Sunday, April 23, 2017

Massive Trump achievements so far

http://www.conservapedia.com/Donald_Trump_achievements


Historic general election victory

Not only did Trump experience a major and historic election victory upset, winning states like WisconsinPennsylvania, and Michigan, that Republicans had not won in years, but they broke other records and won in other levels of government as well.

Trump Transition

Despite not even being inaugurated, Trump made several notable accomplishments.
  • November 2016 — In an effort to "Drain the Swamp," Trump instituted a 5-year lobbying ban for potential administration picks as well as transition team members.[5] This is much longer than Barack Obama's ban, which was for two years.[6]
  • After Trump's election and because of his strong criticism of outsourcing, numerous businesses have specifically backed off from outsourcing jobs to foreign nations, citing Trump as either the reason or a large reason.[7][8][9]
    In June 2016, President Barack Obama told a Carrier employee at a town hall meeting that there was nothing that could be done about the trend of jobs leaving America. Less than a month after Trump’s election win, Carrier tweeted that they reached a deal with the President-elect to keep close to 1,000 jobs in Indiana. Trump also motivated Ford to scrap their plans for a $1.6 billion plant planned for Mexico and instead will invest $700 million in a Michigan assembly plant creating 700 new jobs.[10]
  • Trump picked the most conservative cabinet, at least in recent U.S. history.[11][12] In addition, rather than picking establishment Washington RINOs with worthless governmental experience in the capital city, Trump chose an unorthodox cabinet of true conservatives, small-government proponents, and outsiders.[13][14] Additionally, Trump nominated David Friedman—one of the most pro-Israel figures in the entire world—as U.S. ambassador to Israel (which other Republicans likely would not have done),[15][16] and he ordered all of Obama's ambassadors to leave by Inauguration Day.[17][18]
  • December 2016 — In foreign policy, even before being inaugurated, Trump broke decades of leftist policy instituted by liberal Jimmy Carter by answering a phone call from the president of Taiwan, which showed he is able to stand up to the "People's" "Republic" of China.[19][20]
  • December 2016/January 2017 — Trump criticized Boeing and Lockheed Martin for selling the U.S. overpriced weaponry (including the failed F-35 Lightning II program), and he criticized Boeing for planning an extremely overpriced new Air Force One.[21] After criticizing Boeing over Air Force One and meeting with its executives, the company's CEO assured Trump that the new plane would not be over budget.[22]
  • January 2017 — Trump stopped the GOP-controlled House from changing the House Ethics Oversight panel rules after tweeting against the change.[23] While the panel does have problems that the proposed change would address and many fake MSM news surrounding it,[24] Trump reminded the House to focus first on helping the American people rather than themselves.
  • Due to Trump's election, U.S. generals in Iraq fighting the Islamic State began taking greater freedom to conduct operations in the way they saw fit.[25]

As U.S. President

Trump being sworn in, January 20, 2017.
Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017, giving one of the strongest inauguration addresses in American history.[26][27][28] His first bill signed as president was to allow retired general and Defense Secretary nominee James Mattis to be confirmed.[29] Trump had a very busy and productive first week, undoing Obama's legacy and instituting conservative executive orders.[30][31][32] He made a large impact by his 50th day in office.[33]
Due to his promotion and support of conservative, America First[34] policies, President Trump faced large opposition from the left, including from within the government bureaucracy.[35][36] (The fact that members of the Deep State have grown visibly scared of reports stating such confirms this view.[37]) As a testament to the deep opposition and hatred towards him by the left-wing, at least 217 violent protestors were arrested in Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day.[38][39] Additionally, Senate Democrats unduly delayed Trump's cabinet nominees at historic and unprecedented proportions—by February 8, 2017, only George Washington had fewer cabinet nominees confirmed by this length of time into his presidency.[40] As in the 2016 presidential election, the mainstream media strongly opposed Trump and wrote him off as a failure early in his presidency, despite his numerous accomplishments by that time.[41] As evidence of this intense MSM opposition, a study published close to the 100th-day mark of Trump's presidency showed that 89% of media coverage regarding Trump was negative.[42]
Congressional Republicans were more united during Trump's presidency than in any other time in recent U.S. political history.[43]

