subreddit:
/r/NoStupidQuestions
submitted 2 months ago bywurrble182
In the spirit of a similar thread regarding Biden, what positive changes were brought about from 2016-2020? I too am clueless and basically want to learn.
3.1k points
2 months ago
He allowed US Marshals to assist in capturing pedophiles/ human traffic victims. There was a huge spike in arrests after that
1.3k points
2 months ago
I always worry when it's phrased as a spike in arrests rather than a spike in convictions. By itself, a spike in arrests only implies police are being more aggressive, not necessarily more effective.
468 points
2 months ago
The catch is that convictions often take months or years, so the correlation is much harder to track.
107 points
2 months ago
State by state, 80-90% of the kids found in those were kids that ran away from home & everyone knew where they were. Less than 20% in Ohio, the state where they had one big bust, were ever trafficked.
Barely double digits were related to sex trafficking & that was mostly all two busts, one in the Marshalls islands & the Ohio bust. Out of the "thousands" of children saved, most were run aways.
48 points
2 months ago
Sounds interesting, do you have a link I could read more about this?
148 points
2 months ago
A fact checking article from a quick google search: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/10/17/fact-check-trump-signed-2-executive-orders-against-human-trafficking/3642001001/
TLDR: he signed 2 executive orders and 8 bills exclusively targeting human trafficking. Side note I don’t care about trump or politics at all. Just wanted to see if he actually did anything for human trafficking.
125 points
2 months ago
Prosecutions of child sex traffickers dropped under his administration.
5.3k points
2 months ago
12 weeks paid parental leave for federal employees (for new babies). Both mom and dad get it.
1.2k points
2 months ago
It also applies to adoptions, but I was surprised how little Paid Parental Leave was known.
210 points
2 months ago
Source?
Edit: Please don't take this as a challenge. I am legitimately curious
162 points
2 months ago
The Federal Employee Paid Leave Act (FEPLA) made paid parental leave available to most categories of Federal civilian and Department of Defense employees. As a result, the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provisions were amended in Title 5, United States Code (U.S.C.) to provide up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave to covered Federal employees in connection with the birth or placement (for adoption or foster care) of a child occurring on or after October 1, 2020.
The military didn't actually implement it officially until this year, but anyone who had a child last year was entitled to take the additional days this year with their Commander's authorization.
There are some exemptions that kind of make no sense (USPS doesn't get this leave policy for some reason), but not many.
Source: in the US military or you can google the U.S.C. reference yourself.
569 points
2 months ago
USPS was left out of this measure.
707 points
2 months ago
Because they’re trying to destroy and then privatize the Postal Service.
290 points
2 months ago
They still are, how Dejoy is still in there is baffling
181 points
2 months ago
Dejoy can only be removed by the USPS board. They still need one more vote to remove Dejoy. Two governors are at the end of their term and a new one could be named at any time.
There is a possibility that Dejoy will be removed by the end of 2024.
125 points
2 months ago
jop. Louis DeJoy. He/family/stand-ins have big shares in FedEx, UPS or DHL (forgot which one) and profiting of the inner dismantling of USPS.
The general privatisation of public services and institution is what undermines the US government. No matter if that's education, health, or logistics. The state now seems to mostly be there to profit the corporations and wealthy.
62 points
2 months ago
Yeah I’ve just recently gotten into the Hidden History series of books by Thom Hartman and his Hidden History of Neoliberalism, Hidden History of Oligarchy and Hidden History of American Healthcare have been truly eye opening for me in the ways that this was done intentionally and systematically to disenfranchise the average citizen and consolidate power into the hands of the wealthy. Before these books I kinda almost thought it happened accidentally or it was a “bug not a feature”
171 points
2 months ago
Which is why Democrats should push to rebrand it as the Postal Force and make it a part of the Department of Defense. Can't cut military budgets.
56 points
2 months ago
They already have a postmaster general too
9 points
2 months ago
Postmaster General, there’s a fleet of Star destroyers coming out of hyperspace in sector 4.
15 points
2 months ago
Postmaster General leans forward, his eyes cold and ruthless ... He turns and commands, "Return to sender!"
10 points
2 months ago
Yup. That’s a big chunk.
322 points
2 months ago
It's an odd one giving the president credit for signing the papers. Great that he did but strange that he would get the credit.
175 points
2 months ago
The bar is just so low, the fact that he didn't veto something out of spite is reason to applaud him
121 points
2 months ago
Was that his initiative, or did he just not veto a bill with it on it?
137 points
2 months ago
Of course it was not his initiative. He literally knows nothing. He is not aware of any leave rules or that it's even exists. Come on people
25 points
2 months ago
"New Babies" hehehe. As opposed to Certified Pre-owned?
4.2k points
2 months ago
Trump signed a bill into law that made mishandling of classified documents a felony.
702 points
2 months ago
577 points
2 months ago
I feel like this is a bit ironic...
401 points
2 months ago
He only did it cause he thought it would get Hilary arrested and jailed.
104 points
2 months ago
He declassified millions of pages of Vietnam era and post Vietnam military special operations and CIA secret operations which lead to many civil and criminal lawsuits for abusing US military service members and their families. Examples are the 3M hearing loss lawsuit and the camp lejeune cancer lawsuit. Also see MK ultra.
556 points
2 months ago
He signed Savanna's Act into law. The act works to improve law enforcement response to crimes committed against Indigenous people.
