Steve Hilton: Hey, Trump haters (on both sides) could you just admit that this is a successful presidency?
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Something caught my eye this past week. It was an official meeting in Europe of the Paris Climate Accord process, which, of course, President Trump pulled America out of. When a U.S. representative took the stage to explain our position, he was jeered and laughed at - loudly.
How very strange. You know how climate change activists never stop going on about believing in the science and how facts matter. Then why aren't they cheering the United States, instead of jeering?
In the evil populist "Trump's America," here's what happened to energy-related carbon emissions: In 2017, they fell by 0.5 percent. But in the saintly globalist European Union, they went up by 1.5 percent in the same period. In fact, per-capita carbon emissions in Trump's America are nearly at a 70-year low.
It turns out energy deregulation does more to fight climate change than going to conferences. I guess you might call that an “inconvenient truth." This one's pretty inconvenient if you're the kind of person that goes around saying Trump is a fake populist, that he's not doing anything to help the forgotten men and women in this country.
"All he had time for was celebrities, and now suddenly he's acting like he's a populist out there," former President Obama once said. "'Man, I'm going to fight for working people.' ... Come on, man!"
And former Vice President Joe Biden said the following at the Democartic National Convention in 2016: "He’s trying to tell us he cares about the middle class. Give me a break! That’s a bunch of malarkey!”
"Malarkey?" I want Joe Biden run in 2020 just so we can hear more of that word.
Look, America's poverty rate was lower in President Trump’s first year than at any point in the Obama administration.
Okay. Whatever, you Trump haters are probably saying. But of course the middle class was screwed by the Trump tax cuts that only helped the rich, right?
Oh wait. The Trump tax cuts doubled the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for families. That's a huge change that takes millions of Americans out of federal income tax altogether and has effectively increased incomes for middle class families across the country.
What else helps the middle class? Jobs. But of course that "idiot" Trump couldn’t create them.
“When somebody says - like the person you just mentioned that I'm not going to advertise for - that he’s going to bring all these jobs back. Well, how exactly are you going to do that?" Obama once said. "He just says, 'Well, I’m going to negotiate a better deal.' Well, what - how - exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have?”
Yeah, Trump, what magic wand do you have? I don’t know, maybe just better economic policy. The kind that results in the lowest unemployment rate since 1969. And the lowest African-American unemployment ever.
Also, wasn't Trump going to crash the economy? Hillary Clinton thought so, telling an audience, "Economists - left, right, and center - all agree: Donald Trump will drive America back into recession."
Left, right and center, inconvenient truth, Hillary. Even the New York times just gave Trump credit for the fact that the U.S. economy is on track for its “best annual performance since 2005.”
Alright, whatever. Jobs and growth ... but Trump still isn't delivering his promises to working people. I mean, after decades of stagnation, incomes are still flat, aren't they?
“A key thing we’ve been looking at for quite a while that doesn’t seem to be moving much are wages," CBS correspondent Anthony Mason said on-air.
Oh dear. That turns out not be true any more. Wages have risen all the way through the last two years and were up 3.1 percent in the last quarter – the highest level in a decade.
Fine. But it's all going to be ruined, isn't it, by Trump's crazy trade war with China? In fact, the elitists seem to hate Trump so much, they even took China's side. Remember how they thrilled to the brutal autocrat Xi Jinping at Davos last year? They just lapped up his speech on the virtues of globalization. The president of the EU-owned European Investment Bank said, "In these times of a lack of leadership, particularly in Europe, it was quite impressive."
Oooh President Xi! You're quite impressive!
What's actually happening is that President Trump's pressure is working. China is on the back foot, making trade concessions, and now pledging to drop its "Made in China 2025" program, which was Xi Jinping's grand plan to achieve world domination in the industries of the future.
We'll see if they mean it. But even the fact that they're saying it is a major victory for that "idiot" Trump, who obviously doesn't know what he's doing. Just like with North Korea, remember?
It was outgoing President Obama who told President-elect Donald Trump that North Korea would be his number one problem. Trump actually listened to him, did something about it, and turned our relationship around in a way that has made the world incomparably safer.
We'll never persuade the Trump haters on the left and the right to change their feelings about the president. They just can't stand him.
And then, just this past week, we saw incredibly important substantive progress from this administration. Major criminal justice reform, led by Jared Kushner, is now looking good for passage in the Senate. A major new effort to revitalize urban America and rebuild low-income neighborhoods is being led by Ben Carson. And there's a highly significant new strategy from John Bolton to fight China's attempted colonization of Africa.
On top of that, America last week became a net oil exporter for the first time in 75 years, enabling us to reduce the global influence of dodgy regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Yeah, but he's still an idiot, though. isn't he? He's still Trump.
Look, the point here is this: We'll never persuade the Trump haters on the left and the right to change their feelings about the president. They just can't stand him. And more than anything, it's aesthetic. They find him vulgar ... not to their taste.
Fine. But could you just focus on the facts? Could you just acknowledge - even for a day or so over Christmas - that on the facts, on policy, on the substance, that this is, so far, a pretty successful presidency?
