Can a bad man be a good president?
In the 2016 presidential elections, Americans replaced a glib egomaniac, Barack Obama, for another glib egomaniac, Donald Trump. In 2020, President Trump has been replaced by an unintelligent incompetent, Joe Biden. Biden will be the third consecutive President of America that I would find difficult to listen to.
There might be proof for Lord Acton’s argument that “great men are almost always bad men”. President Obama is widely considered a good man but proved to be a bad president both in domestic and foreign affairs. President Bill Clinton was a bad man who was a reasonably good president in domestic and foreign affairs.
What about President Trump? Trump’s personal behavior before and during his presidency is not what we’d call something of a high character. Let’s put him down as a bad man. But what about his presidency? He will qualify for this description: a bad man but a ‘reasonably’ good president. This is because President Trump does not have the personal character that we would want our children to imitate but he turned out to be a good president.
Listing the achievements of President Trump will be seen as horrible, morally reprehensible, even treasonous, by many. Trump has appointed three judges to the U.S. Supreme Court. All candidates possess stellar judicial qualifications and respect for the U.S. Constitution. In addition, Trump appointed hundreds of lower court judges who have similar respect for the Constitution and are likely to interpret the law not make new ones from the bench.
Trump passed the largest personal and corporate tax cuts since the 1980s, reduced costly regulations, updated Obamacare, and reformed the Consumer Protection Act. For example, regulatory reductions included the rollback of costly Environmental Protection Agency rules, which led to the biggest energy boom in history, making the U.S. the world’s number one energy producer and thus ending American dependence on Middle Eastern oil producers.
Prior to the coronavirus global pandemic, the tax cuts and deregulation led to GDP growth, unemployment was less than 4 percent. Black unemployment hovered around the all-time low at 6 percent. In fact, it was estimated that there were 6 million more jobs than workers. Also on the domestic front, the Trump administration also shepherded a reform of the criminal justice system.
President Trump also made important gains in foreign affairs. The Paris agreement imposed costs and special disadvantages on the U.S. He got America out of the Paris climate accord and Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — the Iranian nuclear deal. These were treaties that were masquerading as agreements. Trump brought the North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un to the bargaining table to negotiate denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. He’s gotten NATO member countries, who have been freeloading on the U.S., to cough up more money for their ‘own’ defense. Conversely, Trump rebuilt America’s military strength, which has instilled the fear of God into their adversaries — ISIS has also been crushed. The Israelis are now goons with the Arabs — diplomatically.
Alas, just as Bill Clinton’s presidency was tarnished by the Lewinsky sex scandal and impeachment, the Trump presidency has been tarnished by its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Maybe this is also proof for Enoch Powell's comment: ‘all political careers end in failure’.
