economy.  This may prove premature. By the end of the year, Trump’s tariffs may drive prices higher.  Most economists say that is probable. (But don’t expect Trump to admit he was wrong or take responsibility for the problem.)

And what will happen if his ludicrously named “Big Beautiful Bill” is enacted? We know that his pending multibillion dollar extension of his 2017 tax cuts and increases in defense and border security spending will increase the national debt by more than $2.8 trillion over the next 10 years.

Some will disagree that Trump takes credit for positive developments that he had little to do with. But what about the things he says “make America great again” that do nothing of the sort? Let me list a few:

Eliminating funding for public television and radio. (Cut because Trump views them as critical of his policies.)

Cutting medical research. Are we supposed to be grateful for Trump ending important cancer clinical trials? 

Ending efforts to combat climate change, including attempting to rescind money for projects already appropriated by Congress. If you live within 50 miles of an ocean shoreline, you should be worried. 

Redecorating the Oval Office in gold. Please don’t tell me I’m supposed to take pride in this decorating fiasco. And who is going to pay to have it all taken down after Trump leaves office?

Attacking Harvard University and its students. Why this obsession with Harvard? Destroying Harvard will not make America great—it will destroy something that is part of American greatness.

Attacking Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. How exactly does ending DEI programs benefit white males or help American citizens who are people of color?

Appointing himself to Chair the Kennedy Center. I liked the pre-Trump programming at the Kennedy Center. Trump wants to replace classical music, opera and other “highbrow” culture with more popular fare corresponding to his own taste. Surprise! Ticket sales have dropped dramatically.

End the Department of Education and funding for low-income students, teacher development, student aid, and educational research.

Holding a $45 million dollar parade on your birthday because June 14 is also the anniversary of the U.S. Army. I predict massive disruption, massive damage to DC roads, massive protests, and potentially serious misdeeds. 

Cutting benefits and services to Veterans. 

Closing Social Security Offices. I don’t like waiting on the phone for an hour to get a question answered from someone who has no clue how to solve the problem.

Watching Kristi Noem flash a Rolex in front of the infamous El Salvadoran prison. Her stunt was embarrassing and shameful. A good president would have fired her.

I could go on with this list. Let’s be clear. President Trump claims things “Make America Great Again,” that don’t. Many of his actions take benefits and services from Americans, undermine the rule of law, and jeopardize democracy.  

Dare I say it, Trump is making his bed—a legacy of chaos and a reversal of progress—and will have to sleep in it. Fifty years from now, it will be  clear that Trump was a much worse president than Nixon. The gold trim in the Oval Office, the Qatari 747, the Crypto, Musk dancing with a chainsaw, and Trump’s devotion to the game of golf will be what is remembered. What also will be remembered is the number of decades it will take to put the country back in order. 

 If we are lucky and work together to stop the madness, Trump will be seen as an aberration and an embarrassment, nothing more.

J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.