Adapted from Steve Hilton's monologue from "The Next Revolution" on December 16, 2018.
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“Okay. Whatever, you Trump haters are probably saying. But of course the middle class was screwed by the Trump tax cuts that only helped the rich, right?
Oh wait. The Trump tax cuts doubled the standard deduction to $12,000 for individuals and $24,000 for families. That's a huge change that takes millions of Americans out of federal income tax altogether and has effectively increased incomes for middle class families across the country.
What else helps the middle class? Jobs. But of course that "idiot" Trump couldn’t create them.
“When somebody says - like the person you just mentioned that I'm not going to advertise for - that he’s going to bring all these jobs back. Well, how exactly are you going to do that?" Obama once said. "He just says, 'Well, I’m going to negotiate a better deal.' Well, what - how - exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have?”
Yeah, Trump, what magic wand do you have? I don’t know, maybe just better economic policy. The kind that results in the lowest unemployment rate since 1969. And the lowest African-American unemployment ever.
Also, wasn't Trump going to crash the economy? Hillary Clinton thought so, telling an audience, "Economists - left, right, and center - all agree: Donald Trump will drive America back into recession."
Left, right and center, inconvenient truth, Hillary. Even the New York times just gave Trump credit for the fact that the U.S. economy is on track for its “best annual performance since 2005.”
Alright, whatever. Jobs and growth ... but Trump still isn't delivering his promises to working people. I mean, after decades of stagnation, incomes are still flat, aren't they?
“A key thing we’ve been looking at for quite a while that doesn’t seem to be moving much are wages," CBS correspondent Anthony Mason said on-air.
Oh dear. That turns out not be true any more. Wages have risen all the way through the last two years and were up 3.1 percent in the last quarter – the highest level in a decade.
Fine. But it's all going to be ruined, isn't it, by Trump's crazy trade war with China? In fact, the elitists seem to hate Trump so much, they even took China's side. Remember how they thrilled to the brutal autocrat Xi Jinping at Davos last year? They just lapped up his speech on the virtues of globalization. The president of the EU-owned European Investment Bank said, "In these times of a lack of leadership, particularly in Europe, it was quite impressive."
Oooh President Xi! You're quite impressive!
What's actually happening is that President Trump's pressure is working. China is on the back foot, making trade concessions, and now pledging to drop its "Made in China 2025" program, which was Xi Jinping's grand plan to achieve world domination in the industries of the future.
We'll see if they mean it. But even the fact that they're saying it is a major victory for that "idiot" Trump, who obviously doesn't know what he's doing.”
It is truly an amazing phenomenon. The fact that the media never talks about the economy that is performing so well.
Try this one Vic
Interesting article. To be filed under "don't believe your own eyes"
Like this?
people on the news, Fox included are comparing this to December 1931...
I think you just made my point. The media article you cite is from a few days ago when the market is coming down and yes if you only take the raw numbers it is falling like the early 1930's, but it set unprecedented record highs during most of Trump's first two years. We didn't hear anything from you then, only now, despite the facts of why the stock market went up or down. I'm sure you have a good solid career and this discussion of the economy & Trump is strictly academic.
For many of those who voted for Trump, middle class comforts are only a memory.
Once we get the border wall approved and a trade deal with China, we will see the markets resume upward.
Just so you know, that's never going to happen.
If it is performing "so well" then why is the DOW dropping every day?
I really don't think the people who have finally found full time jobs are all that concerned about the stock market. It should be going down, it's been on one of the longest Bull Market runs in history
You are correct. A downturn correction or even bear is a reasonable expectation now particularly in light of democrats taking over the House.
Excuses, excuses.
The fundamentals of the economy are strong. The market was overdue for both a correction and a bear and now that the latter was reached we can resume upward without irrational euphoria. The downturn was a great opportunity to rebalance my portfolio and lock in some gains to cash as I’m getting older and to sell some in my taxable accounts to offset considerable capital gains subject to taxes.
I have a nephew that is both a John Wayne fan and a Donald Trump fan. I have not discussed it with him, but his position is quite incongruous.
In his movies the John Wayne character was an archetype or icon. He was always a straight shooter, always scrupulously honest , and always defended the "little guy" against the land baron, the crook who owned the frontier town, and the bully. In Rio Bravo Wayne's sheriff character opposes the corrupt cattle baron who owns the town. In The Comancheros Wayne has to defeat a narcissistic and delusional criminal who runs his badlands fiefdom like a cult. In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance the Wayne character faces down the town bully of the title.
Although in real life Wayne was a conservative, his characters had no political bent, they were just always on the side of truth and justice against the evil, the corrupt, and the bully.
The John Wayne character, one of the most revered of all American heroes, has virtually nothing in common with Donald Trump. Rather, Trump's character is very much like what the Duke's characters always opposed.
I could probably get my nephew to realize that after we talked about it a while, but I think he would still rationalize his support for Trump. It's not worth the trouble right now.
