Editorial: President Trump’s first-year report card
On Jan. 20, 2017, Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States. Despite some dire predictions, the stock market did not crash – quite the contrary – and we are not at war with another sovereign state. But one year in, America is at war with itself and some of the conflict has been stoked by Trump.
Leave aside the tweets, the off-the-cuff comments that have sent many Americans – and our allies – into a tailspin. Here in New Jersey, there have been real consequences to the Trump presidency.
Economy: According to the state Department of Labor & Workforce Development, New Jersey added 22,900 jobs between December 2016 and December 2017. That’s certainly good. As is the historic rise in the stock market and announcements from several large U.S. corporations that they are going to reinvest their tax windfalls back into the U.S. economy, most recently Apple. But New Jersey has seen eight consecutive years of job growth, so whether the good news is due to Trump, due to former President Barack Obama or both remains to be seen. Regardless, the economy is a win for Trump.
Infrastructure: Trump promised to be the infrastructure president. But when push came to shove, he walked away from an Obama-era agreement for the federal government to provide half of the funding needed to build the Gateway project, which includes a new Hudson River tunnel, replacing the aging Portal Bridge and constructing a new station adjacent to Penn Station in Manhattan. Without federal funding, this may never get built.
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Immigration: Trump promised to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border and make Mexico pay for it. That hasn’t gone well, which is actually a good thing. Now Trump is holding the fate of so-called "Dreamers" hostage as he tries to get U.S. taxpayer funding for the wall. It’s a wrong-headed decision, as was his attempt to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Many of these young people – an estimated 22,000 in New Jersey – have lived most of their lives in the United States. And the president’s rhetoric on who should be allowed to enter the United States is both distressing and antithetical to the concept of America as a haven for all who seek liberty and freedom.
Taxes: Republicans kept one campaign promise – they rewrote the tax code at the end of 2017. Without Democratic buy-in, they passed and Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It was a Christmas gift to the wealthy and a sack of coal to Americans who live in high-tax states like New Jersey. The capping of the deduction of state and local property taxes will mean it will cost more to keep a home in New Jersey.
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Health care: Republicans found the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare was more popular with Americans than they thought. They failed to repeal it and replace, but the tax code changes are undermining the funding for it.
Environment: Trump proposes to open, almost without any restrictions, the Atlantic Ocean along the East coast to off-shore drilling. Both former Gov. Chris Christie and Gov. Phil Murphy oppose such a policy. New Jersey’s tourism industry, $44 billion a year, plus its near $8 billion fishing industry would be put at great risk. That says nothing about the potential damage to the environment and the way of life for millions of people along the entire coast.
Looking at Trump’s first year on balance, there’s no question New Jerseyans with 401 (k)s and financial investments had a good 2017. The Trump tax cuts will benefit some Americans who are not just in the top 2 percent. Yet these financial gains do not outweigh other losses.
Beyond tangible policies, there is a tone from the Trump White House that remains troubling, one that has stoked the flames of division within America and Congress – sadly, two distinct places in our time.
It is unlikely Trump will learn to restrain his worse impulses, so it is up to his advisers, all members of Congress and the American people to do just that. We may not agree with the president on many issues, but we only have one president at a time.
And it is Donald Trump.