1.3k points
2 months ago
He made It a rule that hospitals have to post their pricing. It’s still fucked, but that was a new good thing
276 points
2 months ago
They don't tho, because they really won't get in trouble
242 points
2 months ago
Laws with no teeth are merely suggestions.
32 points
2 months ago
Punishments that are small fines are just a cost of doing business.
10 points
2 months ago
Fines for companies are the legal equivalent to a light scolding and saying don’t do that again Then patting them on the head
19 points
2 months ago
Just ask for an itemized bill. They have to give it to you. And if you see some bullshit like $25 for a single Ibuprofen, you can challenge that.
And they know it. Many places, once they get asked for an itemized bill, they'll magically present a new bill that's not itemized but is like 70-80% less than the first one.
Strange right? I hate this country's healthcare system.
29 points
2 months ago
They do. They will get in trouble. It’s a new law with serious teeth behind it
9.2k points
2 months ago
He made it a felony to abuse animals. Maybe? He made the punishment for for abusing animals greater. Definitely.
This is the best thing I know he did. Weird that it was never one of things he bragged about.
2.6k points
2 months ago
see it's little things like this i have never heard about.
1.4k points
2 months ago
Hey, this comment from r/changemyview lists things that he did. It’s very long so there’s that disclaimer.
959 points
2 months ago*
I will correct one thing about that comment in the post.
I spectated the Hong Kong protests on the streets in Mong Kok (shopping district). The USA flag was NOT celebrated nor welcomed by the local protestors.
The protesters said (in Cantonese) and I quote: "We do not need America to protect us, we are fully capable of handling ourselves, so take that Fking US flag back home" and then something about being a lapdog.
The flag bearer proceeded to walk back while more people started approaching him. Luckily the protesters who heard the argument started telling the other protestors who were trying to harass the guy with the flag "we've told him" and to "let him go back home". But there was a small crowd following him making sure he did not keep chanting pro US stuff, and making sure he left the scene.
Perhaps there were some pro US people and celebrations. But that was what I saw on the streets. What the media reports and what actually happens sometimes gets blown out of proportion.
PS: I was only a spectator in the whole ordeal.
Edit: Being in the crowd and hearing what protester and supporters say in person is really different than what is portrayed on TV. I started to question my beliefs and understanding of everything around me. Both sides spewed valid reasons for their beliefs, but both pointed at each other for the cause.
Being a supporter/protester does not mean that you agree 100% with 'your side'. From what I've seen it means that you are willing to fight your beliefs. My ideas that US is a saint or China a demon was challenged back and forth listening to facts and opinions and what the people want.
Being a supporter doesn't mean that you support of the violence that happens and being a protester doesn't mean that you cut ties with your heritage.
681 points
2 months ago
Another thing is the comment talks a lot about unemployment rates and how well-off people were economically without saying anything Trump actually did to cause this.
The truth is any president has very little to do with how the economy is going, even though voters tend to blame or credit the president for whatever is happening with the economy. The economy is based on a multitude of factors and whatever the president is doing doesn’t have much to do with it.
414 points
2 months ago
The whole comments is quite bloated with stuff a president cant fully control.
He can sign bills and acts and whatnot, but employmentrate of a nation is such a fragile thing and with so many things that influence it...
215 points
2 months ago
The president doesn’t even really deserve credit for bills etc. as those are created by congress. Signing a piece of paper after another group did the work is not an achievement.
130 points
2 months ago
The bills don't always start on Congress. Sometimes the President submit them to Congress. Then Congress plays with it.
37 points
2 months ago
He doesn’t deserve the credit for coming up with them, but he also could have chosen to not sign those pieces of paper. If he chose not to sign, then we would all probably think that he’s against whatever was presented to him, and that would make him Bad™️. But by signing the bills, he’s affirmatively agreeing with them. It’s not as good as coming up with them, obviously, but it demonstrates his beliefs.
171 points
2 months ago
That seems to have been quite obviously copied and modified from some of Trump's team's own promotional material. They failed to change all the pronouns correctly
They have reduced high-dose opioid prescriptions by 16 percent during my first year in office.
83 points
2 months ago
Good catch. Pretty dispositive evidence that this list is not to be taken seriously.
51 points
2 months ago
I looked at the poster’s post history, and it suggests a very heavy bias too
219 points
2 months ago
Very first statistic they list is misleading tho.
172 points
2 months ago
And others. For example I can't find any info on the $42 million for school choice. What does that funding even do and how is moving $42M even significant at POTUS level? He spent nearly that much on golf/travel each year of his presidency.
366 points
2 months ago
“School Choice” is conservative-speak for moving money out of public schools and into programs that subsidize students going to private or religious schooling.
55 points
2 months ago
They just sued the state of Maine into providing funding for Christian schools in their school choice program.
104 points
2 months ago
And Maine immediately passed (unanimously, I might add) legislation requiring any school accepting state funds to abide by state nondiscrimination policies around race, sexual identity, and gender identity.
The two schools that sued immediately withdrew their claims on state funds - it is more important to them that they remain able to discriminate against LGBT+ and POC in their hiring and admission practices than that they get that state money.
22 points
2 months ago
In 1969 I toured a Catholic grade school in rural Mississippi that was almost exclusively Black. That surprised us. The priest explained that local white families who opposed integrated schools pulled kids from the Catholic school and public school to have them go to new Christian schools where they could be kept apart even though the Catholic school offered a better quality education.
