Some of President Trump’s accomplishments in his first 100 days:
- Slashing Regulations: Trump ended Biden’s regulatory assault, which cost each family an additional $47,000 over four years. His “one-in-for-ten-out” deregulation rule will save thousands and unleash entrepreneurs.
- Deploying America’s Abundant Resources: The US has more than $45 trillion of natural resources that are accessible with existing drilling and mining technologies. Trump’s executive orders are opening up this treasure chest of resources—which could over time raise up to $150 billion for the federal government in higher royalties and other tax payments.
- Government Waste, Fraud, and Duplication: Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and the Trump budget team have deleted $160 billion of waste, fraudulent payments, unspent funds.
- Draining the Swamp: Even though reportedly 90% of the 2.4 million federal workers are not working full-time in the office, Trump has ordered them to show up for work. He has downsized the federal bureaucracy by more than 280,000 employees and contractors through buyouts and tougher performance standards, saving the taxpayers millions.
- Pulling Out of the Paris Climate Accord – Again: Biden pushed us back into this crackpot anti-energy and blame-America-first treaty. Trump once again said “we’re out of here.”
- Firing IRS Agents: Biden wanted to add some 87,000 new IRS agents to “eat out our substance”. Trump fired or offered early retirement to 20,000 IRS snoops and auditors.
- Trump is the school choice president. He has ordered most of the $80 billion-a-year wasted in Washington at the Department of Education to go straight to the states and parents to expand school choice for all children.
There’s the border security, efforts to end the Ukraine/Russia killings, support for Israel, destroying the Houthis….
Do you admire other accomplishments?
Carl Barney
May 1, 2025
You know the book Moneyball? It’s about a baseball fan who loves numbers and discovers metrics to predict baseball success that better match reality than conventional baseball groupthink wisdom.
It reminds me of Trump’s success with tariffs. Trump saw a value in America that everyone missed—or worst, trashed as a moral flaw. America is the world’s biggest consumer nation. Our value as a market is a huge asset.
Trump reminds me of entrepreneurs like Rockefeller taking filthy pollution that seeps out of the ground in Pennsylvania and turning it into the oil industry.
The American market is such an asset that countries at war will stop fighting if they fear losing the markets. Trump discovered a value economists left and right missed.
Mr Trump is trying to do what he thinks his constituents want him to do. His focus is on that and not on any principles. For that reason, I sincerely hope the breeze doesn’t begin to swing around because he could as easily go the other direction if he sees his majority swing.
For instance I loved seeing him bomb Iran. But if he had done it on principle and knowledge of history, he wouldn’t have stopped. His actions, in my opinion, were part appeasement to half of his voter base and part vanity to be the guy who negotiated a good deal.
I like much of what he’s doing but wish he weren’t doing with an axe when a fine and considered chisel would be more fair and just.
I find Carl Barney to be fascinating. Your views on Trump match mine to a tee. Your thoughts on happiness are refreshing and could be life changing. I am a hard working American dreamer stuck living pay check to pay check , to me you are an inspiration that gives me hope. I dream of not wealth but not having to work myself to death to not have to stress over money beyond happiness and health.
As an example of the need for further unpacking, the fact that Trump will change directions often means that you need more thorough coverage /defense/explanation to satisfy me and others if he has farsighted overall and reasonable goals.
I have in mind his recent troubling statement while he was in Saudi Arabia making a deal that “we have no permanent enemies and no permanent allies”. It sounds very much like the philosophy of pragmatism.
On the contrary, we very much need to stand with the other free nations, eg. Europe, etc on many issues. Especially when the powerful authoritarianisms of Russia, China, Iran, North Korea (like the Axis powers of World War II) understand and are allying on multiple common interests. And with the West as a common and abiding permanent enemy.
It’s not clear that Trump understands that in any deep or principled way.
Unpacking those positives:
It’s sometimes hard to know what to think reading the mainstream media and the counter-claims by Trump’s defenders, who are often inept or descend into personalities or side issues.
Here is what would be needed to satisfy me and the public that the Trump Administration record so far is mainly accomplishments — and that the mainstream media is fundamentally unfair and off target:
1. EXPANSION: If someone with deep knowledge on policy details could take your seven bullets and defend and justify them.
2. FOREST, NOT TREES: Even while expanding, keep it single digit pages each. But still essentialized, an executive summary so Josie Citizen or Phil NotAWonk doesn’t get lost hacking through the underbrush.
3. ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Continue your approach of summarizing the positives rather than reactively trying to keep up with or rebut every criticism. Common sense indicates in the hostile takeover of an operation the size of the federal government that if you can’t find a dozen major screw-ups (or this early issues of learning curve) you’re not looking very hard.
4. NOT ONE AND DONE: I’d want to see this, not just after 100 days (it’s early days) but ongoing across 4 years.