Sometimes, the comments made on editorials are more interesting than the editorials themselves. Take mine, for example. With admirable regularity, I find something negative to say about the President. One week, I complained about his cabinet appointments. The next, I complained about the tariffs. I also have written against Trump’s denying deportees’ due process. I wrote that seizing suspected illegal immigrants off the street, loading them onto planes, and delivering them to South Sudan is wrong.
Several readers have asked me why I can’t simply acknowledge all the good that Trump is doing for America. The idea, I think, is that Trump may be quirky, but he is doing a lot to make America better. We need to overlook things about Trump such as his name-calling or redecorating the White House in gold and focus on the good stuff.
One reader even reminded me, as the White House Press Secretary does frequently, that Trump is a highly successful businessman who has given up “everything” to Make America Great Again.” This obviously isn’t true.
I wish I could write something positive about Donald Trump, but I can’t. I’m not able to point to a single positive thing that he deserves credit for.
What about border security, you ask? I support rational regulation of immigration, including securing the borders. Trump lost me with the prison in El Salvador and the flights to South Sudan.
What about the decrease in the rate of inflation? Less inflation is a good thing, but did Trump make it happen? I don’t think so. The CPI was headed down before Trump took office. Did the possibility of Trump winning the election do the trick? Of course not.
Inflation peaked at more than 9 percent in 2022 when Biden was President. Economists tell us that disruptions in the supply chain resulting from the pandemic and increases in the cost of energy resulting from Russia’s war against Ukraine contributed to the increase. Biden did not cause the pandemic. It started in March 2020. Trump was president and ignored covid until it was a national crisis. (You can be sure that if Biden had been president when the pandemic began, Trump would have blamed it on Biden.)
And who believes Trump when he claims that Russia would never have invaded Ukraine had he been President? Remember that Trump also claimed he would end the war “on Day One” of his second term or even before taking office? I do. Blaming Biden for the war is, to put it mildly, a stretch.
And what about Biden’s spending? By 2024, the annual rate of inflation was down to 3.3 percent, despite the enactment of Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar bills to address climate change and other domestic policy needs. And, as a resident of the Eastern Shore, I enthusiastically supported federal spending and regulation to address climate change.
Had Biden been reelected, inflation may have continued to decrease, but we’ll never know. What we do know is that four months into his presidency, Trump is taking credit for fixing the economy. This may prove premature. By the end of the year, Trump’s tariffs may drive prices higher. Most economists say that is probable. (But don’t expect Trump to admit he was wrong or take responsibility for the problem.)
And what will happen if his ludicrously named “Big Beautiful Bill” is enacted? We know that his pending multibillion dollar extension of his 2017 tax cuts and increases in defense and border security spending will increase the national debt by more than $2.8 trillion over the next 10 years.
Some will disagree that Trump takes credit for positive developments that he had little to do with. But what about the things he says “make America great again” that do nothing of the sort? Let me list a few:
Eliminating funding for public television and radio. (Cut because Trump views them as critical of his policies.)
Cutting medical research. Are we supposed to be grateful for Trump ending important cancer clinical trials?
Ending efforts to combat climate change, including attempting to rescind money for projects already appropriated by Congress. If you live within 50 miles of an ocean shoreline, you should be worried.
Redecorating the Oval Office in gold. Please don’t tell me I’m supposed to take pride in this decorating fiasco. And who is going to pay to have it all taken down after Trump leaves office?
Attacking Harvard University and its students. Why this obsession with Harvard? Destroying Harvard will not make America great—it will destroy something that is part of American greatness.
Attacking Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs. How exactly does ending DEI programs benefit white males or help American citizens who are people of color?
Appointing himself to Chair the Kennedy Center. I liked the pre-Trump programming at the Kennedy Center. Trump wants to replace classical music, opera and other “highbrow” culture with more popular fare corresponding to his own taste. Surprise! Ticket sales have dropped dramatically.
End the Department of Education and funding for low-income students, teacher development, student aid, and educational research.
Holding a $45 million dollar parade on your birthday because June 14 is also the anniversary of the U.S. Army. I predict massive disruption, massive damage to DC roads, massive protests, and potentially serious misdeeds.
Cutting benefits and services to Veterans.
Closing Social Security Offices. I don’t like waiting on the phone for an hour to get a question answered from someone who has no clue how to solve the problem.
Watching Kristi Noem flash a Rolex in front of the infamous El Salvadoran prison. Her stunt was embarrassing and shameful. A good president would have fired her.
I could go on with this list. Let’s be clear. President Trump claims things “Make America Great Again,” that don’t. Many of his actions take benefits and services from Americans, undermine the rule of law, and jeopardize democracy.
Dare I say it, Trump is making his bed—a legacy of chaos and a reversal of progress—and will have to sleep in it. Fifty years from now, it will be clear that Trump was a much worse president than Nixon. The gold trim in the Oval Office, the Qatari 747, the Crypto, Musk dancing with a chainsaw, and Trump’s devotion to the game of golf will be what is remembered. What also will be remembered is the number of decades it will take to put the country back in order.
If we are lucky and work together to stop the madness, Trump will be seen as an aberration and an embarrassment, nothing more.
J.E. Dean writes on politics, government but, too frequently, on President Trump. A former counsel on Capitol Hill and public affairs consultant, Dean also writes for Dean’s Issues & Insights on Substack.
Carol Droge says
Wow – as usual, you nailed it!
John Dean says
Thank you for your kind words. Much appreciated. And thank you for reading the piece.
DIANE SHIELDS says
Thank you! Yes, all of this is true, and needs to be thought about….
I fear that we are entering into an authoritarian regime, and most don’t realize it, or care
John Dean says
I share your fear that we are entering into an authoritarian regime. I think many of us are starting to realize it and will speak out. Democracy is at risk. I also fear for the President’s sanity.