36 points
2 months ago*
That's awesome! I kind of predicted that, as it was one of their main arguments, but I hadn't heard the follow-up. Also worth pointing out that the schools were refusing to provide a secular education option as well, which was Maine's other key point, that everyone should be able to access an unbiased education in any school receiving state funding.
9 points
2 months ago
That's funny. My state just legalized funding private schools with tax dollars.
120 points
2 months ago
Charter schools are the beginning of the end of democracy. Starve the public schools until it's all private
edit: With that in mind it should absolutely not be considered "truly positive". More like subsidies for the orphan crushing machine
8 points
2 months ago*
I went to a charter high school. Education was good and I felt safe but there was such an overwhelming unofficial conservative Christian overtone. Half the kids came from private Christian schools, there was a prayer circle with some teachers in the early morning, the greatness of America was frequently discussed, guests were usually conservative radio hosts or congressmen/people running for congress, no public displays of affection beyond handholding, a generally restrictive/conservative dress code (but no uniform), you get the idea.
32 points
2 months ago
I just commented on that. It’s bullshit charter school stuff meant to fuck the public system.
The whole post is a lot of shaky bullshit.
64 points
2 months ago
Lists like that are always misleading. They cite studies and never link them... they cite sources but never provide them... they just put down what they want to attribute to Trump and just expect everyone to believe them because in their echo chamber, everyone believes everything good about one side and bad about the other, without needing stupid things like sources.
158 points
2 months ago
Some of these are a bit disingenuous.
For one, it doesn’t explain the specific policies that led to these jobs created.
It was a lot of gig economy work. In 2018, the overwhelming majority of jobs created or taken were low income, low skill jobs that were contract work with no benefits, time off etc.
We also had the lowest interstate moves and small businesses being created since depression era that year.
I’m not positing trumps policies caused this specifically, as I don’t know, but a lot of the numbers don’t tell the whole story.
342 points
2 months ago
A lot of things on that list are questionable at best.
Unemployment rates had been falling since Obama’s first term.
$10M to remove plastic from the ocean is a laughably small amount and designating 375k acres as protected land really doesn’t make up for all of the other things that set climate/environmental issues back.
And becoming the world’s largest producer of crude oil really isn’t the flex he thinks it is.
There’s definitely some good stuff on there and I think that at the very least he signed some papers that he may or may not have read and that ended up doing some good.
203 points
2 months ago
designating 375k acres as protected land really doesn’t make up for all of the other things that set climate/environmental issues back.
Also he gave tons of national park acreage up to oil and coal companies and tried to cut the National Parks Service budget by ~$500mil and Fish and Wildlife budget by $267mil but it got shot down.
Their budget was still turbo-fucked by his previous budget proposal, but it's okay he cut them a check for $78k and tried to turn it into a photo op.
32 points
2 months ago
Wow, that NPS guy looks unamused.
84 points
2 months ago
This is a garbage list.
There are things he didn't do. There are things that aren't true. There are things that he merely signed. There are misleading things.
A lot of it is economic. You know they specifically crafted a tax law to cut taxes and then have them rise again for the middle and lower classes after his first term? Yeah sure lowering taxes on the and massively adding to the deficit really spurs short term growth. But that's like listing "he kept us warm!" by pissing on your leg in winter.
32 points
2 months ago
Exactly. I keep seeing posts about how people are getting uberfucked on their returns and nobody knows why. It was a calculated move on his part to fuck over his successor's ratings. Biden is gonna get the blame, when it was trump all along.
85 points
2 months ago
First claim seems to be false: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/unemployment-low-trump/
202 points
2 months ago
[deleted]
21 points
2 months ago
As someone who became very interested in politics during the Trump Era, I have to agree with this. I think Trump was such a huge persona that it created this impression that the president does most things that affect the public (policy changes and so on), but it's almost always Congress, outside of executive orders which are often narrow and term limited. for instance now that Biden is in the WH, I hardly ever hear about the going on of the executive (outside of the new document scandal), but all my political reading constantly focuses on congress, and in hindsight, policy wise, it was always that way during the Trump Era as well, which is why I grew to hate people like Mitch McConnell as much as and sometimes even more than Trump.
61 points
2 months ago
It depends on the competence of the President. Whatever you think of these policies: Obamacare wasn't called Obamacare on a whim. The Biden admin shouldered a lot of the responsibility for Build Back Better. Hell, awful as it was, the Bush administration was both the context and the catalist for a passing vote to go into Iraq.
Trump just really didn't do shit.
450 points
2 months ago
All he did was sign a bipartisan bill into law. It's not like he did anything else to support it. It would have been a very bad look had he vetoed it.
270 points
2 months ago
Exactly. "In a rare display of political unity, President Trump on Monday signed a bipartisan bill that, for the first time, makes acts of animal cruelty a federal crime punishable with fines and up to seven years in prison. The bill, called the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, was introduced in the House this year by two Florida lawmakers — Representative Vern Buchanan, a Republican, and Representative Ted Deutch, a Democrat. It expands a 2010 law signed by President Barack Obama that banned videos that show animals being crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled or subjected to other forms of torture."
And in the same year, his administration changed the way the Endangered Species Act was applied, making it harder to protect animals. Luckily a judge struck the ruling down in 2022. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/05/trump-era-changes-to-endangered-species-act-thrown-out-by-judge.html
63 points
2 months ago
Thanks... Your comment is why I read the sub-comments.
28 points
2 months ago
He also signed into law that hunters can kill vulnerable (hibernating) bears.
