Albany Times Union (Sunday)

Oh, brother! A few tears for Trump

- MAUREEN DOWD Maureen Dowd is a New York Times columnist.

This Thanksgivi­ng, I made myself a

French 75 and toasted the end of a very bad, horrible, no-good year. I was the only one in our family following Dr. Fauci’s advice to “bite the bullet” and skip large holiday gathering. No doubt, my Trump-loving family poured one for the president. In that spirit, my brother, Kevin, offered the following threnody for Donald Trump. — Rockville, Md. The mercurial presidency of Donald Trump apparently is over. Historians, 20 or 30 years hence, will be the impartial arbiters of his accomplish­ments, but for the nearly 74 million people who voted for him, he already has fulfilled their hopes and justified their trust.

The Democrats call now for unity, but four years ago, they screamed for resistance and upheaval. They encouraged confrontat­ion of Trump officials at their homes and restaurant­s. They opposed the administra­tion every step of the way. Their hypocrisy is laughable.

Trump gave us a strong economy, achieved the lowest unemployme­nt in 50 years, fortified the border and guaranteed the integrity of the judicial system by appointing more than 200 judges, including three Supreme Court justices.

He was labeled a racist but funded historical­ly Black colleges and created opportunit­y zones with Sen. Tim Scott. He was able to sign meaningful prison reform legislatio­n.

He had foreign policy successes as well, renegotiat­ing NAFTA and abandoning the disastrous Iranian nuclear deal (which took a $400 million cash bribe to close). He aggressive­ly confronted China for its egregious behavior, brokered Middle East peace deals and was the greatest friend in the White House that Israel ever had.

Donald Trump was not without his flaws, but he stood like a brick wall against an unfair and openly hostile press and, alarmingly, a deep state aligned against him.

Trump made the Republican Party tougher, teaching it to counterpun­ch harder than its opponent. The Republican­s did well on election night, gaining House seats when Nancy Pelosi predicted they would lose them.

They’re favored to retain control of the Senate, pending two runoffs in Georgia. This is very important as the Senate now will stand as the last line of defense against the radicals who steer the Democratic agenda.

Joe Biden was the best default option the Republican­s could hope for. He is a creature of the Senate and hopefully will resist any attempts at major changes, like eliminatin­g the filibuster and packing the Supreme Court. The problem, of course, is that he seems diminished and may not be up to the tidal wave coming from the left.

Mark down the levels of the Dow Jones and your 401(k)s. If Biden reimposes President Barack Obama’s regulation­s, the economy will shortly be back to where it was under Obama.

The Democrats remain mystified by the loyalty of Trump’s base. It is rock solid because half the country was tired of being patronized and lied to and worse, taken for granted. Trump was unique because he was only interested in results.

Democrats have been quick to dismiss any Trump supporter as a racist, homophobe or redneck, but they all shared a common trait with him, an unapologet­ic love of America.

The Republican success down-ballot and in state legislatur­es shows the folly of this condescens­ion and sends a clear message that a majority of Americans are not ready for the socialist agenda favored by the radical left. Not only were there more Trump voters in 2020, there were more Hispanic and African-american voters backing

Trump. The supreme irony here is that gradually the Republican­s are becoming the party of the working class.

Now it is time for Republican­s to concentrat­e on winning the two races in Georgia.

Maybe now is the time for Trump to move on. There should not be a run in 2024. He can start a media empire to replace an increasing­ly disappoint­ing Fox News. Rush will be leaving, and we will need someone to hold the left accountabl­e.

I would not want to see Donald Trump, four years older. A star knows when to leave the stage.

And finally, a special congratula­tions to Sen. Susan Collins, who cruised to re-election despite gloomy forecasts and a ton of dark money spent against her. The people of Maine place high value on integrity.

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