In defense of Donald Trump

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President Trump has been in office for just over a year

The following was the script for an experimental podcast 'Traditional Americans', for which this was the lone episode: "In defense of Donald Trump".

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Hello America and welcome to the Traditional Americans podcast. I’m your host, Matthew Veasey.

After using our pilot episode last time out to introduce you good folks to myself, the podcast direction, and its social media and internet resources, this will be our first real topic-driven discussion.

So what topic would be most appropriate, most important to you, the listeners? Well, with everything that has been in the news lately, the fact remains that one man dominates the news cycle, probably more than any previous individual.

Today we’re going to talk about the Presidency of Donald Trump over the undeniably controversial, but also undeniably successful first 14 months of his first term in the highest office in the land.

There are so many directions from which we can begin a discussion of the Trump presidency to this point: his social media usage. The large and frequent turnover among his key advisors. His battles with the Democrats and with their liberal media mouthpiece. And of course, the accomplishments of his administration.

Let’s start with the positive - those accomplishments. Now, of course, most of these are only truly positive accomplishments if you’re a supporter of the president and his policies. That would mean that you need to be a conservative, because frankly, this president has accomplished more for Traditional American conservatives than any of recent decades. And that includes our beloved President Ronald Reagan.

The list of Trump administration accomplishments is indeed impressive for those of us in the conservative camp:

On jobs and the economy, we’ve seen passage of the first tax reform bill in more than three decades. This measure will mean $5.5 billion in real tax cuts to American workers and businesses.

Bloomberg has reported that the unemployment rate is expected to fall below the 4% mark by this summer. The DOW ended last week at the 24,984.45 mark. That’s up from the 18,589 on the day that he was elected back in early November of 2016.

All of these economic victories mean real jobs, real money in the paychecks and pockets, and real increases in the pension plans and 401K’s of real working Americans. No wonder Barron’s just reported that the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment survey rose to the 102 mark, its highest level in 14 years.

Another big piece of the Trump economy success story has been the elimination of numerous stifling Obama-era regulations. The president has operated from the beginning on the position that any new regulation would have to be accompanied by the elimination of at least two. In 2017, the president actually cut 16 for every new regulation, saving an additional $8.1 billion per the Washington Examiner.

Withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, which was grossly unfair towards the United States, put an end to even more looming stifling economic regulations. Withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership helped forward the cause of fair trade for American businesses, as will renegotiation of American involvement with NAFTA and the president’s recent threatened tariff increases.

President Trump has freed up agencies to further loosen the regulatory environment, which includes the Department of the Interior making 77 million acres available for gas and oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The president nominated and saw successfully seated to the U.S. Supreme Court an originalist justice in Neal Gorsuch, a move that should benefit Traditional Americans for decades to come. 

Also, President Trump has successfully placed 14 judges to the district courts, and another 14 to the courts of appeals. He currently has another 55 nominees to those two courts awaiting Senate action.

In the area of Homeland Security, the president has ended Obama’s practice of “catch and release” of illegal immigrants. He has started towards an end to DACA and chain migration. 

The president has added roughly 100 new immigration judges, and empowered ICE and local communities to boost the arrest of criminal gang members and other illegals. He has enacted a travel ban from nations that have refused to clamp down on terrorism.

He visited the southern border just this past week to examine proposed samples for the border wall. Though numerous conservative commentators, Ann Coulter chief among them, has criticized the president for not pushing ahead with actual construction, the fact remains that this is a major project which cannot be taken lightly. Trump knows construction projects. He’ll get this done, and done right.

What is a "Traditional American?"

My website has a supporting page on Facebook named "Traditional Americans" on which I share many of the pieces that I write.

In addition to my own pieces, the page functions as a news and commentary aggregator. I present articles and pictures found around the web each day relating to topics that I feel would be of interest to followers.

Recently, the page cover picture was changed to reflect a Thanksgiving greeting. It included an American flag surrounded by a Fall season theme.

Accompanying the picture was a brief description of the page direction:

For folks with traditional American Judeo-Christian values. Conservative-leaning politically and socially. Pro-US military and law enforcement.

Some folks who apparently disagree with that message decided to comment.

"Wow so you are saying anyone who doesn’t agree with your beliefs is not American. That is exactly opposite of why we have America," said one.

"Actually, this post by this group is the antithesis of the founding fathers values. They, like Jesus, were the liberals of their time. For that, I am very thankful," said another.

"So no "Happy Thanksgiving" to anybody that is not in your camp?" said still another.

Of course, all of that missed the point of the post. That particular post, as would be anything and everything presented at the page, is not directed towards everyone. It is directed at fans of the page.

If you're not a fan of the page, if you don't agree with or care about what it stands for, then why follow it or comment on it in the first place? There are literally thousands of political, religious, and social pages available on Facebook. Follow and enjoy those that espouse your own points of view.

I understand that sometimes we feel that messages of hate or discrimination are being disseminated, and we want to stand up and challenge those. Still others genuinely enjoy a healthy debate. And frankly, there are those who disagree with a position or worldview, and simply enjoy being argumentative. 

I responded to each comment in what I felt was a strong but measured way. But these particular comments did give me pause to think. What do I mean by "Traditional Americans?" What does that term actually mean?

The page description was founded as, and remains today, exactly as highlighted above in that Thanksgiving post. 

The dictionary folks of Merriam-Webster define "traditional" as consisting of or derived from tradition, handed down from age to age, adhering to past practices or established conventions. Among that same sources definitions for "American" is a U.S. citizen.

United States citizens interested in sharing past practices or established conventions handed down from age to age in our nation. Folks who espouse American Judeo-Christian values and who are also conservative-leaning politically and socially. Pro-US military and law enforcement. Folks who are interested in and/or share those same interests. I would say that is a pretty fair definition of the intended audience for the page.