The greatest achievement for Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) may be that he hasn’t yet dragged the United States into a worldwide nuclear war. Otherwise his major accomplishments are to put a put a justice in the Supreme Court after the GOP held it open for a year and then changed the voting rules, pass a tax bill that increased the deficit by $1.5 trillion and gave almost all the money to the rich and big corporations, lost U.S. global leadership by alienating a majority of countries in the world, received the lowest approval rating (32 percent according to a recent poll and never over 45 percent) of any modern president, made tens of millions for his personal businesses, and shut down the government. Following are many more DDT’s actions that affected the people in the U.S.:
A Border Wall: Mexico still isn’t paying for DDT’s wall, and he’s made little progress in building it other than paying millions for prototypes.
Healthcare: DDT’s executive orders are wounding the Affordable Care Act, but it still exists, stronger for poor and middle-class people than for those who receive no government help.
Regulations: Most of the overturned regulations or new unconstitutional regulations have ended up in court, for example the Muslim ban. DDT has also failed to penalize “sanctuary” cities and states that strictly follow federal law but don’t donate local law enforcement to perform federal duties.
Immigration: The conservative AP reported that illegal border crossings may be at an historic low, but they started going down before he came into office. DDT has continually alienated people and nations with his insulting comments about people of color, most recently his vulgar racist comments about Haiti, El Salvador, and all African countries.
Alienation: DDT has declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel, praises authoritarian leaders, and decries democratic ones. Every speech he makes in a foreign country includes his position of “Make America First.”
Trade: The U.S. withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, but it was headed that way already. DDT failed to negotiate NAFTA and backed off his threat to penalize Chinese imports after China gave him a large number of patents. He promised to bring companies back to the United States, but his new tax law gives corporations greater incentive to stay offshore.
Environment/Energy: DDT approved pipeline permit that are now back in the courts. He removed the U.S. from the Paris climate-change agreement but now says that he may go back into it. He gave permission for fossil fuel drilling along the coasts and in other areas but backed off in Florida where he owns Mar-a-Lago. The drilling and his shrinking public lands are also in the courts.
Foreign Affairs: ISIS was temporarily fought back, but the number of militants is rapidly growing. Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, is so dangerous that diplomats and soldiers from the United States must fly the two miles between the airport and the U.S. headquarters instead of drive. The Afghan president will no longer release statistics on casualties and said that his government would collapse in six months if the U.S. stopped providing the 90 percent of his defense budget.
Infrastructure: DDT vaguely promised $1 trillion to rebuild the crumbling roads, bridges, airports, etc., but nothing has been done, especially after adding $1.5 trillion to the deficit and promises large increases to the military budget. His solution may be requiring states to pay or allowing privatization that would mandate tolls for people using any new roads and bridges.
Veterans: The only legislation is to more easily fire VA employees for misconduct.
LGBTQ People: DDT promised to protect this minority but then ordered a ban on all transgender people from the military, supported for discrimination against LGBTQ people in Supreme Court arguments, signed an executive order to discriminate against LGBTQ rights, and permitted healthcare workers to deny services to LGBTQ people.
Cannabis: DDT broke his promise to give states’ rights to laws legalizing cannabis and supports the DOJ’s crack-down on any use of cannabis.
Hard Work: DDT spends less time on his job than any other modern president and goes to his personal property almost every weekend, most of the time to golf. He broke his promise to never take a vacation while serving as president.
Boasts: DDT bragged about have signed the biggest number of bills during his first year, but his 96 new laws put him last when compared to those from all presidents elected for their first terms: George W. Bush, 102; Bill Clinton, 209; George H.W. Bush, 242. John F. Kennedy signed 684 bills in his first year.
DDT may not want credit for some exceptional numbers during his first year:
The worst year in mass shootings: According to the well-paid Republicans, these 345 mass killings resulting in 574 deaths are not related to guns.
The death of over 1,052 U.S. people in Puerto Rico: Indifference, ineptitude, and cupidity led to unnecessary struggles after Hurricane Maria. Four months after the disaster, half of the people in the U.S. territory are still without electricity.
A three-year high in coal miner deaths: The 15 deaths during DDT’s first year is almost double that of eight in 2016. Mining regulators are considering the elimination of safety rules against black lung disease, and miners are losing their jobs, double the number of jobs gained after DDT’s promises that helped him get votes. As utilities change to natural gas, at least six plants using coal are closing with another 40 projected during DDT’s term in an industry that employs only 50,000 people. DDT blamed the coal miners for getting black lung because they won’t leave the mines.
Soaring hate crimes: Perpetrators are giving DDT as their inspiration for bias crimes. One of the worst years for Islamophobic attacks was 2017, and the number of anti-Semitic attacks was higher in the first nine months of 2017 and in all of 2016. Hate crimes in Phoenix (AZ) were up by 46 percent last year over 2016.
A rise in schoolyard bullying: Ninety percent of K-12 educators said that racist bullying rose after DDT’s election, and 80 percent reflected increased student anxiety and concern about the impact of election. In another survey, “more than 20 percent of teachers reported heightened polarization on campus and incivility in their classrooms…[and] 27.7 percent of teachers reported an increase in students making derogatory remarks about other groups during class discussions.” Several teachers interviewed “described how the political environment ‘unleashed’ virulently racist, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, or homophobic rhetoric in their schools and classrooms.”
Reduced international travel to the U.S.: In the “Trump Slump,” international travel to the U.S. dropped four percent last year over 2016.
Civil rights and courts: Voter suppression; loss of protection in the courts from fewer DOJ positions and nominations of white male judges, most of them bigoted; cuts in Legal Aid.
Climate, environment, and public lands: damaged health from loss of protection from environmental hazards; plans to repeal the clean Power Plan; damaged water supply from pipeline breaks.
Criminal justice: return of military weapons to law enforcement accompanied by no training and supervision; demand for harshest drug sentences possible; expanded private prisons; cuts to tribal law enforcement.
Economic opportunity: weakening of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; elimination of monitoring discriminatory practices for government contractors. loss of pay data to determine discriminatory wages.
Wages: loss of pay data to determine discriminatory wages; elimination of overtime program that raised wages $1.2 billion a year and created new jobs; gift of tips by restaurant waitpeople (perhaps $5.8 billion) to owners; increased difficulty in unionizing.
Education: removal of funding from public schools; frozen Pell Grant awards; cuts in Federal Work-Study program; attacks on affirmative action; loss of education through tax supported Christian charter schools.
Housing: cuts in subsidized housing.
Immigration: loss of the DACA program; deportation of longtime resident non-criminals.
“Bring down drug prices” by making deals with drug companies. – DDT says he can’t do it.
“I’m not going to cut Social Security like every other Republican and I’m not going to cut Medicare or Medicaid.” – DDT is making plans to recoup his $1.5 trillion deficit by cutting these programs.
“Six weeks of paid maternity leave to any mother with a newborn child whose employer does not provide the benefit.” – No money after corporations get their $1.5 trillion.
Won’t bomb Syria. – He did that a long time ago.
Many women who accused him of sexual misconduct “will be sued after the election is over.” – Hasn’t happened because they could make information public in court.
Protect steel workers. – Steel imports went up 19.4 percent in the first ten months of 2017.
Release his taxes. – Ha!
The casualties of DDT’s first year are truth, science, education, health, environment, communications, human rights, women’s reproductive freedom, non-Christian religions, income equality, and all people who aren’t wealthy.
For more angst, The Hill has provided a blow-by-blow account of DDT’s first year.
Nel's New Day 
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