So it is March of 2019. Trump has been in office for over two years now. Let’s revisit a few of the things he said before he was elected.

“I will reduce the budget deficit quickly and I will reduce the national debt to zero by the end of eight years. I will reduce the trade deficit drastically. I will pass a middle class tax cut. I will bring back manufacturing and coal jobs. You will get tired of winning. Only I can fix it.” 

So how is he doing?  He and his cronies passed a tax cut aimed at the top 1-percent and the corporations. The billionaires (including Trump) got huge tax cuts and the corporate tax rate was reduced from 35 percent  to 21 percent — a reduction of 14 points or 40 percent. As a result, the deficit has doubled to nearly $1 trillion per year and the national debt has exploded to $22 trillion! Far from being reduced to zero, the national debt is projected to climb to $30 trillion at the end of a Trump second term.

And the 2018 trade deficit just hit the highest level on record at almost $900 billion. Trump’s tariffs backfired as China and other targets of his ill-advised tariffs drastically reduced their purchases of U.S. goods. Ask farmers who produce corn and soybeans that are now declaring bankruptcy in record numbers.

As far as manufacturing jobs, ask the over 1,400 auto workers at the GM plant in Lordstown, Ohio, or the Carrier workers in Indianapolis who just lost their jobs.

And those coal jobs? Even Mitch McConnell admitted (after the election) “those jobs aren’t coming back.”  

Trump claims “the presidency is costing him money.” Actually, he is raking in money hand-over-fist as each weekly trip to Mar-a-Lago results in the payments of inflated room rates and fees to Trump Properties and the Saudis have leased three floors in Trump Tower at exorbitant rates even though these rooms and suites are seldom occupied. Additionally, millions of dollars that American Oligarchs paid into Trump’s inaugural committee (some after the fact) have disappeared into the pockets of Trump and his grifter children. Far from costing him money, he is using the presidency as a golden opportunity to enrich himself and his family.

It is past time that the RICO laws and statutes are employed to bring down this mafia organization.

Jim Porter

Danville