The 15 Worst Decisions in the First 15 Months of the Trump Administration

There are perpetual arguments here on NT about the Trump Administration and Donald Trump himself. Anyone who has read my articles or commentary knows that I am as strong an opponent to this administration as there is anywhere in this country. Not only do I disagree with his policies {which are practically non-existent}, but I also find him to be both morally repulsive and an unrepentant criminal {the first through his own statements and actions, the second through litigation which my family has gone through with him due to non-payment of his bills}.

This article is going to take a similar tack. What are the worst decisions that this president has made in his first fifteen months as CEO of this nation. To me the list could be in the hundreds, but in respect for the 15 month anniversary, I will list 15 of the decisions that I consider among the worst he has made and the reasons why I believe that they should make this list.

By the way, for both the Trump lovers and the Trump haters, it should be noted that a panel of 176 presidential historians rate Trump as the worst president in our history and Obama as the 8th best. Just a point of information.

Let's start in no particular order:

A:     BLAMING BOTH SIDES FOR THE VIOLENCE IN CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA      Even members of the President's own party were aghast when the president blamed both sides for the violence and intimated that there were "good" people on both sides of issue. It has never been an American value to place Neo-Nazis, Ku-Klux-Klanners, and Racist Skinheads in the same group as counterprotesters marching against hate.

B:     PARDONING JOE ARPAIO:  There have been a number of actions in this administration where there has been a blatant disregard for the rule of law. Arpaio had abused and deprived people of their rights and was convicted of contempt. Pardoning the man was a clear signal to the courts and to the immigrant population that the rule of law didn't apply to them, but could be made to be applied to Arpaio. Agree with Arpaio's politics or not, this was not a good decision.

C:      CRITICIZING NFL PLAYERS FOR KNEELING DURING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM     Whether you believe that it would be right for the players to stand or not, the president's comments were wrong on two very crucial points. They were inherently racist but even more importantly, they demonstrated that the president did not understand the constitutionally guaranteed right of free speech. Whether you stand, sit, kneel, or lie down is a free speech issue that both liberals and conservatives should defend.

D:     BERATING FBI AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATIONS    This is a president who campaigned as a pro-justice candidate. His constant attacks of those sections of government that provide law and order belied that campaign promise and also undermined American faith in the system.

E:     ENDORSING ROY MOORE FOR UNITED STATES SENATE      The man had been legally removed from office twice for defying federal orders. In addition there were extremely credible allegations of sexual molestation and harassment including at least one instance of pedophilia. This one was a no-brainer.

F:      CONTINUOUS DISCREDITING OF THE PRESS AND THE THREATENING OF REMOVAL OF BOADCAST LICENCES     Freedom of the press is one of the constitutionally protected and cherished parts of this nation's history. Attacks on that freedom and the discrediting of the press is a basic mistake that should never be made by a president of the United States.

G:      ARBITRARILY RESCINDING DACA      There was no pressure on the president to rescind DACA and even less pressure for the president to hold the lives of the DACA eligible recipients hostage to his demand for funding for a border wall. This is the action of a criminal organization and not a political figure attempting to work with his congress. It also further corrodes the relationship of the president and the republican party with the Hispanic community.

H:      WITHDRAWAL FROM THE PARIS ACCORDS    Since the Paris Accords are voluntary and were not going to force either financial or infrastructure costs, the only real reason for withdrawal was for President Trump to undo an accomplishment of the Obama administration. This was a politically unnecessary move and weakened the perception of the United States in the eyes of the world community.

I:       ATTEMPTED TO BAN TRANSGENDERED SOLDIERS FROM SERVING IN THE MILITARY    This was done over the objection of his military advisors and was again another attempt to end a program initiated under the Obama administration.  It was another example of the biases and misguided decisions that have haunted this administration.

J:      UNDERMINING THE PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE     Although the president campaigned on a repeal and replace stand, the inability of the republican party to repeal the ACA and have any replacement plan led to the president piecemealing the dismantling of the law without the replacement of ACA with any other health care alternative. They have left millions of people with health care costs that will rise by 25% or more in the next few years.

K:     OBSTRUCTING THE RUSSIA INVESTIGATION    Starting with the firing of Jim Comey and continuing throughout the Mueller investigation, the administration has done everything they could to obstruct that investigation. With the understanding that the Russians tried to interfere with the American elections of 2016 and are poised to do it again in 2018, the president should be doing all he could to move that investigation forward. Preventing that casts doubt on the president's role in the initial Russian interferemce.

L:      CHOOSING THE MOST QUESTIONABLE CABINET IN HISTORY      For a president who promised to come into the white house and drain the swamp, President Trump has been a remarkable failure. Just naming some of his cabinet appointments tell the story......Jeff Sessions, Scott Pruitt, Betsy DeVos, Tom Price, and Ryan Zinke.

M:     APPOINTMENT OF SHAM "VOTER FRAUD" COMMISSION AND MAKING KIRK KOBACH THE VICE CHAIRMAN  This was an example of blatant presidential hubris. This was a president who could not accept that he lost the popular vote by almost 3 million and had to appoint a sham commission to prove that those votes were "stolen". Of course, the commission disbanded without finding any voter fraud, but the fragile ego of the president was further put on display.

N:      APPOINTING JOHN BOLTON AS NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR    This is a disaster that is just beginning. Bolton has failed in every role he has had in government. His solution to every problem is to enter into a war situation. Between Bolton and Pompeo, the country should be very afraid. We might see Trump unleashed. All we have to do is think what we have seen when Trump has been partially muzzled and then think about what might happen now.

O:      STARTING A TRADE WAR WITH CHINA      My tariffs are bigger than your tariffs. Here we go again, except that the people who are going to suffer are our farmers, our auto makers, the people who purchase cheap goods from China, etc.. All the president has demonstrated here is his absolute lack of knowledge about international economics and is going to go at it and smile while the entire American populace suffers.

This is, of course, a short list. I did not talk about some of the disastrous deregulation moves, education policy, trade policy, housing policy, environmental policy or anything else that this incompetent administration has played with. For those of you that agree with me, feel free to add other major errors of this administration. For those of you who disagree, tell us why these were good moves so we can have a real debate.