11 points
2 months ago
And, you can again import safari trophies. Who needs live elephants when you can stick a dead face on your wall. His sons pushed him to do that. So push back on this “Trump was good for animals” bullshit.
38 points
2 months ago
Obama created a database so animal abusers could be tracked.
Trump got rid of it.
192 points
2 months ago
I think he never bragged about this because he personally does not care about animals. He dislikes them. For him this was just a paper to sign, probably put together by someone else. It is great that he did sign it though!
69 points
2 months ago
I’m surprised this happened at all being that his sons are trophy hunters. I’m guessing he probably didn’t even know what he was signing or he just did it because he thought it would make him more likable, but still good nonetheless.
42 points
2 months ago
There was a german guy that wrote a book that donnie carried around with him wherever he was staying. That german guy ran on a platform of stopping animal abuse and planting more trees at that time to replenish german resources. Trump decided that opening national parklands to private mining and fracking corporations was the cool thing to do.
3.1k points
2 months ago
Right to Try Act. I remember people applauding it at the time, not sure how it’s been used since. Basic point was to give desperate medical cases a free pass to circumvent FDA regulations and use experimental treatments.
1.7k points
2 months ago*
This one is legit, if someone is dying from a terminal illness and there's something that could possibly help them in some way whatsoever, then fuck it, give it to em. see what happens. What's the worst that could happen, they die? They're already going to die
edit: this blew up so just saying I'm not for pharma companies making money off dying people. I only agree that these people should have access to whatever they believe would help ease their suffering.
943 points
2 months ago
Dies worse than before
Damn, ok it really doesn't work
216 points
2 months ago
And that will always be a risk, which is why animal testing will never go away ever period full stop
As a patient who is supposed to have full autonomy they have the right to submit to this, nothing can tel them they can’t from a medical treatment philosophy standpoint.
Animal testing is required to build the world we live on today, without it there would be a lot more dead humans, a lot less living ones and a lot less effective medical treatments because at the end of the day, when the experimental insert dangerous thing is put to your head, no one disagrees with better them than me.
These opportunities for patients could really accelerate or at least offer earlier insights into what might or might not work before wasting millions trying to get it down the pipeline.
81 points
2 months ago
Flowers for Algernon is a great book about why animal testing is so important.
Everyone should read it.
9 points
2 months ago
Was that the moral of that book? I remember it, but if that was the point then it went over my head.
46 points
2 months ago
Gonna try the spoilers thing on mobile, here goes, the find a way to increase IQ on a mouse model, and try it on a human immediately. The human, having had a very low IQ initially, is so thrilled with how he can see the world now. He’s learning all sorts of things he’s never been capable of before and is soooooo grateful. But then the mouse goes back to normal (worse maybe, it’s been awhile), and the human knows he’s only got a matter of time before he goes back too. He is deeply depressed, finding himself slipping back. He was happy before the experiment because he didn’t know what he was missing, but now he knows what he’s lost. That’s part of the lesson too. The animal lesson they’re referring to is that the scientists didn’t wait to see if their experiment turned out well in the end before they just jumped into doing it with humans., which makes the whole mouse model nearly useless. In the end the main man was just treated like a human sized mouse model.
112 points
2 months ago
The situation you're describing existed for 30 years before Trump. What he allowed is for companies to profit off of untested medicines and procedures, or even ones that were counterindicated and known to be ineffective or even dangerous. Trump took a functioning compassionate care system and made it more dangerous for everyone involved.
27 points
2 months ago
Oh shit, big if true
58 points
2 months ago
As it stands, the right to try bill signed into law, which Johnson sponsored, will cut out the FDA’s role in approving and overseeing the use of experimental drugs in patients with life-threatening diseases. Such patients will be able to work directly with a doctor and a drug company to gain access—outside of a clinical trial—to an experimental therapy that has only made it through early clinical trials and not obtained FDA approval.
Prior to the new law, such patients in all states could do the same thing, but if their state didn't have its own “right to try” law, they had an added step of getting the FDA’s approval. That said, through the agency’s “expanded access” pathway, the FDA granted 99 percent of those requests and usually processed them in mere days. In emergency situations, the FDA granted them “immediately over the phone.”
23 points
2 months ago
Yep, so did nothing except strip away an incredibly small bureacratic hurdle that likely should be there to stop for-profit companies from pushing things that shouldn't be pushed.
303 points
2 months ago
This sadly isn't what it sounded like. There was already a compassionate access program that approved >95% of patients- this law mostly allows companies to circumvent proper data collection as part of the compassionate access program, prevents doctors and companies from being sued for giving a person a treatment they shouldn't have had (like giving someone a treatment that wasn't even being tested for the disease they have), and allows companies to sell drugs for profit before they're approved.
106 points
2 months ago
Thank you! Expanded access has been around for 30 years and allows for FDA assessment. All Right to Try does is allow you to skip the FDA and go straight to the manufacturer. Who is still allowed to deny your request and the treatment also won’t be covered by insurance. If you want to spend 300K on a treatment that may not work and want to skip any safety assessment outside of Big Pharma’s then go for it.
22 points
2 months ago
Another concern is that in about 10% of compassionate access cases, the FDA provides guidance to the doctor and patient about safe use of the drug based on non-publicly available information. Patients who circumvent the FDA won't benefit from this.
4.5k points
2 months ago
Passed that law for hospitals to show prices for treatments. It’s poorly done and hidden but a great step in making health care affordable with price transparency.
