PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP:  YEAR ONE IN REVIEW

"Make America Great Again" is a slogan to be sure, but it also has truth inside of it.

It was 1914 when Great Britain made a fateful decision to enter the First World War, a war that would cost the nation lives and limbs, but would also cost treasure.   So much treasure that by the end of the war the mighty British Empire was borrowing money from the United States.

This was the beginning of that nation's decline as a world power, a beginning of what some like journalist and writer Peter Hitchens see as the process of the United Kingdom's downfall.

It was some 50 years when a headstrong and politically savvy President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, pushed an agenda of government expansion through Congress ("The Great Society") and launched a massive police war in Vietnam to force North Vietnam to a negotiating table.   In the end Johnson would be pressured into seeking peace talks, but the floodgates of massive government spending had been opened up on two fronts simultaneously.

And now the United States of America stands as a nation 20 trillion dollars in debt.

The dirty deeds done by the Democrat President in terms of government expansion, of the "welfare state" would never be undone by the Republicans in Washington.

And so here we are needing money from foreign sources to prop up our nation, just like Great Britain did as it began its decline.

In a recent column, Patrick Buchanan noted that China and Japan are the two nations holding the largest amounts of US treasuries, the biggest "investors" in the United States.

President Trump had the leaders of those nations to Mar A Lago early in his presidency giving them the special treatment of being his guest there.  Other leaders didn't rate that treatment.

In May President Trump visited Saudi Arabia gaining pledges of Saudi investment in US infrastructure and Saudi purchases of American-made weapons.

North Korea stands out as a major issue with President Trump taking a tough talking approach reminiscent of Dwight Eisenhower's tenure in the White House.  Eisenhower drew North Korea to a negotiating table to agree to a cease-fire with threats to employ nuclear weapons on the battlefield.

Will President Trump's tough talk get the North Koreans to come to talks and an agreement regarding their nuclear weapons?  For now it appears they are stalling for time by reaching out to South Korea and planning a joint team for the Winter Olympics.

China plays a role in all this North Korea stuff, too, a nation the USA is deeply indebted to.   Perhaps President Trump has explained to the Chinese how its in their best interests to pressure North Korea as well.  It seems like China has done some good in the matter, but there have been hints they've come up short.

The Korean War is a United Nations war, a police war like all of them since World War II including Afghanistan, where the commitment continues to fight the Taliban with modified rules of engagement under President Trump.

The Trump policy in the Middle East mirrors that of previous presidents like George H.W and George W. Bush emphasizing Israel and Saudi Arabia.   It has been decided obviously that Sunni Islamic extremism is to be excused and or managed while Shia Islamic extremism is to be emphasized as the main enemy exemplified by Iran, arch enemy of Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Sunni extremism beyond 9/11 includes the civil wars in Libya and of course Syria, where the Saudi backed extremists fighting the Assad regime morphed into the Islamic State and all the misery it has brought to the world.

President Trump opted to attack the Assad regime once with cruise missiles in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack the news of which originated  from questionable jihadist sources.

Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have reached some sort of understanding on Syria for the moment where a final peaceful settlement remains elusive.

Donald Trump campaigned against the Paris Accord on climate change and pulled the United States out of it during his first year in the White House, but has suggested the possibility of getting back into it in recent weeks.

In my humble opinion, what underlies climate change is the use of fear and emotional argument to create a climate for new taxes on carbon emissions (use of energy).     The welfare states of Europe, Canada and the United States are starved for revenue to fund their welfare states and their populations are burdened and wearied by taxation.

Taxes are the biggest concern of the biggest business people who buy the Republicans and Democrats.    Handing out "carbon credits" while jacking up the energy bills for the average person as a "save the planet" tax works for them.

The good thing about the "tax reform", one cannot honestly call it a tax cut for every American because its a mixed bag, is that Donald J. Trump was the President of the United States when the RINO's brought it through Congress.

He worked to give little people something to take home as a benefit.    I wonder if the higher wages and bonuses big companies handed out are not also a notion he promoted directly.   But I'm sure the big corporations are scared by the election of Trump and threat of any and all outsider candidates being elected to public office.   They probably did it out of fear themselves.

Hopefully a 21 percent corporate tax rate will help the USA enough but lets face it, China has a 15 percent one, so does Canada.     President (Chairman) Xi envisions making China the greatest nation in the world in 30 years.    China has come a long way since I saw the two young men and a young woman enter my university dormitory in their "Mao suits" some 38 years ago.     They started by learning about this country.    Will they imitate its success in conjunction with an official totalitarian one party state?    We have an unofficial one in this country, it seems to me.

Donald Trump was elected as the "outsider" and for those deeply concerned about illegal immigration, to stop the importation of cheap labor into our country.   President Trump's speeches about "the Wall" on the southern border played to those voters.

The good news here is that the forcefulness of Trump's speeches have had a deterrent effect on the influx of illegals on the southern border, his presence in the White House appears to have actually discouraged people from entering the United States.

Now the voters await to see if Trump's policies will restrict the influx of cheap labor into our country permanently.   Congress is filled with insiders who oppose him.

This is where the final line from RINO columnist Jonah Goldberg's December 27th column comes into play:  "To listen to Trump's cheerleaders, the biggest obstacle to conservative victories is the party establishment, when in reality it looks more like it's running the show".

They are big in Congress and they are around him at the White House right up to Vice President Mike Pence.   This seems to have played out in the special election in Alabama where President Trump endorsed insider lobbyist Luther Strange and appeared with him at a rally while Pence spent days campaigning with Strange across Alabama.

In the end Judge Roy Moore won the GOP nomination for the Senate seat.

While President Trump endorsed Roy Moore and urged voters to vote for him in a rally without Moore just across the state line in Pensacola, Florida, Vice President Pence shunned campaigning with Moore for the special general election.

Some months ago President Trump offered up a positive tweet about State Senator Kelli Ward, who is running for US Senate in Arizona.   Now we learn that former Sheriff Joe Arpaio is running, a man pardoned by President Trump.   His presence in the race seems to be creating a three-way split,   helping the Establishment's anointed candidate Congresswoman Martha McSally. 

The primary isn't until August, but what happens there and President Trump's approach to it will be very telling.

I voted for Trump knowing the two major parties were messed and they are still messed up and the Republicans surrounding Donald Trump are not good for the future of our county.    Third forces are needed and that's why I voted Trump and that's why I look beyond politics for principles and principled people.