Karen Mack says
Thank you. It is frustrating to read comments asking you to talk about the good the President has done when NO examples are provided by the writers of those comments. And that says something!
John Dean says
Thanks. I will continue to look for something positive and hope I’ll find something.
Thank you for reading the piece.
Joseph A. Fick, Jr. says
Your commentary is probably the most negative I have ever read. You are the poster person for TDS – Trump Derangement Syndrome.
I hope that one day you will have to eat your hat!
John Dean says
I also hope I’ll have to eat my hat. I want nothing more than to be convinced that the things I see wrong with President Trump were mistaken. Just this morning, sadly, I saw a photo of a bulldozer ripping up the White House Rose Garden. That troubles me, but I don’t think TDS is to blame . . .
That having been said, thank you for reading the piece.
James Nick says
You saw a man who owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought “Fine.
You saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, “Okay.
You saw a man make up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, “Not an issue.”
You saw a man convicted of forcibly inserting his fingers into the vagina of E Jean Carroll and covering up hush money payments to Stormy Daniels for his extramarital affair only four months after Melania gave birth and you said, “No problem.”
You saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw.
You saw him angrily say that the Central Park Five should still be in prison even after they were found innocent of a crime they didn’t commit, you said, “That makes sense.”
You heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, “Yes!”
You cheer at his rallies when he calls crypto a scam then cheer again when he does a complete 180 and endorses it after he realizes he can make billions.
You watched him refuse to condemn a parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists and you said, “Thumbs up!”
You heard him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their shithole countries then demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, “That’s the way I want my President to be.”
You are watching him systematically remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they’re supposed to be regulating and you have said, “What a genius!”
You have heard him continue to profit from his office and you have said, “That’s smart!”
You have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand, fall in “love” with the dictator of North Korea, praise Putin and Russia while throwing Ukraine under the bus and you said, “That’s statesmanship!”
And on and on and on…
MAGAs have witnessed a thousand and one manifestations of corruption, incompetence, vindictiveness, low moral character, outright rudeness, pathological levels of narcissism and self-aggrandizement, and even contempt for his very supporters. Yet you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise. Because, in the end, you have little concern about anything trump does as long as he keeps fighting the culture wars, deporting immigrants, and owning the libs.
This, Mr Fick, is what true trump derangement syndrome is!!!!!!
Deirdre LaMotte says
“If I were to run, I’d run as a Republican.
They’re the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they’d still eat it up.
I bet my numbers would be terrific.”
Donald Trump
People Magazine, 1998
Ron Jordan says
My dear Joseph, can you not see. Can you not hear and do you ever do your research about what Don the Con( vict) is doing to our nation?
Maureen Syracuse says
Thank you for this list. You forgot the pervasive corruption and self-dealing. Perhaps that would make another whole column.
John Dean says
Thank you for the comment. I didn’t forget the pervasive corruption and self-dealing but, as you suggest, there was too much material to fit into one column.
I may write that one, but I’m suffering a bit from TFS–Trump fatigue syndrome.
Thank you for reading the piece.
Billie Carroll says
Thank you for putting to words what many of us are thinking and saying among ourselves.
John Dean says
Thank you for reading the piece. I am hopeful that more of us will speak out on the policies and actions of the President that we disagree with.
James Nick says
Re: Fifty years from now, trump will be remembered for gold trim in the Oval Office, the Qatari 747, the Crypto, and his devotion to the game of golf.
In my opinion, even if he were to shuffle off the mortal coil of life tomorrow, donald trump will go down in US history as THE most consequential presidents in US history, bar none. How “consequential” will be defined depends on what side of the political divide you are on and what version of America emerges from the wreckage left behind in trump’s wake.
When you leave the theater space in Ford’s Theater in Washington, you descend back to street level via a spiral ramp which winds around a 34-foot tower containing approximately 6,800 books-only a small portion of the many texts that have been written about Lincoln over the 160 years since his death.
Whether we like it or not, we are living in historic times. This country is massively polarized-arguably, irreversibly so. More and more, things are starting to closely resemble the run up to our Civil War or Germany in the 1930s. Academic researchers, political scientists, the collective news media, and popular culture will likely generate a stack of books, movies, videos, online posts, and other media not yet invented that will chronicle trump and his times for far longer than 160 years that will dwarf the stack of Lincoln books in Ford’s Theater.
Presently, like his manufactured “trade crisis”, trump is on the verge of inventing a national emergency in order to divide, incite, and expand his power. According to former Tea Party Republican lawmaker Joe Walsh, and now Democrat, “Trump wants you to believe we are under siege. That’s Step One. Then comes Step Two: send in the military. Invoke the Insurrection Act. Declare martial law. And ultimately? Cancel elections.”
And we’re only six months into this administration. No doubt other major domestic and foreign stressors are waiting in the wings that the incompetent cast of characters in this administration is ill-equipped to deal with, which will create even more chaos that will feed into trump’s authoritarian impulses.
Sorry Mr Dean, but I’m afraid, a gilded oval office, Qatari jets, crypto corruption, and golf obsession will be just mere footnotes in history after the dust settles on trump’s reign of terror.
Paula Reeder says
THANK YOU for calling Trump and his Administration for what it is – the cruelest, most corrupt and dissolute era of American politics history since our countrys inception. It’s high time for change – before we lose our democracy to Trump and his equally demonic goons’ authoritarian depradations.
Ron Jordan says
Thank you.
Bil Anderson says
From every comment to Mr. Dean’s article except for that of Mr. Fick, am I to take it that all the other commenters would have preferred another Presidential term for Joseph R. Biden, Jr. or for a term for Kamala Harris? Only those who have relegated their ability to think to others less provided, can say “yes”.