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October 23, 2020

What Has President Trump Accomplished? A Lot

His achievements span everything from the economy to diversity and second chances.

(Note: To review a more comprehensive list of President Donald Trump’s accomplishments, with resource links, see “Promises Made – Promises Kept.”)

JOBS & THE ECONOMY

President Trump took office in the aftermath of the Obama/Biden malaise. Experts repeatedly told us that mediocre economic growth was the “new normal.” President Trump rejected that mindset and enacted policies that would make America great again.

  • President Trump enacted the first serious tax reform legislation in decades.
  • Tax rates were cut across the board.  
  • The standard deduction was doubled.
  • The per child tax credit was doubled.
  • Small business owners were allowed to deduct 20% of their business income.
  • Corporate tax rates were slashed from 35% to 21%.
  • The Trump Administration cut 8 old regulations for every new one issued, removing 25,000 pages from the Federal Register. 
  • President Trump renegotiated NAFTA, renegotiated the trade deal with South Korea, and withdrew from the job-killing Paris Climate Accord.

The U.S. economy took off.

  • 7 million jobs were created during Trump’s first three years in office.
  • More than 500,000 new manufacturing jobs were created.
  • In 2018, the United States became the world’s largest oil producer.
  • The average monthly unemployment rate for Trump’s first three years in office fell to an all-time low of 3.9%.
  • Median household income hit a record highs in 2018 and 2019.
  • The poverty rate fell to its lowest level in 60 years.
  • Hourly wages grew at their fastest pace in 10 years.
  • Federal tax revenues soared to record highs due to the additional economic growth.

Of course, the coronavirus pandemic created unprecedented economic disruptions this year. The Trump Administration took quick action to combat the virus and boost our economy.

  • Trump imposed a travel ban on communist China and other Covid-19 hot spots.
  • Trump signed the $2 trillion CARES Act, which provided for:
    • Emergency direct payments to 160 million Americans.
    • $670 billion for the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided emergency forgivable loans to 5 million small business, saving 50 million jobs.
    • $600 a week in emergency unemployment benefits.
    • Suspended student loan payments and evictions.
  • Trump issued executive orders to streamline the vaccine process and launched Operation Warp Speed to produce 300 million doses of a vaccine in record time, hopefully by the end of the year, if not sooner.
  • Trump invoked the Defense Protection Act to facilitate the emergency production of 200,000 ventilators and the acquisition of personal protective equipment.
  • The Trump Administration coordinated the delivery of nearly 200 million N95 mask, 800 million surgical masks, 20 billion gloves, 34 million face shields and 350 million gowns.
  • Trump signed an executive order requiring the federal government to purchase all essential medicines from domestic American sources.
  • When Congress failed to reach an agreement on additional emergency aid, Trump took action by issuing executive orders authorizing:
    • A payroll tax holiday for workers.
    • $400 in additional weekly unemployment benefits.
    • Continued suspensions of student loan payments and housing evictions.

THE SANCTITY OF LIFE

President Trump is the most pro-life president in history. He has unapologetically made the case for life and he has taken bold steps to defend the sanctity of life.

  • In his 2020 State of the Union Address, President Trump called on Congress to ban late-term abortions.
  • Trump is the first president to address the annual March For Life in person.
  • Trump encouraged powerful pro-life messages at the 2020 Republican National Convention from Abby Johnson and Sister Dede Byrne.
  • Trump reinstated Ronald Reagan’s Mexico City Policy, preventing taxpayer funding of abortions overseas.
  • Trump reinstated Ronald Reagan’s pro-life restrictions on Title X funding, denying Planned Parenthood $60 million in federal funds.
  • Trump signed legislation overturning an Obama rule that prohibited states from denying taxpayer funds from Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers.
  • Trump restricted federal funding of fetal tissue research.
  • The Trump Administration aggressively fought state mandates requiring private health insurance policies to cover abortion.
  • The Trump Administration is asking the Supreme Court to reinstate a rule requiring that abortion-inducing drugs be administered in-person by doctors.
  • The Trump Administration has defended the family and the sanctity of life at the United Nations and fought efforts to establish an international right to abortion. 
  • President Trump has appointed more than 200 conservative federal judges, including Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.

DEFENDING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

President Trump has aggressively defended religious liberty here at home and abroad.  

