Many traditional and mainstream media reports this week have referred to passage of the GOP tax bill as President Trump's first major accomplishment in office. While the tax reform bill is certainly the biggest legislative achievement of the Trump presidency to date, a look back at 2017 shows it's only the latest chapter in a busy first year for the president.
President Trump himself has not been shy about blasting much of the media for ignoring or downplaying his positive achievements, and he may have a point. Conservative commentator Aidan Grogan with freewaypost.com has compiled a list of accomplishments for President Trump so far. "Neil Gorsuch, a Constitutional conservative, has been nominated to the Supreme Court," he says. Then there is foreign policy. "Have you wondered why ISIS has not been in the news recently? That's because they're on the run in the Middle East, with their capital city of Raqqa, Syria having been liberated by U.S.-backed forces," says Grogan.
Grogan also lists accomplishments like Trump withdrawing the U.S. from the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Paris Climate Accords, a drop in illegal immigration during most of the year, and rolling back thousands of Obama-era rules and regulations that were stifling freedom and economic growth.
But the President's biggest achievement is the economy, according to Grogan. "Unemployment is now at a 17-year low, and the stock market has been hitting record highs throughout 2017, achieving $5.4 trillion in gains since election night," says Grogan.
Or, as President Trump said this week after passage of the tax reform bill, "the results will speak for themselves."