Social policy

Legislation signed

  • March 27, 2017—One of the four Congressional Review bills that Trump signed into law that day repealed Obama's Blacklisting Rule, which would have required firms contracted by federal agencies to release every claim of unfair labor practices concerning them – something which would have given unionized contractors an upper-hand. On the same day, President Trump signed an executive order repealing the contracting rule.[44]
  • April 19, 2017—President Trump signed an extension of the Veterans Choice Act of 2014, which allowed veterans to seek medical care outside the VA system due to serious VA problems.[45][46]

Executive actions

  • January 20, 2017—On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order that would lessen Obamacare's burden while Republicans work to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.[47][48]
  • February 9, 2017—President Trump signed three executive orders pertaining to law enforcement. The first cracked down and strengthens the law against international crime organizations, the second deals with anti-law enforcement crimes, and third with finding a strategy for reducing crime in general, "including, in particular, illegal immigration, drug trafficking, and violent crime."[49]
  • February 22, 2017—President Trump rescinded former President Obama's pro-transgender guidelines for schools receiving federal aid that are subject to Title IX.[50] A day earlier, the Trump Administration announced it would discontinue Obama's pro-transgender policies.[51]
  • March 27, 2017—President Trump signed an executive order repealing Obama-era requirements for federal contractors, along with signing a bill that day on the same topic.[44]
  • April 3, 2017—Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered the Department of Justice to review Obama's agreements with local police departments. Sessions made this order to give back local control to police departments.[52]
  • April 14, 2017—President Trump appointed Roger Severino, a strong defender of religious liberty, to the HHS Office for Civil Rights.[53][54]
  • April 14, 2017—The Justice Department dropped its lawsuit against North Carolina that alleged discrimination with its "bathroom bill" (filed under the Obama Administration) after a compromise bill was passed. Homosexual activists still opposed the new bill.[55]
  • Although receiving little reporting from the mainstream media, the Justice Department established a policy in April 2017 against female genital mutilation, which is practiced among many Muslims.[56]

Abortion

Legislation signed

  • April 13, 2017—President Trump signed a Congressional Review bill into law annulling a recent Obama Administration regulation that would have prohibited states from discriminating in awarding Title X family planning funds based on whether the local clinic also performs abortions (some states adopted rules which distribute federal family planning funds on the condition that the organizations do not perform abortions).[57] The Act was "the first major national pro-life bill in more than a decade."[58]

Executive actions

  • January 23, 2017—President Trump signed an order reinstating the Mexico City Policy, which defunded International Planned Parenthood and other organizations that promote foreign abortions.[59][60]
  • April 4, 2017—The Trump Administration halted U.S. funding of the United Nations Population Fund, which has links to inhumane abortion programs such as China's one-child policy. Instead, the $32.5 million was shifted to the U.S. Agency for International Development.[61]

Gun politics

Legislation signed

  • February 28, 2017—President Trump signed a bill into law (Public Law 115-8)[62] repealing a Social Security Administration rule adding mental disability determinations to the background check registry, subject to a person applying to be removed from the list.[63][64][65] Congress had passed a law requiring federal agencies to search their records for people who were "mentally defective", and the Social Security Administration had published their method of gathering names on December 16, 2016. The regulation would have added the names of disability beneficiaries who have a mental illness or are not competent to manage their own finances, potentially leading to the removal of Second Amendment rights to many perfectly competent, mentally healthy citizens.[64][66] By signing the resolution of disapproval, as with other CRA acts, the Social Security Administration cannot come up with different criteria for supplying names to the background check registry for 10 years.

