History judges American Presidents\u2014at least in part\u2014by how well they managed to get their stated agenda passed into law without being stalled by Congress, overturned by SCOTUS, or repealed by the next administration. For the sake of putting down an historical marker right here and now, here follow ten major agenda items upon which I will be evaluating President Trump four years hence. If he does not accomplish at least half of these things, he is clearly not living up to the expectations he has set for American voters.<\/p>\n
Federal law<\/a> currently provides for 1,125\u00a0kilometers of fencing to be completed along an international border<\/a> which is 3,201 kilometers\u00a0long. If President Trump\u00a0cannot get Congress to authorize at least 2,000 more km of security fencing, he will have broken this promise to his base.<\/p>\n Trump has claimed that Mexico would pay for the wall at almost all of his rallies. If they do not actually do so, he has failed to keep this promise.<\/p>\n Trump has\u00a0proposed a 45% tariff<\/a> on imports from China. If he doesn\u2019t get this tariff (or something similarly debilitating to international trade) through Congress, he has failed to meet expectations.<\/p>\n Trump has stated<\/a> that “NAFTA is the worst trade deal maybe ever signed anywhere, but certainly ever signed in this country,” and with GOP control of the Senate, he should have no problem rolling it back or at least significantly renegotiating its terms.<\/p>\n Pretty much self-explanatory. If the ACA is not repealed, Trump has failed this objective.<\/p>\n Somewhat less self-explanatory. This objective will be met if the GOP passes something we can reasonably refer to as a national\u00a0health care bill.<\/p>\n Trump\u00a0boldly and unequivocally\u00a0called for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” back in December of 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n If any<\/em> Muslims are allowed to enter the U.S. during the second half of his term, Trump will have failed to live up to this goal.<\/p>\n Trump’s judicial appointees must be willing to uphold state laws which place ever\u00a0increasing burdens on women who seek to terminate their own pregnancy, as promised<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump has promised us the biggest tax cut since Ronald Reagan<\/a>. No idea how this matches up with the Ryan budget and GOP promises of deficit reduction, but they will have to square that circle somehow.<\/p>\n2) Make Mexico pay for the wall<\/h4>\n
3) Pass significant new tariffs<\/h4>\n
4) Withdraw the U.S. from at least one major international trade deal<\/h4>\n
5) Repeal Obamacare<\/h4>\n
6) Replace Obamacare<\/h4>\n
7) Ban Muslims from entering the U.S.<\/h4>\n
8) Appoint “pro-life” justices<\/h4>\n
9) Massive tax cuts<\/h4>\n
10) \u201cLock her up\u201d<\/h4>\n