Bloomberg: Trump’s First Two Years

President Donald Trump has officially been in office for more than 2 years.

How’s he doing? We consulted 13 different metrics to find out https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/JAhh64ic3Q

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

In the eyes of the public, President Trump’s second year was bad – but not worse than 2017, which was a public opinion disaster. The shutdown didn't help his already-low ratings:

👍🏽Approval: 40%
👎🏽 Disapproval: 55% https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/U19xcUg0x9

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

While approval ratings capture the wisdom of crowds, the Dow provides a measure of how the economy is doing under President Trump.

2018 for the Dow? Not great. It saw a 5.6% decline – the worst since 2008 https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/kthWfVyIHU

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

If growth falters, Trump could be the first president to preside over perennial deficits exceeding $1 trillion https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/zvUIxgc1NE

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

Trump promised to lighten the regulatory burden and, as president, he seems to be delivering.

In 2018, the number of restrictions actually fell for the first time since 1996, dropping by 1% https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/h4jtO6FF6s

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

The Trump administration imposed trade restrictions in 2018 and two things happened:

1⃣ Manufacturing employment rose
2⃣ The trade deficit rose, too

If trade restrictions don’t lead to lower trade deficits, isn’t the case for imposing them much weaker? https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/bnRX2KATGL

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

President Trump said he expected $4 trillion of overseas cash to be brought back to the U.S. By multinationals in 2018.

In the first three quarters of 2018, $557.1 billion was repatriated https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/dkuF86fGiH

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

At the end of last year, 12.8 million people in the U.S. were working in manufacturing.

That’s ⬆️ 473,000 from when Trump was inaugurated https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/btmVmEPMPC

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

President Trump promised an economic turnaround for the four Rust Belt states that flipped red in 2016: Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

It hasn’t materialized yet: There are still no signs of a pickup in the labor force https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/rTnIhiekTX

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

Private surveys show modest gains in real median household income in the first half of 2018.

Since then, President Trump has ramped up the trade war and forced a government shutdown. Those gains might be at risk due to delayed paychecks and shaky markets https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/9LCEKlLPKD

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

Despite President Trump’s dire warnings, the era of mass illegal immigration across the southern border appears to be over.

Border apprehensions rose a little in 2018, but they’re still far below the numbers that prevailed in the early 2000s https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/5V7ZOYLbVv

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

2018 saw 1,437 children killed in Syria’s civil war.

That number is a tragedy, but represents a kind of morbid progress. Russia, Iran and Syria consolidated their gains in 2018 – winning the war https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/bsLDj2Qn2m

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

3⃣3⃣%

That's the chance that President Trump resigns or is impeached before the end of his first term, according to British oddsmaker Ladbrokes. It's down from 50% in his first year, even as the indictments and guilty pleas pile up https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/joSK8gUath

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

Last summer Americans resumed threatening to move to Canada.

A recent poll confirms this trend: A record 16% of Americans would like to permanently leave the country https://t.co/dY9WZKsmNI pic.twitter.com/nKs9WBUb9g

— Bloomberg Opinion (@bopinion) February 5, 2019

Democratic Double Check

It seems that Theresa May pretends to protect democracy by not offering a 2nd referendum because in reality she wants to “protect” herself from having to admit that she made several big mistakes. These mistakes would become clearly visible if a 2nd referendum would take place. To Theresa May, saving her own face is more important than the future of the United Kingdom and its citizens.

Claiming that asking people for their opinion in a 2nd referendum would do harm to democracy is utterly foolish. A 2nd referendum will be based on knowledge which was not available to the voters who participated in the 1st referendum. That’s obvious. Theresa May can think clearly and knows that. Therefore not offering a second referendum is worse than foolish. It is selfish and evil.

After May's heroic failure: Check and adjust! A 2nd referendum is more democracy and smarter democracy.

Applying the Deming Cycle (plan–do–check–act or plan–do–check–adjust, https://t.co/P1r9mHxoTV) is good governance.

The UK should do it.

The EU should do it.

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) January 16, 2019

 

Good governance requires "Double Check" (actually more: a cycle of checks): https://t.co/P1r9mHxoTV .

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) January 15, 2019

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Governments should practise good governance: https://t.co/P1r9mHxoTV

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) January 15, 2019

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@JolyonMaugham @JMPSimor @Nigel_Farage @acgrayling @OxfordDiplomat @SPD2212 @Shortbloke @abcpoppins pic.twitter.com/Ei7leXOmKP

— 🔶 Limited Ferry Sevices without a Ferry (@Wade73605662) January 14, 2019

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