The Trump Administration’s Biggest Wins And Biggest Fails So Far

By Brandon Smith

Back in 2016 I predicted a resounding win for Donald Trump in his election campaign against Hillary Clinton despite a chorus of voices telling me I was crazy. The argument from skeptics was that the establishment would never allow Trump into office. My position on the event was relatively straightforward – The conservative populist movement was far too strong to deny and the globalists might not see a Trump White House as a total loss if they could control it from behind the scenes, or sabotage it with a national crisis.

By 2020, Trump was in the midst of the astroturf BLM riots and a fabricated pandemic crisis over a virus with a 99.8% survival rate. By November, the election was effectively rigged in favor of Joe Biden. It’s not just the shady mail in ballot voters (millions of them magically disappeared by the 2024 election), it was also the establishment media’s censorship of vital news stories that could have turned public opinion against Democrats along with social media censorship of conservative dissent. All of these factors together gave Biden a win.

However, there was also a number of bad decisions that might have helped to remove Trump’s edge in the elections and blunt conservative enthusiasm. I was highly critical of Trump’s first term, as many commentators were, mainly because of the DC “swamp creatures” flooding into his cabinet.

To be fair to Trump, he walked right into a den of vipers and parasites. He was surrounded by people who were intent on controlling his policies and sabotaging his second term prospects. There are thousands of cabinet positions to be considered and Trump trusted the wrong people to fill them.

His second term and his dramatic reboot of the federal government has been nothing short of epic. I have far less to criticize this time around. Though, there are still some serious problems to address.

First, I want to go over Trump’s first quarter in office and examine his greatest wins to this point. Some people might not see certain items in this list as “wins” – I really don’t care. Like they say, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.

Win #1: Complete Shutdown Of Illegal Immigration

This is an undeniable win. I can’t tell you how many times I heard naysayers argue that Trump would “never get the border under control and never commit to deportations”. These people were wrong (again).

Only a month after Trump’s arrival nearly all illegal border crossings stopped. The Border Patrol, which was dealing with 50,000 to over 300,000 southern border encounters per month under the Biden Admin, is now living the easy life with a minimal 8000 encounters per month. This is the lowest border traffic in the recorded history of the agency.

Median encounters have dropped 95% since Trump took office. This is unheard of. It’s a success that no critic can take away, which is why the media barely mentions it.

The collapse in border crossings proves that the vast majority of people trying to sneak into the US were NOT coming here because they were escaping tyranny or crime. If they were, then those people would still be lining up at border checkpoints begging to get in. In reality, border cities on the Mexico side, once flush with migrants ready to slip into the US, are now ghost towns. There was no humanitarian crisis; it was a fraud perpetrated by Democrats, NGOs and the UN.  Migrants were rushing into the US to get cash and welfare handouts, that is all.

Win #2: DOGE Closes USAID And Other Saboteur Agencies

Elon Musk’s DOGE has had mixed results, but getting rid of decades of corruption and waste is not going to happen in mere months. That said, the DOGE closure of agencies like USAID is an excellent start.

USAID’s slimy tentacles were tied closely to leftist NGOs and their agenda seems to have been the spread of the woke virus into every aspect of social cohesion. They were manipulating culture not just in the US but around the world. All they had to do was offer juicy subsidies to leftist activists and shut out conservative based programs.

I have noticed a distinct change in the woke movement – A kind of death rattle. Suddenly, a lot of these activist groups have gone quiet. Their protests are smaller. Their momentum is frozen. Many corporations have abandoned woke messaging. There has even been an observable decline in online troll activity. Our favorite anonymous lefty stalkers have vanished from the face of the Earth (I almost miss them).

Win #3: Tariff Campaign

It might be too early to make a call on this, but there has been positive movement on the trade front because of Trump’s tariffs. The UK has capitulated and accepted 10% tariffs while cutting their taxes on US goods to around 1%. American products will flow freely across the Atlantic.

China has admitted it’s entering into negotiations, probably because the communist country is currently on the verge of deflationary collapse.  Multiple governments are working with the White House to come to an arrangement. Several international companies are moving manufacturing to US soil.

If Trump can actually shift enough manufacturing to the US, then this will mean greater production capacity, which means higher supply and lower prices. It means a higher number of middle income jobs and better wages. Finally, Trump’s efforts to eliminate the income tax and replace it with tariff revenues would be the ultimate success, as it would free the public from IRS and central bank slavery.

Win #4: Removal Of LGBT/DEI Propaganda From Schools And Federal Institutions

Trump’s threats to cut off federal funds to woke schools is having a far reaching effect. Woke teachers are taking to social media to cry and whine and post videos tearing down trans flags and BLM posters from classroom walls. How this groomer ideology was ever allowed to infect the educational system and target our children is a conundrum that will be studied for generations.

Mentally ill trans activists are being booted from the military under the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. These are people that only entered service to get taxpayer funded gender reassignment hormones and surgeries. They made a mockery of the armed forces and made America look exceedingly weak. Good riddance.

Now we need to get to the fails, and though there will be some debate on these issues I think most conservatives agree that these are areas where Trump needs to improve. I’ll also point out that Trump is highly changeable and these situations can flip overnight.

Win #5:  Freedom For January 6th Prisoners

Everyone said this wasn’t going to happen, but it did.  The Democrat narratives surrounding January 6th were egregiously dishonest and politically motivated.  Capitol police are caught on video launching tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd of peaceful protesters; the feds knowingly triggered the riots that followed.  The media then rewrote history and labeled the riot as an “insurrection” designed to interfere with Joe Biden taking office.