Executive actions

  • Starting early in his presidency, the Trump Administration has undone Obama-era executive branch gun regulations.[67]

Immigration, illegal immigration, and border security

There was a large change in the Trump Administration, particularly in the Justice Department, concerning immigration policy, compared to the Obama Administration.[68]According to data released early in Trump's presidency, illegal border crossings decreased by 40% in the first month of Trump's presidency – a remarkable achievement, considering that illegal immigration usually increases by 10 to 20% in January and February.[69][70] In March, illegal immigration had fallen by over 60%.[71] It was reported in April that illegal immigration levels had fallen to the lowest point in 17 years.[72] In six months, the illegal immigration of Haitians, specifically, into the U.S. declined by 97%.[73] Illegal immigration dropped so much that U.S. Customs and Border Protection was able to close on of their temporary holding facilities.[74] This drop was probably due to the Trump effect.[75][76]
President Trump worked to eliminate Obama's legacy of giving privileges to illegal immigrants in detention centers.[77] At the same time, the Trump Administration expanded immigration enforcement efforts, such as through building additional detention centers.[78]

Legislation signed

Executive actions

Trump signing his Jan. 27, 2017 order regarding refugees and travel from high-risk countries.
Countries affected by Trump's Jan. 27, 2017 travel ban.
  • January 25, 2017—Trump signed two executive orders. The first one included ordering the "immediate construction of a physical wall on the southern border," the hiring of 5,000 additional border control agents, and ending "catch-and-release" policies for illegal immigrants. The second order called for hiring an additional 10,000 federal immigration officers, re-establishing the Secure Communities Program and other local partnerships, making the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants a priority, directing the State Department to use leverage to ensure countries-of-origin take back illegal immigrants, and stripping federal grant money from sanctuary cities and states.[79][80]
  • January 25, 2017—Trump promised to investigate voter fraud in the U.S. While this appears to have only been an announcement of a future action, it shows that President Trump is serious about voter fraud.[81]
  • January 27, 2017—Trump signed an executive order indefinitely banning the admission of Syrian refugees, suspending the overall refugee program for 120 days, suspending entry and the issuing of visas from seven failed Middle Eastern countries[82] for at least 90 days, and reducing the number of refugees allowed into the nation during the fiscal year from 110,000 to 50,000.[83][84][85] Additionally, Trump made clear that he would help Christian refugees, a reversal from the Obama Administration.[86] Despite criticism from leftists and non-conservatives, 49 percent of the American public supported the decision compared to 41 percent opposed, according to the "mainstream" Reuters,[87] and 57% percent of likely American voters supported the ban according to Rasmussen.[88] Additionally, while the leftist establishment European leaders opposed the ban, a strong majority—55% average—of Europeans supported the ban, according to a poll in 10 European Union nations.[89][90]
  • March 6, 2017—President Trump signed a second executive order concerning the temporary suspension of refugees and others from certain high-risk countries after the first one was blocked by the courts. The second order made some clarifications and minor improvements over the first, such as exempting green card holders from the ban and excluding Iraq from it as it had developed an acceptable vetting process.[91][92]
  • On March 31, 2017, after talking tough against "sanctuary cities" and illegal immigration, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a plan to speed up the deportation of imprisoned illegals.[93][94] On April 11, 2017, Sessions issued a memorandum to U.S. attorneys, instructing them to enforce much stricter guidelines against immigration crimes,[95] and he announced the Justice Department would hire 125 immigration judges in the next two years.[96]
  • In late March/early April 2017, the Trump Administration cracked down on H-1B visas in a series of actions, making it much more difficult for entry-level programmers to enter the U.S., combating corruption in the program, and making sure that Americans were not discriminated against.[97] On April 18, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order restricting the H-1B visa to give the hiring preference to American workers and enacting stronger enforcement of laws requiring the use of American-made materials in federal projects.[98] Experts on the H-1B visa supported his order.[99]
  • April 14, 2017—President Trump appointed two conservatives on immigration issues to senior positions in the Department of Homeland Security.[100] Like Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly (with the full support of President Trump[101]) also adopted a strong position against illegal immigration.[102]