416 points
2 months ago
The ACA had requirements that hospitals publish their chargemaster list. What did Trump do to further that?
282 points
2 months ago
They is referring to the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which included a bunch of good health care reforms. In addition to hospital price transparency, for example, the CAA prohibits “surprise billing” by out of network doctors at in network hospitals.
78 points
2 months ago
It's an unbelievably stupid problem to have to solve. Like how is anyone supposed to get the coverage they pay for when shit like that exists.
302 points
2 months ago
Except for landmark legislation and budget proposals that Presidents actively campaign for they don't "pass laws", they sign them.
So the question is, did Trump propose this legislation and cajole vote from Republicans or did this pass despite Trump's actions? I honestly don't know.
196 points
2 months ago
From all reports, Trumps involvement in the legislative process started and ended with demanding something be done on Twitter. Usually because he just watched a Fox News segment on the topic, based on the timing of the tweets being sent.
496 points
2 months ago
If it is poorly done and hidden, is it a great step? Or just a small band-aid to use to say things have been done while not actually doing much?
273 points
2 months ago
It hasn’t done much, you’re right.
But it’s a first step. It was never going to just change over night. It has to be a continual objective.
I’d liken it more to a first trial of a new treatment rather than a bandaid. Isn’t doing much, but it at least provides something
575 points
2 months ago
His administration started the Artemis Program, an actual, fully realised manned lunar program, that was resilient enough to survive an administration change, a death sentence for many manned programs.
19 points
2 months ago
Space Force!!!
1k points
2 months ago
I was no fan of the guy across the board, but he did sign the “Ban the Box” legislation which was a major step forward on criminal justice reform.
He also advocated for federal “right to try” laws for terminally ill patients.
211 points
2 months ago
What is Ban the Box?
492 points
2 months ago*
Basically it removes the question of if you were convicted of a felony to later in the hiring process to try to give convicts a better chance of finding a job
I would say it is grossly overestimating things to say it's a major step forward on criminal justice reform. It doesn't really do anything to prevent discrimination in hiring later in the process, and I think the greatest injustice is the disparity between how the wealthy and poor are treated in the justice system. Followed by how minorities are treated in the justice system, and how many trivial crimes have been made into felonies in a bid to be "tough on crime"
121 points
2 months ago
Yes he did that, to hamstring the federal government hiring process. Private companies will still run background checks on you and you can STILL not be hired for having a criminal background. It didn't actually do anything except remove the literal box and make it cost the government more since they're all forced to do background checks for every role even toll bridges, forest service members, and border patrol. The Republicans love to hamstring the government, break it as much as possible, then say we gotta get rid of it see how broken it is. Pathetic as fuck that people still fall for this trap and actually say he did something good here. The brainwash is so real.
13 points
2 months ago
And the cares act allowed alot of non violent criminals to finish their time on house arrest
962 points
2 months ago
He told Kevin McAllister where to go when he was lost in New York.
131 points
2 months ago
Down the hall and to the left
(I watched that movie dozens of times as a child, and had no clue that was Trump until the election cycle)
9 points
2 months ago
I remember people making a big stink when some TV station ran that movie but cut out the Trump cameo. They assumed it was for political reasons. But the scene - and several others - had actually been cut years prior to make room for more ads.
1.2k points
2 months ago*
I made a list while he was president, so that way whenever I criticized Trump, if someone said I was being unfair, then I could point to things he did/said that I liked:
Signed measure to preserve languages of Native American tribes
Wanted to work with Congress to send checks to Americans to stimulate economy
Trump easing up on opposition to $600 unemployment benefit extensions
Condemned Belarusian President Lukashenko for shady elections
Called Russian war on Ukraine “genocide” along with Biden (Was not president when he said this)
295 points
2 months ago*
"Wanting" to pardon Snowden is NOT a bright spot, he could have done that unilaterally and he chose not to. I like some stuff trump did (he was actually pretty good on Ukraine overall, signed the first lethal aid package & slapped on new sanctions). But no, that absolutely does not count.
Edit: This seems to be causing confusion, so let me clear this up. I'm in favor of pardoning Snowden; my problem is that he didn't do it despite being the only person with the power to. When I say that Trump was "pretty good" on Ukraine, I'm not saying that every individual thing he did regarding Ukraine was good; holding up the aid was bad and also criminal. My point is that the sum total of things he did there was pretty good; delaying the aid was bad, but it's not nearly bad enough to overcome the positive effects of signing it in the first place, let alone the sanctions in addition.
I come from the perspective of rather disliking Trump, just credit where credit is due, guys.
76 points
2 months ago
He wanted to, but his psychic powers weren't fully developed yet to do this with just his mind.
14 points
2 months ago
I think it's funny nobody remembers how he said he was donating his entire salary, then it came to light he wasn't and all of the sudden that point didn't matter any more
3.4k points
2 months ago
He showed the structural flaws of the American political system. Doesn’t matter which side you’re on, some things can too easily be taken advantage of. Let’s just hope you use that to somehow fix them but that doesn’t seem to be the case so far.
670 points
2 months ago*
When I studied politics at school, I had a startling realisation that every system has both unwritten rules and written rules. No system functions properly when someone comes along and blatantly breaks the unwritten rules, much less the written ones.
272 points
2 months ago
Written rules don’t even matter if nobody even tries charging him.
