User blog:Batran99/Debate: Is Trump a Bad President?

This is the first debate I am pushing for within the wiki. Whether or not this could be considered major or minor topic, I decided to make a blog with a thread attached. Other staff and users (with authorization) are allowed to create their own debates.

The only rule is to be respectful and not break any other wiki rules in the process.

Topic: Is Trump a bad (or Good) president?

thread: http://thefutureofeuropes.wikia.com/wiki/Thread:464509

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of President Donald Trump's time as President. Many things had happened within the past year of Trump's presidency. So first lets look at some of his achievements and his failures (to jumble opinion a bit), whether or not it is an achievement or failure is up to interpretation. (Note: you don't have to read all of it, but you can use some of these for your arguments for convenience)

(Economy)

 * Donald Trump's greatest achievement since 1 year into his Presidency was the economy. Under Trump, the economic has experienced one of its greatest bull markets in history. Stock markets have hit record highs, oil prices remain low, consumer and small-business confidence is buoyant, and inflation is under control. Retail sales has begun to pick up, although auto sales declined in 2017 and wage growth remains sluggish. The White House has set a growth target of 3%, which the US surpassed in the second and third quarters of 2017, marking 42 straight months of economic expansion. Republicans hope that their tax cuts will help boost growth (before the shutdown), although experts argue about whether history provides evidence that one follows the other.
 * However, while the economy has experiencing prosperity, it could only mean one thing; a worse reccession (possibly a depression) ahead. An economy that is prosperous at first could become as equally ruined the next.
 * During the campaign, Mr Trump vowed to create 25 million jobs over 10 years and become "the greatest jobs president... ever". He used to claim the actual unemployment rate was more than 40%. Now he's America's CEO, he's embracing the same jobless figures he once dismissed as "phony".
 * The basic trajectory of the economy under President Trump remains the same as it was under President Obama.
 * The jobless rate hit a 17-year low of 4.1% in October and has remained there, putting the labour market at or close to so-called full employment after 81 consecutive months of growth.

(Immigration)

 * Immigration enforcement - and President Trump's tough rhetoric - may have led to a drop in the number of people trying to cross illegally into the US in the early months of the new administration, but the numbers rebounded in 2017. The new president's talk of a crackdown on illegal immigrants makes it sound as if they had an easy ride under President Obama, but he was labelled deporter-in-chief for a reason.
 * Between 2009-15, the Obama administration deported more than 2.5 million people - most of whom had been convicted of some form of criminal offence or were recent arrivals.
 * But an estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants still live in the US, many from Mexico. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has launched a series of raids across the country since Mr Trump was elected - a change from the Obama administration's focus on areas along the US border - leading to a 40% monthly increase over the latter part of the previous administration. That hasn't led to more deportations yet, however. Instead, there is now a backlog of more than 600,000 cases awaiting final review by immigration judges.

(Healthcare)

 * Healthcare was always going to be an early test for President Trump after he made it a centrepiece of his election campaign.
 * President Obama's Affordable Care Act helped more than 20 million previously uninsured Americans to finally get health cover, but it has suffered from rising premiums and Mr Trump said he would "immediately repeal and replace" it. The House Republican bill eventually passed despite a damning assessment from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan federal agency, which said it would result in 24 million more uninsured Americans by 2026. But the Senate failed to bring its own controversial version to a vote, citing a lack of support. It marked an embarrassing episode for President Trump and the Republican Party, which controls the presidency and both chambers of Congress for the first time in 11 years.
 * But Mr Trump has moved to upend his predecessor's signature law in other ways. He suspended payments to insurance companies that help them offset the cost of insuring poorer, sicker Americans. The administration also cut funding to encourage Americans to sign up on the government-run health exchanges while Congressional Republicans stuck a provision in the tax bill that removed the individual mandate, the requirement that all Americans buy health insurance or face a fine. Many viewed the mandate as the key to ensuring the law could work. Repealing the mandate could prompt healthier Americans to skip insurance, driving up premiums for sicker customers.
 * The CBO estimates the number of uninsured Americans could increase by 13 million by 2027 while premiums on the individual market could rise 10% a year over the next decade. But until the mandate is official removed in January 2019, it remains unclear whether it will roil the insurance markets.

(Approval Ratings)

 * Donald Trump is one of the most unpopular presidents in the modern era. His weekly approval rating is languishing at 39% and 40% after 12 months in office, according to Gallup and CNN respectively. Although, it is a quick rebound from 33% approval rating back in December 2017 (gallup) and numbers are still continuing the climb.
 * Presidents Barack Obama (50%), Bill Clinton (54%) and George W Bush (83%) were way higher at this point. Trump's average over the year is also 39%, which is the lowest recorded of any elected president in his first term. Clinton had the previous lowest at 49%.
 * Even Gerald Ford was in the high 40s after 12 months in office, according to Gallup, following his politically radioactive pardon of predecessor Richard Nixon for the Watergate scandal. When Mr Trump assumed office on 20 January he had the lowest approval rating of any incoming president. He won the election with anaemic numbers, so it's unsurprising they're still poor. What may alarm the White House is some opinion polls indicate support is slipping for Mr Trump among his core voters, including white men without a college degree and rural Americans.
 * If his ratings continue to feel gravity's pull, expect anxious conversations in the Republican ranks as Congress gears up for the November 2018 mid-terms.

(Foreign Policy)
TL;DR - What do you think of Trump's presidency 1 year from now? (answer in the thread). (Sources: CNN, BBC, FOX, random online blogs, and myself)
 * And what about overseas? The image of US leadership has fallen since Mr Trump took office, according to Gallup, falling 18% points since Barack Obama left office. It's also four points below Gallup's previous lowest point which was under George W Bush - 34%.
 * France, led by Macron, has considered becoming the new leader in the (liberal) western world in Europe upon his disapproval of Trump's pullout of the Paris climate change agreement and criticism of NATO (although he trailed back) upon other his foreign policies that constantly angers America's old allies.
 * With infuriation from the West, there has been rising praise for Trump in the East. While America's European allies has been disapproving of Trump, America's Asian allies has been showing support for his policies in Asia. Even China has shown signs of backing down for North Korea after many talks with the Trump administration. South Korea and Japan has applauded Trump's hardline stance and deadly friction with North Korea. Russia, meanwhile, has also criticized the United States for Syria. But despite that, Russia and the United States has experienced one of the warmest relations in years to even decades.