Trump racks up significant political victories in his 1st year

It may come as no surprise that U.S. President Donald Trump, who has a certain gift for self-promotion,wouldcharacterizehis first year in office by claiminghis administrationbroke records inpolitical successes and achievements.

"So many things accomplished by the Trump Administration, perhaps more than any other President in first year," the president recently tweeted.

By Trump's own account, hisWhite Househas "signed morelegislationthan anybody" and"broke the record of Harry Truman."

However, some contend that Trump's list of accomplishments is relatively thin. They also point to his major legislative losses, which include failing to builda wall along the Mexican border, failure to repealObamacare and failure to move oninfrastructure projects.

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But some observers say it's a mistake to suggest Trump has done little.

"It's a ridiculous narrative, always way off-base," said presidential historian Allan Lichtman, known for predicting the winner of every presidential election since 1984. "Trump has done a lot. Everyone has this completely backwards."

Other presidents have accomplished far more, but Trump has accomplished a lot, much of it byexecutive action, Lichtman said.

"The issue is not whether he's done a lot, the issue is whether what he has done is good for the country and good for the world."

And on that scorecard, Lichtman saysTrump's action of "throttling back the effort to combat catastrophic climate change" now "threatens our survival on this planet."

Indeed, New York magazine published its not-so-complimentarylist of55 Ways Donald Trump Structurally Changed America in 2017,lamenting that his administration has made "drasticstructural changes on education, immigration, environmental protections ...among other issues."

But for many Republicans and conservatives,the president has racked upsome impressive victories, manyof which includeattemptsto undosome of Barack Obama's legacy.

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"The Trumpadministration has compiled asolid record ofaccomplishmentsin its firstyear,one that compares well with therecordof many of itspredecessors," wroteRameshPonnuru, of the conservative publication National Review.

Fewest bills

Trump may tout his passage of bills, but accordingto GovTrack Insider, a website that tracks legislation passed, the presidenthas signed the fewest bills (96) in any recentpresident's first year. George W. Bushsigned 109 and Bill Clinton 209,while Trumansigned at least 126 laws in his first 100 days.

But counting bills, as the website notes,is not necessarilya valuable measurement of productivity, as not all are equally important.

Certainly Trump's major legislative achievement was the passage of the tax bill,which ushered in the largest change to U.S. tax laws since 1986 bycuttingthe U.S.corporate income tax rate to 21 per cent from 35 andreducingindividual tax rates. The billalso delivered a severe blow to Obamacare by repealing its individual health-care mandate.

But Evan Siegfried, a Republican strategist andfrequent critic of Trump,said two non-legislative achievements stand out most,No. 1being his appointment of judges.

Record-breaking court appointments

Along with his appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, Trump appointed 12 appeals court judges,(in comparison,Obama appointed only three)a feat Trump can accurately claim is record-breaking.

"The judges are a signature accomplishment because that will be his real and true lasting legacy," Siegfried said. "This is locking up one branch of government and protecting conservative ideals."

The other significantaccomplishment, says Siegfried, is Trump'srolling back business and environmental regulations. In January,Trump, through an executive order,instructed the executive branch regulatory agencies to roll back two regulations for each new regulation issued.

Although criticized by consumer rights advocates and environmental groups, these actions have beenpraised by many in thebusiness community.

"The deregulatory actions taken this year stand out by historical standards," wrote U.S. Chamber of Commerce official Joe Johnson. "This is an important result that deserves repeating for the first time the cumulative burden of regulation has been reduced."

Trump also took significant action to gut a number of environmental measures.

He openedthe Arcticand Atlantic oceans to more offshore drilling,withdrewfrom the Paris agreement on climate change and greenlighted the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. His administrationalso announced itwill reverseObama's key Clean Power Plan, implementedto reduce carbon emissions.

Empowering agencies

Hans Noel,an associateprofessorof political science at Georgetown University, said with Republicans havingunified control of government, you would expected Trump`s administrationto do a lot more.

Trump has been effective at using executive orders and directing the bureaucracy, even thoughthere has been a lot of ambiguity about what he's done andwhat he'stalked about doing.Still, agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement"feel empoweredand are acting like it," Noel said.

"Withdrawing from [the Trans-PacificPartnership]is a big change."

Even symbolic moves such as announcing moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalemin Israel are powerful,Noel said.

As well, Trump has scored a victory with his controversial travel ban. Despitejudicial roadblocks andstumbling execution, Trump has been able to implement the order, which applies to travellers fromChad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

Credit for ISIS defeat?

On the foreign policy front, some suggest Trump deserves credit for Iraq's declaration that ISIS has been defeated during his watch.

Wayne White, who worked for several decades as an Iraq analyst for the U.S. government, said Trump can take some credit for continuing Obama's policies. But, he said,when Trumpcame along, 95 per cent of the work had been done.

"ISIS had been ground down, ISIS's forces had been demoralized and hammered and reduced in effectiveness."

NationalReview'sJonah Goldberg has also questioned whether Trump should receive credit for theaccomplishmentsof his administration.

Trump's success,such as it is,is less attributable to sudden mastery of the issues than to staying out of the way.Jonah Goldberg,NationalReview

The tax bill, for example, is more of an achievement of GOP congressional leadership, he recently wrote. Andthe task of selecting judicial appointees has largely been outsourced to the Federalist Society, he said.

"Itseems to me that Trump's success,such as it is,is less attributable to sudden mastery of the issues than to staying out of the way of rank-and-file Republican policymakers, activistsand bureaucrats."

Siegfriedagreed in part,describingTrump'sadministration as the "30,000-foot presidency.He gives a very broad strokes and doesn't really come into the process."

Still, Siegfriedsaid, "it's not like he's gotten the ball and he's just sitting there on the 20-yard line and taking a knee. He's trying to get forward progress."

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