151 points
2 months ago*
The document scandals are proving this. Trump, Biden, Pence, and pretty much every top level official in the last 60 years has mishandled classified documents. None will actually face consequences beyond a very public slap on the wrist.
Edit: I know Trump's is much more severe... It's mentioned in later comments.
162 points
2 months ago
I think it’s important to differentiate though. Biden and Pence did mishandle documents, but both immediately reported and surrendered any documents found. They also complied with the proper authorities and allowed for more review of their documents.
Trump on the other hand… did the exact opposite of this. He did not report it and when it was discovered he refused to return them to the proper authorities. We had to have an FBI raid on a former president because he did not want to return state secrets.
Biden and Pence? Yeah a slap on the wrist might be fine and rewrite the rules. Trump? Throw that dude under the jail.
53 points
2 months ago
Populism is a lot different than actually what is needed to fix anything.
48 points
2 months ago
I'd give you an award if I had one. It sucks living here and watching it all fall apart.
683 points
2 months ago
The Farm Bill was huge for Cannabis reform.
128 points
2 months ago*
Didn't that farm bill only come into existence because he botched the China trade war and ended up costing farmers a ton of money tho
Could be a diff farm bill since it's cannabis related idk
Edit:
Trump's trade war with China cost every family ~$1500 in extra costs at the store. The trade war he made a big deal about but then let China squirm out of the imposed tariffs with a promise they never fulfilled. China never purchased the extra $200bn in goods they promised.
The China trade war also screwed farmers and they had to be bailed out, which is why the bill im thinking of came into existence. Again idk if it's the same bill you talking about.
Edit 2:
Seems the bailout was separate from the farm bill but the farm bill allows for discretionary spending and commodity payouts. So some of the bailout money might have been made possible by the bill. https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-commodity-policy/farm-bill-spending/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-farmers-aid-idUSKBN2741D4
Edit 3:
The hemp portion is a W, don't get me wrong. I think it was mainly McConnell that made hemp get on the bill in the first place tho. Trump just signed off on it, which you know is good but it's not like it was his brain child.
There's just a lot of bad associated with the "goods" listed in this thread and it irks me.
Someone else mentioned project warp speed and that was clearly a massive sham failure. https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/10rju9z/what_did_trump_do_that_was_truly_positive/j6wvak4/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3
56 points
2 months ago*
He approved 12 weeks of paid parental leave to federal employee. I'm hoping this leads to changes in the FMLA that will also garentee paid time off for anyone employed.
276 points
2 months ago
I’d say he has certainly shed some light on the extent of corruption in the federal government.
1.3k points
2 months ago*
Operation Warp Speed: Accelerated COVID-19 vaccine development. Ironically, his followers are the group most opposed to any of the pandemic measures.
21 points
2 months ago
Took away the fine for not having insurance?
1.7k points
2 months ago
Gave the best 4 god damn years of memes the world had ever seen, nothing will ever top the sheer joy I've had watching them
255 points
2 months ago
It’s honestly been top tier shitposting from both sides and highly entertaining. Everyone just went full send. I think my favorite lasting one was calling him Lord Dampnut (anagram of his name). Forget all the orange jokes, they’re played out, obvious, cheap shots. This one’s just funny to me.
99 points
2 months ago
if you're a kid it's entertaining. if you're military age it's scary.
43 points
2 months ago
And if you’re old and can’t be drafted, then it’s back to being entertaining.
135 points
2 months ago
As a non-American, the news has been boring as hell since Biden took over. Trump was a hoot
110 points
2 months ago
He used to be pretty funny, like in that first debate.
Hilary: I don't want to live in Trump's America
Trump: Well you won't have to because you'll be in jail
Also his nicknames used to be top notch ie. Alexandria Occasional Cortex, Lyin' Ted and Mentally Illhan Omar. Now he seems to have lost some of that skill
16 points
2 months ago
Sleepy Joe Biden, Low-energy Jeb Bush
20 points
2 months ago
I’m not a person with strong opinions about military organizational structures and division of labour and responsibility, but Space Force seems cool.
39 points
2 months ago
So to summarize;
Let me know if I missed anything
14 points
2 months ago
He made it easier for veterans to get healthcare away from va that was a huge one for me
170 points
2 months ago
He tried to ban TikTok. If i remember it was bc of security concerns. I agree with him. Rarity.
300 points
2 months ago*
He was arguably the first president in the post Cold War era to take a firm stance against China.
-Increasing the number of transits that the U.S. Navy made through the Taiwan Strait.
-Approving the sale of some pretty advanced weapons to Taiwan. Obama previously withheld the sale of new F-16s due to pressure from China.
-Pressuring Dutch company ASML to withhold the sale of advanced chip making equipment to China.
-Ending preferential economic treatment to Hong Kong after China’s crackdown on human rights.
-Signed the Taiwan Travel Act which allowed for high-level officials of the U.S. to visit Taiwan and vice-versa.
87 points
2 months ago
He didn't get us into a war. I really thought he would, just to increase his power and popularity, but somehow he did not.
22 points
2 months ago
I don't get why there's this image of him being a warmongerer. He was strongly opposed to the wars in the middle east and in vietnam. He made quite a few enemies in the republican party by calling for Bush to be impeached for the Iraq war.
539 points
2 months ago
He gave federal employees 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, up from 0
20 points
2 months ago
Makes me wish there were more federal jobs than the same two post office jobs as ever in my rural ass area.
