10 Accomplishments of President Donald Trump’s First Term

What has President Trump done to make America Great Again? The mainstream media focuses so much on what bad things that he has supposedly done. There are actually a multitude of things President Trump and his administration have done to better this country. Today, I will be focusing on ten of President Trump’s campaign promises that he has accomplished during his first term. 

National Security

What might have been the most controversial of President Trump’s campaign between Republicans and Democrats was his plan to build a border wall on the southern United States border. President Trump has delivered this promise. With government funding, he has managed to complete 321 miles of border wall as of September 2020. Along with the border wall, Trump has increased patrol at the southern border and mentioned in June that over 450,000 pounds of smuggled drugs have been prevented from crossing into the border. 

Lowering of Taxes

President Trump promised to cut taxes for middle class Americans once and for all. The GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from 2017 lowered corporate taxes from 35% to 21%. Another proponent of the bill was to lower rates for working Americans down to a range of 12%-35%. This had a substantial effect on Americans overall. 

Middle Eastern Relations with Israel 

Over the past couple of years, President Trump has worked to improve relations in the Middle East. This started with the movement of the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He recognized that Jerusalem was the true capital of Israel and solidified this statement with the moving of the embassy. Furthermore, the move will help to stimulate peace between Israel and Palestine. President Trump has also produced peace agreements this year between the nations of Israel, the United Arab Emirates, the first peace agreement between Israel and any middle eastern nation since 1994. 

Criminal Justice Reform

What is quite possibly one of President Trump’s most lasting and substantial bills that he has signed, the First Step Act is helping to reform a broken justice system. The bill, signed in 2018, helps to ease the transition of criminal offenders back into society. It eliminated the “three-strike’ system for life sentences and also created numerous programs for helping those with a criminal record get a job. Many people praised the President for signing a bill that addressed and worked to fix the system. 

Veterans

One of President Trump’s many priorities was to support the nation’s veterans. There are several examples of this throughout his first term. Trump worked to renew the 9/11 GI Bill, which provided educational benefits to veterans and their families. In 2017, he passed the Veterans Appeals Improvement and Modernization Act, that helped lessen the process that veterans had to undergo to receive disability benefits. 

Education

The Trump administration was and still is a big supporter of school choice. School choice is the belief that any student and their family should not have to settle for a below average school that is not meeting their needs just because of where they live. Instead, the student should have a choice of where they want to attend school. Along with this stance, President Trump has dedicated over $1 billion to fund both public and private school choice grants through the Education Innovation and Research Program. 

 The Economy

Let’s talk some statistics. Under President Trump, the nation’s GDP has steadily increased at 3% for four quarters during the administration. Trump has created jobs, approximately 6 million new ones. The unemployment rate is at the lowest it has been in 50 years, at 3.5%. This also includes record unemployment rates for minorities as well. Additionally, Trump has worked with the states during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to help get Americans working again. 

The Judicial System

Trump has worked to shape a more conservative court system. Along with three Supreme Court nominations in his first term, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and as of recently Amy Coney Barrett, Trump has also appointed over 100 conservative leaning justices to district, circuit, and appeals courts. 

Denuclearizing North Korea

In 2019, President Trump became the first United States President to enter North Korea. He also met with North Korean leader Kim Jung Un in 2018 to focus on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula. Other United States representatives have traveled to North Korea to work on releasing American detainees, and the administration has put sanctions on North Korea to be held accountable for their actions. 

Healthcare

Referring to the previously mentioned Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the bill also repealed the individual mandate of the Affordable Care Act, which required most Americans to have health insurance or pay a tax exemption if they could not afford it. The mandate essentially taxed the poor; 80% of households paying this tax exemption had an income of $50,000 or less. President Trump also signed the Right to Try Act in 2018, which gave terminally ill patients an opportunity to try medications and treatments that have not been FDA approved. 

To see more of President Trump’s accomplishments, click here.