Energy and environmental policy

Legislation signed

  • February 14, 2017 - Trump signed H.J.Res.41 - Providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of a rule submitted by the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to "Disclosure of Payments by Resource Extraction Issuers" (see "Size of Government" section below).[103]

Executive actions

  • January 24, 2017—Trump signed two orders reviving consideration for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects, which Obama halted due to supposed environmental concerns.[104] On March 24, 2017, the Trump Administration approved the Keystone XL Pipeline.[105]
  • January 24, 2017—In addition to the above, Trump signed three other orders, one requiring the United States Secretary of Commerce make a plan within six months mandating all new or improved pipelines be made with American steel, another order requiring every federal agency to streamline manufacturing regulations, and the third allowing fast-track approval for important infrastructure projects.[106]
  • March 18, 2017—The Trump Administration forced the G-20 to remove any mention of climate change from its joint statement.[107][108] (See "Foreign policy" section below)
  • March 28, 2017—President Trump signed a major executive order repealing several Obama-era environmental regulations unfavorable to coal. In addition to this, the order started an immediate review of Obama's Clean Power Plan, help create American energy jobs, bring American energy independence by stimulating domestic energy production, and giving authority back to the states.[109][110]

Economic policy

Legislation signed

Executive actions

  • February 3, 2017—President Trump signed an order directing Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, upon his confirmation, to plan changes to the Dodd-Frank bank regulatory law in order to cut much of it.[111][112]
  • April 21, 2017—President Trump signed one executive order and two memorandums. The order directed the Treasury Secretary Mnuchin to look at the U.S. tax code and recommend the removal of unnecessary regulations and the two memorandums directing the Treasury Secretary to conduct a review of portions of the Dodd-Frank law.[113]

Trade

Legislation signed

Executive actions

  • January 23, 2017—Trump signed an order which withdrew the United States from the globalist Trans-Pacific Partnership.[114]
  • March 18, 2017—The Trump Administration forced the G-20 to remove its opposition to protectionism and its support for free trade from its joint statement.[115][116] (See "Foreign policy" section below)
  • March 31, 2017—President Trump signed two orders. The first order instituted a crackdown on violations of anti-dumping laws and help to officials to collect penalties already owed to the U.S. The second order ordered a report by the Department of Commerce and the U.S. Trade Representative on the causes of the U.S. trade deficit due within 90 days.[117][118]
  • April 20, 2017—President Trump signed a memorandum directing the Department of Commerce to investigate whether steel imports pose a threat to U.S. national security.[119][120]

Foreign policy

President Trump being briefed on April 6, 2017 concerning a military strike on Syria.
President Trump was observed early in his presidency to have adopted a strong foreign policy.[121] This was as opposed to Barack Obama's foreign policy.[122] As the North Korean vice-foreign minister stated, Trump's foreign policy was "more vicious and more aggressive" than that of Barack Obama.[123] Fox News reported that the Trump Administration has adopted a more critical stance toward the United Nations than the Obama Administration.[124]

