Trump’s eclectic achievements: highs and lows of divisive reign

Trade, Twitter, troops and an incomplete wall: Donald Trump departs White House with diverse mix of records that marked a tumultuous presidency.

Outgoing US President Donald Trump left, used social media like no other leader until his account was disabled, top right, and partially delivered his promise of a vast wall along the Mexican border. Pictures: AFP

“YOU know what? We started something incredible. We built the greatest economy in the history of the world.” Eleven weeks after peppering his final campaign speech with claims of the biggest and best of his achievements, Donald Trump leaves office with an eclectic mix of records that mark a tumultuous presidency.

His highest approval rating came just five days after his inauguration in January 2017. His highest disapproval score was last week after the storming of the Capitol, according to an aggregate of polls by FiveThirtyEight.

The economy

Mr Trump boasted about job figures and stock market highs but once the coronavirus hit there was the unwelcome record of the biggest downturn on record, making him the first post-war president to see employment fall on his watch, by about three million. He inherited a national debt of almost $AU25.93 trillion which he said he would eliminate in eight years. Instead, excluding coronavirus costs, he planned budgets that would add $AU10.77 trillion. The debt now stands at $AU36 trillion.

Trade

One of his main goals was to reverse the widening trade deficit with China, launching a costly trade war using tariffs and a tough deal requiring Beijing to buy an extra $AU259 billion of US goods in 2020-21. That reduced the trade gap but China fell steadily behind the purchases necessary to hit the goal and by the end of November was 58 per cent below its target.

The Wall

Preventing illegal immigration was a core campaign pledge and Mr Trump claimed he would make Mexico pay for the vast wall he envisaged running the length of the US southern border. Mexico, of course, refused. By last week, 452 miles (727km) had been built. The border is 1954 miles (3144km) long.

Social media

Mr Trump valued Twitter as a way of communicating with his 88.7 million followers until his permanent suspension for inflammatory posts after the storming of the Capitol. He averaged 5.7 tweets a day in the first six months of his presidency, a rate that grew to 34.8 every day in his final six months in office.

The legal system

He appointed 54 federal appellate judges in four years, one short of the 55 Barack Obama appointed in twice as much time. He flipped the balance of three appeals courts from Democrat to Republican appointees and successfully nominated three Supreme Court justices; the most since Ronald Reagan, with four.

Foreign wars

Another pledge was to bring US troops back from “endless wars” overseas. The Pentagon announced last week that the number of troops in each of Afghanistan and Iraq was down to 2500, the lowest level in Afghanistan since 2001. There were 7000 in Iraq in 2017.

Executions

The Trump administration set a post-war record for federal executions with 13, after he revived a practice not used since 2003. George W Bush used the federal death penalty three times, JFK once and Eisenhower ten times.

The Times