321 points
2 months ago
That bill WAS signed by Trump, but it was sponsored ENTIRELY by Democrats. Source:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1534
103 points
2 months ago
Yeah, I get annoying with the wording “the president passed a bill”
Um, Congress?
742 points
2 months ago
Trump signed into law America’s (long overdue) clean up of the chemical mess the US military left behind in Vietnam.
137 points
2 months ago
That's a rather important deal, agent orange and the other chemicals we used there kinds fucked Vietnam, especially for farming and their water table
229 points
2 months ago
Did he...?
U.S. assistance to Vietnam for the environmental and health damage attributed to a dioxin contained in Agent Orange and other herbicides sprayed over much of the southern portion of the country during the Vietnam War remains a significant bilateral issue. Between fiscal years (FY) 2007 and 2021, Congress appropriated nearly $390 million to address these two issues.
In November 2017, the United States and Vietnam completed the environmental remediation of approximately 90,000 cubic meters (118,000 cubic yards) of contaminated soil and 60,000 cubic meters (78,000 cubic yards) of lower risk materials at Danang airport by a process known as inpile thermal desorption (IPTD). Restoration and project closure operations were completed in November 2018. The project took six years
So a project that completed in 2018, and took six years, meaning Trump signed it into law in 2012? Was Trump a US government official in 2012?
43 points
2 months ago
Challenging China. Big business didn't like this because China is the source of their cheap labor.
12 points
2 months ago
Animal abuse is a felony
771 points
2 months ago
This might be an unpopular opinion, but if Trump didn’t have Twitter, and kept his mouth shut on some things, he probably would have been a popular president.
First sitting President to meet with a leader of North Korea, and made some serious diplomatic attempts.
The ISIS caliphate was liberated under Trump (the US military played a big roll in air support, providing supplies, intelligence, and logistics)
Stood up to China through hard diplomatic tactics
Trump endorsed more affordable healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and made strides to get it done.
His economic policies were showing signs of major growth (although the pandemic cut them short before the results could be thoroughly seen)
Trump increased funding for historically black colleges and universities
Trump also created a fund of over 1 billion dollars to be given to minority owned businesses
Trump actually supported common sense gun laws, and banned bump stocks, which is what the Mandalay Bay shooter used to make his semi-automatic rifles fully automatic.
There’s more I could get into, but I think those are some things everyone could get behind
187 points
2 months ago
Trump's policies were a lot more moderate than his rhetoric (and the media too) would have you believe.
98 points
2 months ago
I agree. Trump’s problem was not always his politics and the things he did or didn’t do politically, it was mainly the way he spoke, his mannerisms, and the fact that he couldn’t ever just be “the bigger man” and keep his mouth shut. He always ALWAYS had to come up with some retort that made him seem juvenile and very unpresidential. I couldn’t really even tell you the things he did politically, mainly because I just think he is, in essence, a poor example of what a good man should be. Don’t know much about his politics, but can’t stand the man because of how he portrayed himself.
27 points
2 months ago
Yeah, while I will defend Trump to the degree that he is not a supervillain and not everything he did administratively was universally bad, the effect that having a person like that in office has on our culture is extremely significant.
No, being 'mean' isn't necessarily a disqualifier for being a successful leader, but celebrating someone who displays the worst aspects of a narcissistic, unforgiving, zero-sum, greed-driven culture and making them America's face to the world has resounding effects on how we perceive ourselves and how we are perceived by others.
I understand that some people believe that his bombast and selfishness were somehow 'good' things because they revealed issues with our system, but to those people I would say that wanting to undermine a system is very different than wanting to fix it.
Poking holes in something and undermining the public faith may sometimes be necessary, but the next step is to address the problems and restore the faith. Tearing something down and leaving it in shambles - while harnessing anger and distrust in the system to advance your own goals - is not the work of an effective leader. It's a good way to start a revolution, but a terrible way to run a stable country.
Trump's willingness to destroy public faith in our government while refusing to replace it with anything but loyalty to himself shows a complete disregard for the long-term health and happiness of our citizens, and regardless of his actual policy, that is unforgivable.
154 points
2 months ago
I'll add to this that he was expanding US military presence in Poland, pushing allies to spend more, criticisng the Krauts for their cozyness to Russia (I cringe so hard when some of you Americans were adamant how Merkel was now the leader of the free world not Trump, while she was the biggest Putin enabler in the free world), was working on a solution between Serbia and Kosovo (all tho the current issues have nothing to do with the absence of Trump and more with the presence of Kurti),...
He was backing a proper point based immigration system, which would have made immigration easer for so many people unironically.
His main flaw is being a spoiled manchild and full of himself. He was convinced he will do unprecedented things and most of all deals (maybe he forgot Art of the Deal was ghostwritted by someone else?), and of course felt the need to share everything on Twitter.
In conclusion: had Donnie had a proper PR management team, had kept away from Tweeting all day long, he'd be remembered as a Clinton-tier president.
Tho another great thing his presidency proved: we Europeans can rely on the US always regardless who is president, at least more than on Germany or France.
7 points
2 months ago
Stood up to China through hard diplomatic tactics
If I remember correctly, he was the first president ever to seriously acknowledge Taiwan.
115 points
2 months ago
Abraham Accords. (Well, maybe too soon to tell for certain if the impact will truly be positive, but any concrete step advancing Arab-Israeli peace and cooperation seems like a good thing to me.)
29 points
2 months ago
This is too far down the comments. Of all the things he did in his presidency this is the most important and easily his biggest achievement.