Legislation signed

Executive actions

  • February 3, 2017—After Iran tested a ballistic missile in apparent violation of a UN Security Council resolution, the Trump Administration instituted unilateral economic sanctions against 13 Iranian individuals and 12 companies.[125][126]
  • March 2017—After the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia authored a destructive and anti-Semitic[127][128] report against Israel, the report and agency were strongly criticized by the United States and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, and the executive director of the commission resigned in response.[129][130]
  • On March 18, 2017, the Trump Administration successfully forced the G-20 to remove its opposition to protectionism and temper its support for free trade,[115][116] and any mention of climate change[107][108] from its joint statement. Later, in April 2017, the Trump Administration refused to sign the G7 joint statement because the other nations could not agree to include support for nuclear and fossil fuels without support for the Paris climate agreement. The G7, thus, went without a joint statement.[131][132]
  • April 6, 2017—After the Syrian government used chemical weapons on its people, President Trump ordered a one-time airstrike against a Syrian air base, firing 60 cruise missiles at it.[133] The U.S. destroyed about 20 Syrian jet planes and caused extremely heavy damage on the base.[134] Defense Secretary James Mattis stated the attacks destroyed 20% of Syria's operational aircraft.[135] As even the New York Times reported, Trump's action was a show of U.S. strength, and it was in stark contrast to Obama, as Trump used surprise and speed in the attacks.[136] World leaders supported the strong action.[137] This was the first direct military action the U.S. took against the Assad regime.[138]
MOAB, the "Mother Of All bombs"
  • April 13, 2017—Under the increased autonomy President Trump gave the Defense Department,[139] the U.S. dropped a GBU-43B (also known as MOAB or the "Mother Of All bombs"), the largest non-nuclear bomb in existence at 21,000 pounds on a complex of Islamic State tunnels in Afghanistan. Although tested in 2003, the bomb had never been used in combat before.[140] It was estimated to have killed at least 94 ISIS fighters, including four commanders – no civilians were killed.[141] It also destroyed several of the tunnels as well as weapon stockpiles.[142][143] The attack was reported as having dealt a heavy blow to ISIS's Afghanistan branch.[144]
  • March and April, 2017—President Trump and the U.S. Senate approved Montenegro's accession into NATO, over Russia's objections.[145]
  • April 21, 2017—The Trump Administration refused to issue waivers to any companies which wanted to do business with Russia, which was under economic sanctions, including ExxonMobil, which had applied for a waiver.[146][147] The day earlier, the Trump Administration announced, in strong language, it was implementing the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, which blacklisted certain Russian citizens.[148][149]

Size of Government

President Trump and Congress spent much time rolling back regulations, particularly those created by Obama.[150][151] In the first six weeks of Trump's presidency, over 90 regulations were repealed, whether through executive orders, Acts of Congress, or other means[152][153] — clearly keeping his promises.[154] He has successfully made use of Congressional Review numerous times to roll back Obama-era regulations—even more than expected.[155][156] Prior to Trump's presidency, the Congressional Review Act had been used only once successfully, sixteen years prior.[157]

Legislation signed

  • February 14, 2017—President Trump signed a bill into law repealing an Obama Era relation requiring energy companies to disclose financial transactions with foreign governments.[103][158][159]
  • February 16, 2017—President Trump signed a bill into law blocking the "Stream Protection Rule," an environmental regulation.[160][161]
  • March 27, 2017—President Trump signed four bills undoing Obama-era regulations.[155][162] Two of those bills rolled back federal education regulations.[163]
  • March 31, 2017—President Trump signed another bill undoing an Obama-era regulation, giving the power back to the states to expand drug testing for unemployment benefit applicants.[164]
  • April 3, 2017—President Trump signed a bill reversing an Obama-era FCC privacy regulation applicable to internet service providers. The FCC had adopted the rule to fill a gap created by a court case which ruled that the FTC did not have jurisdiction to extend its privacy rule over internet service providers because they were regulated by the FCC. The new law repealed the FCC rule and prohibits the FCC from enacting a replacement for 10 years without giving the FTC jurisdiction to regulate internet service providers' privacy practices.[165] Part of yet another series of bills undoing other Obama regulations.[166]

Executive actions

  • January 20, 2017—On its first day in office, the Trump Administration ordered a regulatory freeze on all federal governmental agencies.[167]
  • On Inauguration Day, 2017, the Trump administration instituted a federal hiring freeze.[168] On January 23, 2017, Trump signed an executive order instituting the hiring freeze, from which the military was exempted.[169] On April 12, 2017, the hiring freeze was replaced with a plan to restructure and shrink the executive branch.[170][171]
  • January 30, 2017—Trump signed an executive order that requires two federal regulations must be eliminated for every regulation created.[172][173][174]
  • February 3, 2017—President Trump signed a memorandum directing the United States Department of Labor to review a regulation signed by Obama set to go into effect.[175]
  • February 24, 2017—President Trump signed an executive order requiring every federal agency to create a "regulatory reform task force" to find unnecessary, burdensome regulations to repeal.[176] This order was called "the most far reaching effort to pare back U.S. red tape in recent decades."[177]
  • February 28, 2017—President Trump announced that he did not plan on filling numerous government positions he considered unnecessary.[178] According to one source, about 2,000 positions were vacant, and most of them were likely included in this list.[179] As of April 4, 2017, President Trump did not make a nomination for nearly 500 positions requiring Senate confirmation.[180]
  • March 13, 2017—President Trump signed an executive order to perform an audit on every executive branch agency in order to reduce spending and waste and improve services.[181][182][183]