Growing up in the Irish working class/middle class on the south side of Chicago, there was always one type of person no one wanted to be seen as being - "Don't be an asshole" is a common warning given to someone who is in danger of doing something that would bring disrepute on the group or the family, or make one be seen as an unwarranted braggart , bully, or clown. If you mistreat or embarrass other people in order to make more of yourself, you are an asshole. I am quite sure families and groups of friends across the country and around the world pass along the admonition "don't be an asshole" to each other and the next generation on an ongoing basis. It is great advice, and represents the American ideal.
It seems to me that no one ever gave such advice to young Donald Trump.
When Trump began to run for president in 2015 I read a few articles about him, because I wasn't tremendously familiar with details of his past. I soon realized that almost every article or book written about Trump's past (biographies) was ultimately negative about him, or was something that he had paid for.
You may have seen some Trump biographers on cable tv over the past few years - Michael D'Antonio, Tim O'Brien, David Cay Johnston , and the man who wrote Trump's autobiography The Art Of The Deal, Tony Schwartz. All of these people have written books about Trump's life, and all of them say he is a bully, a narcissist, a liar, and a crook. It is very difficult to find a flattering book about Trump that isn't either paid for by him or on the level of a comic book.
Now, at the end of his second year in office there are dark and troubling signs on the horizon for Trump and the country. The one thing he could never withstand, sustained investigation into his business practices by law enforcement, is coming true. 2019 will be a miserable year for Trump and his family. I have no sympathy for him, he has brought every bit of it on himself with his behavior, the lies, the crooked dealings.
Which brings me to my main point.
It is un - American to defend Donald Trump.
Americans don't protect bullies, habitual liars, cheats , bigots, crooks and misogynists.
When we do defend them it is un-American.
Trumpsters, you are running out of time. The sand is slipping out of the hourglass and Trumpism is living on borrowed time. Sometime in the near or relatively near future Donald Trump will be in total disgrace. He will either resign, be impeached, or lose badly in his next election. In any case he will soon be exposed as unethical, deceitful and criminal.
Defending him is un-American, because our ideals as a nation reject the unethical, deceitful and criminal AND the asshole, even though obviously sometimes those attributes unfortunately temporarily prevail. We should aspire to our ideals, and our ideals do not approve of Donald Trump.
see: clintons
Another rolling on the floor laughing
See: The last millennium.
But it is ok that Hair Twitler to be the same.
Same ole same old, rinse, wash, repeat the same old tired Trump hating rhetoric since the election results were known non stop 24/7/365 and nothing to show for it.....
A functioning cerebrum, for one.
Nope. I've been hating Trump for many years now. Long before he had these delusions of political grandeur.
What delusions he set the highest goal of political aspiration and achieved his goal beating the odds and making it look easy? This is the greatest political David vs Goliath story our nation has ever seen.
I guess I can relate to your nephew. When I was young I used to go and see those movies (on some of my Saturday's). I do fondly remember them. I wasn't as much a John Wayne fan as I was a fan of the man who made most of the John Wayne type movies of the 50's & early 60's - director John Ford. I considered him a super patriot. He portrayed the American west in a certain way that was like an old Remington work of art.
In his movies the John Wayne character was an archetype or icon. He was always a straight shooter, always scrupulously honest , and always defended the "little guy" against the land baron, the crook who owned the frontier town, and the bully.
Yup, Just like Trump against the "deep state", the biased media and the obstructionist congress.
Growing up in the Irish working class/middle class on the south side of Chicago, there was always one type of person no one wanted to be seen as being - "Don't be an asshole" is a common warning given to someone who is in danger of doing something that would bring disrepute on the group or the family, or make one be seen as an unwarranted braggart , bully, or clown. If you mistreat or embarrass other people in order to make more of yourself, you are an asshole.
Though I am not Irish, I also grew up in one of those neighborhoods, in the Boston area. The common saying there was always "when the going gets tough, the tough get going". Now let's think about where Trump grew up - Queens NY. In Queens, if you know anything about NYC, a guy has to always come on a little bit tougher, always hit harder and be the counter puncher. The reason? Because the guys from queens always want to prove they are as tough as the guys from Brooklyn & the Bronx.
I am totally amazed by what Trump has accomplished over the past two years DESPITE the blistering assault he has withstood every single day of his Presidency.
To your main point:
Whether you manage to nullify the 2016 election or not, you are on he wrong side of history.
From "The Cain Mutiny":
Now you’re learning, Willie. You don’t support your captain because you like him; you support because he’s got the job or you’re no good!”
Hey, Trump haters (on both sides) could you just admit that this is a successful presidency?
So what is the punch line? I am presuming that this is a joke, is it not.
the joke is on the Trump haters....
The lies rightwingers must tell themselves are actually bigger (and more hilarious) than the ones they tell the rest of the world. Thanks again for the laughs, HA.
I bet even Steve Hilton, whoever that is, cannot say that bullshit with a straight face...
Steve Hilton is an entertainer/propagandist/professional liar on Fox.
So we are going with, "more pollution is good"? Jesus H. Christ that's some wicked spin. The reason the emissions are lower now is because the last admin put environmental protection in place, trump removed them. Wait a year or two for new data and I promise you, emissions will be way up.