Struggle between negative and positive

LETTERS

Newscasts spray us daily with negative reports on the Trump administration. Have they done something positive, too? Yes, when you sift the wheat from chaff.

The president tries to prevent terrorists entering America. Although his immigration reform was delayed by the courts, it was later OK’d by the Supreme Court. Thousands of illegal immigrants gathered at the southern border and created a crisis. Europe and Canada have the same problem: system-overload. Border control seems the only solution.

American air strikes helped wiping out ISIL’s caliphate. Some terrorists fled to Afghanistan; the “mother of all bombs” was dropped on their hideout caves. Missiles from American warships targeted the Syrian airfield from where chemical attacks were made. Trump urged NATO members to do their duty re: military expenses and missions of the treaty.

North Korea reached out to the South with the Olympic Games. South Korea mediated an unprecedented meeting between Trump and Kim.

President Trump has met with many other world leaders. Reagan and Gorbachev had similar goals as Trump and Putin — better relations between their countries. After four decades of cold war, political observers warned in 1985 against detente. (See

All North Korea’s neighbours (China, Russia, South Korea, Japan and America) are now involved in denuclearizing the Korean peninsula, convincing Kim that food, friends and economic growth are better than the opposite.

Trump gave the green light for the Keystone pipeline from Canada. Negotiating fair trade deals is ongoing; other countries need trade with America and will negotiate. Some out-sourced companies returned to the U.S. and created jobs.

Trump lowered business taxes, boosting the economy. The second quarter’s growth rate of 4.1 per cent is amazing. Job creation is high (3,216,000 since February 2017, U.S. Dept. of Labor); unemployment is low (four per cent); the dollar is strong. The U.S. economy is humming.

Despite his unusual methods, Trump has achieved much in 18 months. His enemies try to shift the focus from successes to problems. The mid-term elections may indicate how Americans feel about the two viewpoints.

Jacob Van Zyl

Lethbridge