Military

Legislation signed

Executive actions

  • January 27, 2017—Trump signed a memorandum to begin the expansion and rebuilding of the U.S. military.[184][185]
  • February 3, 2017—The Trump Administration and Lockheed Martin reached a tentative deal that would purchase 90 F-35 jet at the lowest price in the program's history.[186]

Proclamations

  • January 20, 2017—The day he was inaugurated, Trump instituted a national day of patriotism for the country,[187] and a few days later Trump officially designated his inauguration day the National Day of Patriotic Devotion.[188][189]
  • January 22–28, 2017—National School Choice Week, as proclaimed by President Trump[190]

Other

  • On January 5, 2017, the U.S. House passed a motion condemning Obama's allowing a leftist anti-Israel resolution to pass in the UN.[191][192] Additionally, Trump voiced his strong support for Israel during his transition.[193][194]
  • January 20, 2017—On the day he took office, Trump returned the bust of UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the Oval Office that Obama removed when he took office.[195] He also accepted the United Kingdom's offer to re-loan the second identical bust of Churchill, which Obama removed and returned after the first loan expired.[196]
  • January 28, 2017—Trump signed an executive order banning administration officials from lobbying their federal agencies for five years, as well as banning them for life from lobbying foreign nations and political parties.[197][198]
  • January 30, 2017—Trump showed he would not tolerate incompetent leftist administration officials when he fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates (a left-wing Obama holdover) when she refused to defend his refugee and immigration ban executive order.[199][200] Trump emulated Ronald Reagan's firing of the striking PATCO workers in 1981 by doing so,[201] contrary to the mainstream media spin.[202] That same night, Trump replaced the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (another Obama holdover) with a more competent official who had a reputation for enforcing immigration laws.[203][204]
  • March 10, 2017—Conservative attorney General Jeff Sessions asked the 46 remaining U.S. attorneys appointed by Obama, arguably the most left-wing president in U.S. history, to resign.[205][206] One of those U.S. attorneys was the failed Zachary Fardon, who was lax in his prosecution of gun crimes (Sessions directed the Justice Department to increase prosecutions on gun-law violations and to reinforce harsh sentences for such).[207] When one of those attorneys, Preet Bharara, refused to resign (likely for political gain), he was fired.[208]
  • Attorney General Jeff Sessions completely reformed the Justice Department, reorienting it in a strongly conservative direction and with conservative policies, in stark contrast with the Obama Administration.[209]
  • March 21, 2017—President Trump signed a bill into law not only funding NASA, but setting a goal of having humans visit Mars "in the 2030s" and potentially colonizing another planet.[210] The bill also funded the agency, the first time such a bill was signed into law in seven years.[211]
  • April 21, 2017—President Trump replaced Obama-appointed Vivek Murthy, who was opposed by gun rights groups, as Surgeon General of the United States.[212] During the same month, the Trump Administration reassigned two career government officials who had been strongly criticized by conservative organizations.[213]

