There are always two sides to every story, and the perspective on Donald Trump is no different. One Wildcat Voice writer, Marissa Mauceri, gave 27 reasons why President Donald Trump was great; I will be giving those same 27 reasons and turning them on their heads to show my perspective on him and his actions.

1. He beat the odds

Hillary Clinton won the popular vote in the 2016 Presidential Election, but Donald Trump won the electoral college majority. One could call this beating the odds, but many simply call it the flaw of the electoral college.  He was not chosen by the majority of voters.  Also the now proven fact of Russian interference and assistance in his victory is not mentioned, thus making it the opposite of a feat. It is a fraudulent victory.

2. Tax Reforms

In December of 2017, Trump passed the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” which lowered income taxes for many; however the tax cuts were focused more on the 1% and Wall Street executives and largely did not make a difference to the common working class American.

3. Obama Care

The original article stated that Trump overturned Obama Care, which is blatantly false. He has made efforts to repeal Obama Care but has not succeeded. Even if he did repeal ObamaCare, that would result in less accessible healthcare for those who need it, and healthcare companies may hike their prices due to the absence of ObamaCare; so the repeal would assist no one.

4. The Economy

The original article boasts of a 4.1 unemployment rate, however most if not all actions taken to lower said unemployment rate were taken under the Obama administration, not Trump’s. The article also discusses a Dow Jones record of 26,616.71 in January of 2018. That being over a year ago, the Dow had hit a low point in mid December  2018 of 22,445.37, a place it had not hit since September of 2017.

5. The Coal Industry

I have a real gripe with this one. The original author states that it is a good thing that Trump repealed a law that protected streams and freshwater bodies to benefit the coal industry. Coal, I will add, is a very inefficient energy method, as well as disadvantageous to the environment. Ms. Mauceri also stated that it was unfair to the coal industry that there were regulations on pollution in freshwater streams and implied  that the coal industry’s well-being is more important than our planet’s ecosystem. In my opinion, it is absolutely absurd to place the coal industry (again, an inefficient fuel source to start with) at a higher regard than our fragile environment.

6. Infrastructure

Trump cut the wait time on infrastructure permits. This can mean faster improvements but also means that there is less assurance in the safety and quality in the roads and railroads and bridges. This can pose  a danger for citizens.

7. Economic Optimism

Ms. Mauceri’s article cites the Economic Optimism Index, and how it had reached a 17 year high in September 2018. However in January 2019 the index hit a 13 month low, and reached near pessimistic levels according to the scale.

8. Apprenticeships

The executive order involving the expansion of apprenticeship programs is supposed to bring jobs to millenials and  be beneficial to the participants. Well, according to the Department of Labor, apprenticeships range from $200-$800 a session and pay around $15 an hour, so they cost more than they are worth. 

9. Women-Owned Business

There is of course nothing wrong with women owning businesses, but the small business loans praised in the original article have been proven a partial dead-end for the government. According to the Bureau of Labor, around 20% of small businesses close within their first year, and 50% close by their fifth. These so called beneficial loans have clearly been presented as largely a misuse of tax dollars.

10. Killing Regulations and Cuts

Whether these killed regulations are business and worker regulations or environmental and ecological regulations, Trump’s policy of eliminating regulations has been detrimental. His cuts to various bureaus and departments has only been in the name of the conservation of funds and has not been helpful to the branches who lost funding, education, labor, etc.

11. Obama-era Climate Agreement

This is the most important thing in this entire argument to me. Climate change is one of if not the biggest threat to humanity and our way of life. People like Donald Trump and Ms. Mauceri are too nearsighted to see the monstrous and detrimental threat that climate change will pose in the future, and they cannot comprehend that this threat is not destructive and completely irreversible now, it will be in the future. Let me ask you this, what is more significant: a small and unnoticeable economic boo-boo, or the survival of humanity?  

12. Opening Up Trade

With Trump’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), trade was actually decreased, as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, makes up around 40% of the global economy. Trump’s withdrawal was the literal opposite of opening up trade.