While some people did damage property and others took souvenirs, the prison sentences they received were absurd in light of their minor crimes.  They were being made into examples and justice was not blind or fair.  Trump was absolutely correct in pardoning and releasing them all.

Fail #1: Exposure Of Biden Admin’s Economic Manipulation

Trump has not done a very good job warning the public about the Biden Admin’s manipulation of economic data. The Democrats spent two years denying that stagflation was a threat, then spent two years claiming inflation was declining (it wasn’t). They claimed jobs and GDP were rising (jobs for American citizens were stagnant and GDP was manipulated upward by increased government spending). They said the financial system is as “strong as it has ever been”.

Because most Americans are not aware of these rigged numbers, they will inevitably blame Trump as the true data comes out and the stats go into decline. Trump needs an economic representative or “czar” that gives the public detailed analysis on how the Democrats used disinformation to hide recession signals. There needs to be regular updates on what is being done to repair the situation. The populace needs to see more proactive movement on the economy or there will be a crisis and everything will be blamed on Trump and conservatives.

Fail #2: The Epstein Files Release

What a PR disaster. Attorney General Pam Bondi has been leading the public around in circles for months, claiming that the Epstein client list would soon be made available. She has released fragments of info but nothing new of consequence. She now says that her office is sifting through thousands of hours of video evidence, much of it involving the sexual assault of minors.

Look, the public doesn’t want to see that stuff. All we want is a concise list of who engaged with Epstein and his “services”. These people need to be called out and brought to justice NOW. If they are in government they need to be removed ASAP. There is no room for pedos in American leadership anymore.

I can understand certain obstacles, such as keeping victims protected. An outright dump of info would be reckless, not to mention illegal. That said, the feds have had years to go over this evidence. I suspect that the White House is stalling because the client list could destroy a large portion of the government. The number of leaders exposed must be extensive enough that a release of the list would cripple the system. It’s the only explanation that makes sense for why they continue to keep the American people waiting.

Fail #3: Foreign Aid To Israel

I’ve made my position on the war in Gaza consistently clear – I don’t care about either side, I care about America. Let them vaporize each other, as long as we aren’t subsidizing the vaporizing. It’s ancient tribal insanity. If we’re going to go back thousands of years to determine who should control the Levant region, well, that right goes to Christians in my view. It was controlled by Christians for centuries until the Islamic hordes overran it in 634 AD.

Trump shut down foreign aid to hundreds of countries, but he still kept tens-of-billions in annual aid to Israel in place. I get that his father was fond of Israel and that the evangelical base wants to keep Israel out of Muslim hands. I get that many conservatives see Israel as the only foothold western civilization has in the Middle East. I understand the defensiveness when it comes to Israel as a symbol.

However, there also needs to be consistency of principles and Israel does not need our money. If we’re going to cut foreign subsidies and pursue America-first policies, then we need to cut off some of the largest panhandlers. We can maintain relations with Israel without allowing them to drain our pockets.

Let the war play out without us paying for it. It’s not our concern.

Fail #4: Continued Military Aid To Ukraine

As with Israel, the conflict in Ukraine does not concern the American people. It may be that Trump wants to keep the EU from inserting itself into the quagmire and sparking off WWIII. Perhaps if the US backs out completely then this would leave a vacuum that the European elites are more than happy to fill. Of course, the EU has no capacity whatsoever to fight the Russians, they only have the ability to set off a regional nuclear event by sticking their noses into other people’s business.

At bottom, a freeze on US military aid is more likely to force Ukraine to settle on a practical peace agreement. The Russians have consistently stated they want a return to diplomacy, but they have also said they won’t be giving up the lands in the Donbas or Crimea. In his delusion, Zelensky has demanded that these lands be returned before any talks are organized. To the credit of Trump and JD Vance, they called the little man out on his fantasy publicly.

I’m doubtful that Ukraine or Europe will allow a true peace accord. I suspect they will drag the situation on for months while pretending they want to negotiate. Trump needs to end military aid once and for all and if Ukraine wants to trade minerals they can do so in exchange for humanitarian aid and infrastructure rebuilding. America has no business being involved in such a war.

Fail #5: Real ID And Biometric Tracking Of US Citizens

The Real ID program is another ugly remnant of the Bush and Obama era. It is essentially a requirement for mandatory biometric tracking of anyone traveling by air. The reason you can use a US Passport as a substitute for the ID is because passports already have biometrics in place on traveler photos.

There is truly no practical need for Real ID, it only serves to intrude on the privacy of US citizens. It’s not going to prevent terror attacks. It’s not going to speed up airport processing. TSA will still be a thing. With mass biometrics they might as well put a lo-jack on every traveler (with cell phones they’ve basically already done that, too).

The Real ID was in development long before Trump’s rise to the White House. DHS claims they will not have access to the files (I don’t buy that for a second) and that this is a “state based program”. They went through the states because that makes it more difficult for any single administration to shut the program down. Trump still has power over the DHS. He can also encourage states to remove REAL ID as a requirement.

Biometric tracking of the population is an Orwellian nightmare waiting to happen. Maybe not under Trump, but under another government this will undoubtedly become a threat to people’s freedoms.  The feds do not need to know where we are and what we are doing all the time.

Overall, I would weigh Trump’s presidency as exceedingly positive, especially compared to the grotesque degeneracy and autocracy we faced under the Democrats. If Trump can take a hard stance against Patriot Act era violations of the constitution, if he can better communicate his economic vision and keep America out of foreign entanglements that could lead to global hellfire, then he might end up as one of the greatest presidents in modern history.

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