Non-legislative or policy achievements

  • Trump has been bold enough to meet with conservative, right-wing figures who stand boldly for small government and conservatism, unlike many other Republicans. For example, he met with Alex Jones, becoming the first president to have ever met with Alex Jones (the meeting occurred during the campaign).[214] Also, Trump has had very strong relations with Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom Independence Party.,[215][216]
  • Trump has stood up to political correctness and the left-wing consensus in numerous aspects, most notably for rejecting political correctness and communicating directly to the public rather than the mainstream media. Also, Trump has been bold in rejecting the term "happy holidays."
  • January 20, 2017—Trump became the first president to say "radical Islamic terrorism" in his inaugural address.[28][217]
  • January 27, 2017—Vice President Mike Pence became the first vice president in United States history to speak at the annual March for Life march in Washington D.C.[218][219] Additionally, Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway also spoke at the event, and Trump himself strongly expressed his support for the march.[220][221]
  • The Trump Administration played a large role in successfully helping prevent CIA officer Sabrina de Sousa from being extradited to Italy, with the decision coming on March 1, 2017.[222] On April 21, 2017, Egypt released an Egyptian-American who had been detained for three years.[223]
  • President Trump and his administration have not been afraid to criticize the left-wing Obama Administration for its failures. This could be seen regarding Syria and Obama's failed and broken "red line" promise concerning the Syrian Civil War,[224] as well as Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly criticizing the Obama Administration's failure regarding illegal immigration and national security.[225][226]
  • Early in Trump's presidency, he and his administration took a much tougher tone against North Korea than his predecessors,[227] and he deployed a missile defense system to South Korea (first announced in 2016) despite China's strong objections.[228]

The courts

Supreme Court

President Trump announcing his nomination of Gorsuch, January 31, 2017.
On January 31, 2017, Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court.[229][230] The nomination was well received by many conservatives.[231][232] Others, however, most notably Andrew Schlafly, disagreed with the nomination due to concerns about Gorsuch's position on abortion.[233][234] The Senate ultimately confirmed Gorsuch on a vote of 54–45, even though the GOP was forced to initiate the nuclear option and lowering the vote threshold to overturn a filibuster for Supreme Court nominees due to Democrat obstructionism.[235]Gorsuch assumed office on April 10, 2017.[236]

Trump and the stock market

With expectations that Trump's election victory would cause the markets to plunge, the Dow Jones Industrial Average actually performed very strongly, closing at the highest level it had ever reached in history after the second day.[237] It is rare for the stock market to rise immediately after a U.S. presidential election regardless of the winner.[237] The stock market had its best week in five years due to optimism of a Trump presidency.[238]
Trump was very busy in his first week and showed he was serious about his campaign promises. This caused the stock market to increase, and the Dow Jones passed 20,000 points for the first time in its history.[239][240] On March 1, 2017, the day after Trump made his first address to a joint-session of Congress, the stock market rose dramatically again, with the Dow Jones passing the 21,000 mark for the first time in history.[241][242][243]

Donald Trump's victories over the liberal media establishment

See also: Fake news and Liberal media
  • Donald Trump helped further discredit the mainstream media due to his repeatedly challenging their honesty and by demonstrating that their predictions regarding his candidacy were repeatedly false. Americans who trust the media is at 32%, an all time low, according to the Gallup organization.[244] Additionally, between the 2016 election and late January, trust in the media fell from 21 to 15 percent among Trump voters, and even among Clinton voters it fell from 57 to 51 percent.[245]
  • Donald Trump's humor has cut down leading media figures to size. He told Wolf Blitzer of CNN that if Megyn Kelly didn't repeatedly attack him, her audience would be even smaller than Blitzer's. When asked by George Stephanopoulos what his biggest mistakes were on the campaign trail, he pointed that Stephanopoulos has regrets too and pointed out his donation to the Clinton Foundation.[246]
  • At an hour-long press conference on February 16, 2017, Trump repeatedly criticized the press as biased and "so dishonest ... out of control."[247]
  • On February 17, 2017, Trump tweeted: "The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!"[248]
  • On February 24, 2017, President Trump excluded several liberal media organizations from attending a press briefing.[249][250]

Donald Trump's establishment of a massive direct line to the public via social media

Via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, Donald Trump has established a massive direct link to the American public which is unfiltered by the mainstream media. His social media audience is about 45 million people.[251]

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