Empty promises
This president promised to “make America great again.” Among many promises, he promised to force companies to bring foreign jobs back. But in 2017, federal contractors — companies he has the most control over — outsourced 10,000 jobs. During each of Barack Obama’s last four years, fewer than 4,000 were outsourced. We wonder when President Trump will bring back jobs by moving his 144 companies in 25 foreign countries back to America. The conflicts of interest are staggering.
This president’s leadership style consists of bullying, boasting and blaming. How does the world see him as a leader? According to Gallup’s Global Approval of Leadership poll for 2017, international approval of U.S. leadership dropped 18 points, to 30 percent, in 2017 — a new U.S. low. This is hardly “making America great again.” Most worrisome is the insidious damage Trump is doing to our democracy. For the first time, The Economist’s “Intelligence Democracy Index” for 2017 has downgraded the United States from a “full democracy” to a “flawed democracy” — like Chile, Costa Rica, and Botswana.
Maybe this is the result of prolonged tribal decay in our democratic processes, including partisan voter suppression and gerrymandering tactics. It can’t help that Trump falsely claims our elections are “rigged,” any critical press coverage is “Fake News,” our CIA and FBI are dishonest and unpatriotic, and that investigating Russian interference in our democracy is “a made up witch hunt.” Scott McLaughlin, Midwest City