As I wrote to my engineering colleagues from the Naval Academy before the election, in order to understand Trump one must be able to separate the signal from the noise.
Trump’s noise stems from his narcissism and it is central to his obnoxious social behavior, which is not acceptable in any polite society anywhere. His business and personal relationships, beyond some of his family, are thin and generally lack any substance other than the terms of the current deal. Most importantly, at times he has questionable honesty and has garnered little respect from his colleagues on the Hill and in the White House.
Once one gets beyond the noise though, there have been a number of policies (signals) that have had positive effects on our economy and foreign relations. It’s worth noting that the policy successes listed below were all accomplished in an extremely hostile political environment filled with a steady call for impeachment.
As Machiavelli wrote: “There is nothing more difficult to plan, more dangerous to manage, nor more uncertain of success than the creation of a new order of things. For the initiator has the enmity of all those who stand to lose and merely the lukewarm support of those who stand to gain.”
Modern translation: it is very difficult to drain the swamp, but someone had to do it. Trump’s thick skin and superego were necessary traits needed to take on this important work.
Below is a list of policy changes that were accomplished during the first 18 months of the noisiest presidency in history:
He enacted historic tax and regulatory reform that has unleashed unprecedented economic growth, including the lowest level of black unemployment in history.
He has virtually eliminated the Islamic State's physical caliphate and its reign of terror.
He compelled NATO allies to kick in $12 billion more toward our collective security and increase their future defense budgets to their previously promised levels.
He helped to usher in a new age of American energy development, making us the largest energy producer in the world and ending decades of reliance on Middle East oil.
He recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital, reversing the Obama administration’s lukewarm support of our staunchest ally in the Middle East.
He enforced President Barack Obama's red line against Syria's use of chemical weapons, by bombing numerous factories in Syria.
He, not Hillary Clinton, was elected and inaugurated as our president. Why? Because Americans wanted a man of actions, not words. And he has certainly not disappointed.
Bill McCauley is a former partner in the investment bank First Boston Corporation. He also worked with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London. There he worked with numerous eastern European governments. He recently retired as CEO of the hedge fund, III Capital Management, located in Boca Raton, Florida. He is a former Navy helicopter pilot who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1968.
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