13. Coming Back Home

In an effort to keep companies from leaving the U.S., Trump cut corporate taxes by 40%, but his new bill did not ensure workers’ jobs, so many of these companies he tried to keep in the U.S. actually began firing many workers and also outsourced their workforce to China. Yet another failed economic effort.

14. Cuba

Trump ended a prosperous and beneficial deal with Cuba that allowed American tourists, who were there for a long time, to be banned from entry. This rupture in Cuban relations has set the United States back to the era of hostility with the Cuban people and government. In Trump’s famous words, “Sad!”

15. Immigration

At the time of publication of Ms. Mauceri’s article, absolutely zero work had been completed on the infamous Mexican border wall. Add to this the fact that it is no longer the 1600’s or China, and walls have proven to be ineffective at solving problems. They are more likely to create problems (i.e. Berlin). Trump ended DACA, which protects children who were too young to have any say if they were to move to the U.S. or not. These inhuman and unethical actions cannot be misconstrued as positives.

16. New Cops

Trump’s feeble grants of $98 million dollars are largely insignificant as the federal government spends roughly $100 billion dollars on law enforcement every year. So these “generous” grants do hardly any impact at all.

17. Opioid Crisis

The opioid crisis is one of the largest threats for young Americans, but Trump’s meager emergency funds for the opioid crisis have not impacted the addiction efforts in Ohio and much else of the nation.  At least the motives were right on this one, but there was no plan or follow-through to ensure the money was well-spent.

18. International Relations

Trump has gone to many countries in the name of relations and friendships, which are invaluable to a nation. However these seem to have been largely ineffective, as during a United Nations gathering, as he spoke the supposed success of his administration, he was then laughed at by the members of the U.N. So much for making friends, right?

19.  Protected Life

Abortion law is always a controversial topic.  And while I respect the notion to want to protect life, I cannot agree with anti-abortion laws.  Pregnancies do have their complications, and in severe cases, a future mother can die during birth if an abortion is not done; and the baby could be the result of a non-consensual encounter. In my personal opinion, a person is not a person until they are born; that is why we have birthdays, birth certificates, and citizenship based on place of birth. It is overall up to the mother (and father) if they choose to have an abortion; this is not a matter for government.

20. Veterans

You know what? I’m not going to refute everything he does.  This is a good thing. Since the funding for veteran support has gone up, there has been a decrease in homeless veterans. (Even a broken clock is right twice a day.)

21. Kim Jong Un

Although meeting with Kim Jong Un is fine to create stability between nations, Trump said things that were simply in the act of sucking up and lying. For example, one of Trump’s tweets referred to Kim Jong Un as “obviously a madman.” But he later remarked about his situation with Kim, “We fell in love.”

American Presidents are supposed to stand their ground in defense and honor of their country, and Trump simply sucked up to Kim for appearances.

22. Travel Ban

The travel ban has done absolutely nothing to prevent terror attacks in the U.S. All of the recent terror attacks in the U.S. have been committed by people who already live here, and there is nothing being done to prevent the attacks committed by citizens in the way of gun laws.

23. The U.S. Embassy

“He moved the U.S. Embassy from Israel to Jerusalem, as he promised.” First, Jerusalem is in Israel.  Also, this action simply created more turmoil in the already-shaken relationship between Palestine and Israel. Another poor decision by our commander-in-chief.

24. Iranian Nuclear Deal

Trump withdrew from the Iranian Nuclear Deal, which limited Iran’s ability to use nuclear energy and make nuclear weapons. A withdrawal from this would increase the chances of nuclear weapons being made by ran without a large military force intimidating them.  And lack of oil sales from Iran will increase prices, not lower them.

25. Fake News

The media does not make Trump look bad; Trump makes Trump look bad. See previous 24 reasons for evidence. Persuading the American people to mistrust media is a strategic move–one that has been used before. The concept of “lying press” was made famous by the Nazi party in Germany during Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.

26.  Supreme Court

Brett Kavanaugh is an unconvicted criminal; many feel there is an insurmountable quantity of evidence pointing to the near fact that he sexually assaulted Christine Ford. President Trump nominated him and continues to support him.

27. Hair

Trump does not have good hair. No explanation needed.