President Donald J. Trump delivers remarks at the 2020 Council for National Policy Meeting Friday, Aug. 21, 2020, at the Ritz-Carlton in Pentagon City, Va. (Official White House Photo by Tia Dufour)
On 20 January, after apparently a narrow but clear defeat, tens of millions are going to be less than happy to see President Trump move from the White House. Another group of almost equal number is going to bring out the confetti and pop the corks when Donald Trump leaves D.C.
Few would disagree that Donald Trump caused divisiveness during his time in office. His biggest faults, however, were his “his hyperbole, his lies, his want of generosity,” writes Joseph Epstein in the WSJ.
Opinions about Mr. Trump, true enough, could divide a room of friends, ruin a family dinner, breakup an engagement. And what he could do on the personal level, he also did to the nation. Neutrality about Donald Trump was nearly impossible. A friend reported that his wife was disappointed that I didn’t dislike Mr. Trump more.
Donald Trump accomplished much and that should have counted for a lot, “had his rebarbative personality not served to negate these accomplishments,” continues Mr. Epstein.
Almost daily he demonstrated he was devoid of graciousness. Without the suavity of the statesmen or the bonhomie of the practiced politician, in both his tweets and most of his public performances he revealed a taste for insult, an unrelenting boastfulness and arrogance, and a general coarseness.
What Trump Accomplished
- Vastly lowered unemployment rates,
- Cut away entrepreneurially inhibiting financial regulations
- Revved up the stock market
His enemies called him a racist, but his opportunity zones, prison reform and encouragement of black enterprise generally did much more for African-Americans than his African-American predecessor did.
In foreign policy he cut America free from a badly conceived Iran deal, made substantial strides toward peace in the Middle East, and showed himself a greater friend to Israel than any American president in recent history.