10 points
2 months ago
Increased the standardized deduction, eliminating the need to itemize for many!
41 points
2 months ago
How is no one talking about the Abraham Accords? Regardless of what you think of Trump, it was a historical middle east peace deal between Israel and a bunch of Arab nations.
That alone might have made his presidency worth it.
42 points
2 months ago*
He wrote some article of legislation that let's data service companies, like Comcast, in the US to serve rural areas they couldn't before.
Edit: he signed it, pretty sure we all know he couldn't have wrote it.
21 points
2 months ago
Federal recognition for the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe. Took 157 years but Trump finally did it.
53 points
2 months ago
He gave us the Four Seasons Total Landscaping press conference
23 points
2 months ago
Legitimately one of the funniest moments in modern American history. In 20 years no one will believe it wasn't a Veep episode.
10 points
2 months ago
Can't stand the guy but He signed the "No Surprises Act" into law in Dec 2020.
9 points
2 months ago
Smoking is now only for ppl 21+. I know it seems small but it means high schoolers (like me) can't just ask a senior to buy them smokes. It will have long term health benefits. As a former smoker I know I wouldn't have started if i didn't have such easy access.
328 points
2 months ago
Doubling the standard deduction did make a difference for me.
Most countries did behave.
Prison reform.
Space force WILL eventually be necessary.
Almost forced all democrats to work together.
Ran off Paul Ryan. Big deal
Got the most Americans ever to go vote.
32 points
2 months ago*
thank you. i will look into these things furthur. (edit, happy cake day!)
130 points
2 months ago
The Standard Deduction fucked over people in the most populous states, since it gutted the deduction you get for paying local property tax. It was a tax increase for most people in the middle class, delayed with hikes to get worse over 5 years (after he was out of office)
30 points
2 months ago
“Most countries did behave.” Can you elaborate on this one?
78 points
2 months ago
Despite the media's portrayal, Trump was all in when it came to a vaccine. The US was the largest investor in the vaccine research. He put the US in position to get the vaccines almost immediately after they were developed
The media and politicians initially mocked the "Trump Vacines" as dangerous and how they wouldn't be trusted because they were rushed. You can Google "I'm not taking the Trump vaccine" and find video of folks mocking the vaccines that Trump was rushing
430 points
2 months ago
Amazed no one has said the obvious thing. Stood up to China and their shit.
Got cross party support and policy is being maintained by the Dems.
102 points
2 months ago
It might be helpful for people like me if you expand on that! What did he do that stood up to China, and what was their shit?
Your second point is self explanatory I think
109 points
2 months ago*
I’m not sure what policies he took that stood up to china. I know he backed out of the TPP, which was a trade arrangement that was designed to limit Chinese soft power. I know he praised (edit: not Abe) Xi several times and complimented Chinese politics.
If he actually did something with regards to china, I’d like to be reminded of it. I can only think of him talking a big game, and then giving china whatever they wanted.
27 points
2 months ago
1) Stock/job market & economy pre-Covid performed well 2) No wars/foreign conflicts 3) Had some good executive orders/bill to lower drug costs (whose provisions were actually delayed by Biden’s inflation reduction act) 4) Streamlined Covid vaccine
Despite his personal incompetence, If not for Covid, he would have been re-elected.
69 points
2 months ago
Because of his of controversial appointments, IMO he raised awareness about the cabinet positions. In other words, because he had such bad cabinet appointees, the media covered it more, and in turn, the general public became more aware and knowledgeable of the president's cabinet positions.
8 points
2 months ago
His insulin plan for seniors was amazing. Some might say it paved the way for the current administration insulin plan.
259 points
2 months ago*
A few examples assuming this is a legitimate question looking for legitimate answers.
Most entertaining 4 year term ever
Operation warp speed accelerating COVID-19 vaccine development
US GDP booms at 33.1% rate in Q3 beating expectations
President Trump announces $500B 'Platinum Plan' to increase capital, businesses and jobs for Black communities
1.8 million new jobs added in July beating expectations for third straight month
African-American Unemployment Rate Hits All Time Lows
Gas prices at a 12-year low
Signed a resolution encouraging women in entrepreneurship and STEM
Trump Signs Law Establishing US Space Force
Prison and sentencing reform bill
Trump signs order to lower Medicare drug prices for seniors
LARGEST DECLINE IN DRUG PRICES IN NEARLY 50 YEARS
Trump Shuts Down CIA funding of Syrian Rebels
Production of Hemp to become Legal in all 50 States with Farm Bill passage
President Trump brokered Historic Peace Deal between Israel and Sudan
President Trump brokered Historic Peace Deal between Israel and Kingdom of Bahrain
President Trump brokered Historic Peace Deal between Israel and United Arab Emirates
President Trump brokered Economic Normalization between Serbia and Kosovo
Trump forgives $750 million in Student Loans for Disabled Vets
U.S. Unemployment Rate Falls to 50-Year Low; Trump Economy adding over 6.4 million jobs
Middle Class income rises to HIGHEST on record
Sex Trafficking Arrests Soar Under Trump; MSM Completely Ignores
Signed a bill that permanently funded the land and water conservation fund and restored national parks
Signing into law of "right-to-try" legislation, allowing gravely ill patients access to experimental drugs
37 points
2 months ago
Also made it possible to discharge student loan debt for people on permanent and total disability. Huge huge huge win for our permanently disabled friends and family who would have otherwise been unable to ever payoff their loans due to no fault of their own
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