  • President Trump issued an executive order requiring all federal agencies to “vigorously enforce … robust protections for religious freedom." 
  • The Trump Administration supported Christian baker Jack Phillips before the Supreme Court.
  • Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the formation of a Religious Liberty Task Force at the Justice Department.
  • The Department of Health & Human Services created a new Conscience & Religious Freedom Division. 
  • The Department of Education issued new rules to protect free speech and religious liberty on college campuses.
  • The Trump Administration issued regulations effectively repealing Obamacare’s contraception mandate, which threatened to bankrupt the Little Sisters of the Poor.
  • The Trump Administration successfully defended those regulations before the Supreme Court, winning a 7-to-2 decision in July 2020.
  • The Trump Administration supported Christian parents fighting to defend a Montana school choice program. The Supreme Court upheld that school choice program in a 5-to-4 decision in June 2020.
  • The Trump Administration supported the preservation of a cross honoring WWI veterans on public land. The Supreme Court allowed the cross to remain in a 7-to-2 decision in June 2019.
  • The Trump Administration defended the conscience rights of a Catholic nurse against a Vermont medical center that forced her to assist with an abortion.
  • The Trump Administration hosted the first-ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom around the world in July 2018. A second Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom was held in July 2019.
  • Trump convened a U.N. summit exclusively focused on the importance of defending religious liberty around the world.
  • Trump issued an executive order declaring the preservation of religious freedom a national security imperative and a foreign policy priority of the United States.
  • Vice President Pence announced that the United States would bypass the U.N. and provide aid directly to persecuted Middle East Christians.

FOREIGN POLICY & NATIONAL SECURITY

After years of neglect, President Trump rebuilt America’s military, crushed ISIS, secured our borders, took steps to confront communist China and strengthened our alliance with Israel.

  • Trump signed a record $738 billion Defense budget in December 2019.
  • Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and officially opened the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018.
  • Trump recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
  • Trump negotiated a historic peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
  • Trump negotiated a historic peace deal between Israel and Bahrain.
  • Trump withdrew from Barack Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal with Iran.
  • Trump unleashed the U.S. military against ISIS and eliminated caliphate leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.  
  • Trump took out Iranian terror mastermind Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
  • Trump overcame congressional inaction to secure our southern border, building nearly 300 miles of the border security wall.
  • Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese products to counter communist China’s predatory trade practices, forcing China to negotiate better trade terms.
  • Trump imposed sanctions on China for its human rights abuses against its minority Muslim population.
  • Trump imposed sanctions on China for violating Hong Kong’s sovereignty.
  • Trump imposed sanctions on Huawei for its threats to national security.
  • Trump ordered China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas, in response to China’s massive espionage campaign.
  • The Trump Administration is cracking down on Chinese communist propaganda on U.S. college campuses.
  • Trump successfully pressured our European allies to boost their NATO defense spending.
  • The Trump Administration shut down the Russian consulate in Seattle and expelled 60 diplomats in response to the poisoning of a Russian defector.

EMBRACING DIVERSITY & SECOND CHANCES

  • President Trump is committed to diversity. Half of the White House staff are women.
  • Thanks to Trump’s tax reform measures, unemployment rates for Blacks, Hispanics and Asians fell to record lows before the coronavirus pandemic hit.  
  • Trump’s tax reform measure created 8,800 Opportunity Zones, generating $75 billion of investment in distressed communities.
  • Trump is urging federal agencies to relocate their offices to Opportunity Zones.
  • Trump provided record funding to historically black colleges and universities (HCBUs).  
  • Last year, Trump signed legislation making HCBU funding permanent.
  • President Trump signed historic criminal justice reform, the First Step Act, reducing mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenses, granting judges more flexibility in sentencing and encouraging rehabilitation efforts.
  • Trump pardoned Alice Marie Johnson, who was given a life sentence for a non-violent drug crime. While in prison, Johnson became an ordained minister and devoted her time to helping rehabilitate other prisoners. Prison officials described Johnson as an "exemplary inmate” with an “outstanding work ethic."  
  • Trump pardoned Jon Ponder, who was convicted of bank robbery. Ponder was a model inmate who experienced a genuine jailhouse conversion. After his release, Ponder established a non-profit organization, Hope for Prisoners, that rehabilitates former inmates and provides them with life skills. President Trump addressed the 2020 Hope for Prisoners graduating class.

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