TRUMP'S FIRST SIX MONTHS

     Six months have now elapsed since President Trump took office in late January. The US Media and the phony 'Resistance' has done its best to cloud as many issues as possible. But what about an objective assessment of things?

     For those of us who had some reservations about Trump's character during the Election, the Administration has turned out to be a pleasant surprise. In general, Trump has done exceptionally well on domestic and social issues. Economic issues are being stalled by RINOs in Congress, but are going in the right direction. Foreign policy has been problematic. Still, that's a 66% improvement over the last four Administrations combined.

      Even in Foreign Policy, it would be wrong to say that Trump has been a failure. Though he's made several mistakes, he seems to be learning from them. He won major trade agreements with Mexico and with China that will boost enormously US agriculture. Setting up the CED Summits with China was a diplomatic master-stroke. His greatest challenge in the future vis-à-vis other countries will come from the Neocons and Cultural Imperialists within his own party.

       On domestic issues, we've seen great strides, with several new commissions set up to address specific problems. At the beginning of last month, we wrote of an advisory board commissioned to advice on rebuilding our space program. We concluded with an article reviewing another commission's report on fighting the Opioid Epidemic. Those are two examples of national issues that our past leaders long ignored.

       'Swamp Draining' is making some definite progress. Except in the State Department, CIA, and Pentagon, the Administration has been sweeping out useless bureaucrats and jailing corrupt ones at a fairly respectable rate. And among the general public, criminal gangs have been getting ferreted out---especially foreign-run ones like MS-13 and Al-Qaeda. Medicare, VA, and Social Security fraud are facing crackdowns. Several shady NGOs---some funded by arch-criminal George Soros---have had their government subsidies and contracts  suspended.

        An area that still need some work is in Public Education. Betsey DeVos has some good ideas, but we've really seen little activity from the Department of Education.

         On economic issues, most of these like repealing Obamacare, tax reform, and rebuilding infrastructure are moving forward, but slowly. This isn't wholly the Administration's fault: the Congress controls spending and the RINOs have been blocking reform. One thing that Administration should be doing in the meantime is curbing inflation by strengthening the dollar. That's been happening to an extent, but the dollar needs to rise substantially and sustainably.

         The Pentagon is still a disaster-area. This is probably really going to take a new Defense Secretary who has the innovation and courage to reform the Military. The TG ban was a good start.

         The Trump Administration also deserves credit for raising public awareness on a number of issues---most notably exposing the true character of the Mainstream Media. He's also brought attention to issues like international Christian persecution, and the social crimes of euthanasia and abortion.

          It's difficult to gauge accurately the public mood because of Media bias. However, there has been a noticeable rise in confidence among working-class Americans, both blue and white collar. This is the group that really matters.

        Finally, a word should be said for MAWGA. Melania, Ivanka, and Tiffany have been making femininity chic again. The atmosphere around White House women is refreshing to see again---after years of having feminism and rainbow-flags shoved in our faces. Again, because of media bias, it's hard to gauge their influence. But Melania has gained a very large popular following in North America and Europe. Ivanka is very popular in Asia; especially in China where she's gained celebrity status among young Chinese women.

           Definitely, things have improved since 2016. The Elites, the permanent malcontents on the Far Left, and the four-flushers on the Whacko Right will continue to stir up problems. We're not out of the woods yet, by any means. But things are looking up for a change. We need to stay the course and keep pushing forward.