The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

With each outgoing president, particularly ones I didn't vote for, I like to try and look back and see what I can appreciate about them.  It's easy to start to like a guy after he's been gone for 10 years, but it's tougher to see good in a political adversary on their way out the door.

With GWBush, I think you look back to his AIDS in Africa stuff and say that is his most positive legacy.

With Trump, it's tough, since he's such an agitator, but I think that the most positive thing about his administration is his handling (or lack of agitation, maybe) in the Middle East.  I don't think you can credit him so much with what he did, but more with what he didn't do.  He didn't escalate military conflict around the world and I hope there's a lesson to be had there.

IMHO...the best thing that came out of the Trump administration is that he was so repulsive to so many, that voter turnout jumped through the roof. I am hopeful that America can maintain that level of election give-a-shit-ness moving forward.

I mentioned in another thread that I think Trump was a do-nothing, achieve-nothing president and at least in the area of starting wars that was a good thing.

A few things.....

Many presidents promised to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, Trump actually did.

“Warp speed” was the only aspect of the pandemic that was handled by this administration competently. 

No new wars, is definitely a plus.

There was one or two pardons I agreed with at the time they were granted, but don’t recall who. 

There was a few times (2 or 3) where I was surprised that Trump did something that I agreed with but don’t recall the exact policies/actions.
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I saw a piece, on main stream news, the other day about Trump backing out of the Iran nuke deal, and that the sanctions he imposed have really hurt Iran to the point that if Biden goes back into a deal with them it will be much more beneficial in terms to the US. So this has been a good move for the US.

Also, I believe the Trade battles with China have been beneficial to the US, overall.  Most past Presidents have been afraid to be hard on trade talks because there will always be some sort of backlash that will hurt some industry in the US.

So, I think in retrospect he has been hard on foreign countries and leaders that have taken advantage of the US in the past.  Even North Korea has been quiet for the past couple years.

Like Dave and Hoodie said, not being an agitator in the Middle East or starting new wars was a positive.    Not going to argue cause and effect or direct responsibility on this one, but some of his deregulation of industry accomplishments came largely without the doomsday predictions that a lot of environmentalists, etc. were convinced were going to happen and they did play a part in some of the economic successes and stock market successes that were recognized in the past 4 years.  No, I'm not saying that the stock market did well solely because of Trump but it certainly didn't do well "in spite" of him either. 

Oddly, at the top of my list of "good things" from the Trump administration is that for as big of an asshole of a human being he is, he didn't fuck things up as bad as he could have.  He certainly contributed to the division along racial and other lines that we are seeing.  But he didn't initiate them.  Our screwed up society had already started that snowball rolling down the mountain before he took office.  But he (and many others) have certainly thrown fuel on that fire. 

I identify as an American way ahead of where I identify myself with a political designation.  So I wish Biden the very best and hope that he can lead this country to further prosperity and peace.  I think he is most likely more moderate than the right thinks he is and more moderate than the left hopes he is. 

^ A lot of this is true.

It's hard to directly attribute large economic systems or even any system really to one person, especially when you're talking about a positive.

I understand that there were positive prison reforms under Trump, but I don't know enough about them to speak intelligently.  And I think that Hoodie was right -- there were some pardons early in the administration that I felt were just.

I used almost exactly that description when I was telling a friend about Biden.

Absolutely, Biden is no progressive.  Obama picked him to be VP to appeal to moderates. 

This is bullshit trolling.

I survived 45. That's all I have to say.

12 good things and 2 negative things from the Trump administration......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M6CXhUS-x8

Let's keep some stats in mind as to what was going on at the end of Trump's term:

-Gas is currently at $2.39 per gallon (was under or just over $2 per gallon during most of Trump's term)

-Interest rates are 2.25% for a 30 year mortgage

-The stock market closed at 30829.40 despite the fact that we have been fighting COVID for 11 months

-The GDP Growth for the third quarter was over 33%

-The economy is recovering well

-No new wars or conflicts the past four years

-North Korea has behaved themselves.  Only recently were they testing missiles again.

-ISIS has faded into borderline non-existence

-Four peace treaties signed in the Middle East

-The housing market is the strongest it's been before the crash of 2007-2008

-Homes have gone up in value at an unbelieveable rate.  It is a seller's market

-Unemployment sits at 6.7% despite COVID (was under 3% for much of Trump's term)


Let's see where we are at on January 21, 2025.

I saw this copy/pasted on Facebook today and have been tearing it up in my head, all day.  There are a few things here that just rub me wrong and this is all a way to prop Trump up for successes that either 1) are cyclical, 2) aren't his responsibility at all, or 3) aren't even successes.

Firstly, Trump doesn't get a asterisk for "despite COVID".  COVID existing isn't Trump's fault, the same way that getting in a car accident might not be your fault.  But it's your fault if you recklessly cancel your insurance.  Trump cut us off at the knees to fight COVID by disbanding the safeguards we had in place.  And similarly, even if you get in an accident, it's your fault if you further damage your car by driving it after it's been wrecked, without properly addressing the damage.

Presidents all face hardships.  Wars, disease, market corrections, natural disasters, etc.  And the impetus of what occurs might not be your fault, but the response is.  He had no national response at all, and if fact, just lied to people about the severity which made it way worse.  There are multiple countries who have all but eliminated COVID and their economies are back.  Trump doesn't get to say that things were great before, because he's responsible for the after.

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That rant aside, the next thing is that half of these things are not even positive and these are mostly complex systems that don't make sense to tie to a president.  Super low gas prices AREN'T A GOOD THING.  It might be good for you to fill up your tank, but there's a larger issue at stake that's causing low prices and probably has to do with a shocking decrease in demand vs overproduction because of an overseas conflict between Middle East states and (I believe) Russia where they're trying to crash prices to drive the other out of business.  You want prices on commodities to be stable and predictable, rather than low.  High prices aren't great either, but this shows a great lack of understanding about how the price of gas works.

The same is true with interest rates.  Monetary policy is set by the Fed and low interest rates are a response to a lagging economy.  It's not like Trump did something good to cause borrowing rates to be low.  Or even that low rates are good.

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Next thing:

This entire list is based on the falsehood that we're in pretty good economic shape, which is just absolutely false.  Unemployment claims were 900,000 this week.  This is the weakest economy to be inherited by a president ever.  Things like the stock market and housing prices are some indicators, but these are no longer instruments of regular working people.  Lots of people don't own stocks or homes that are suffering, so high housing prices only serve to keep them slaves to renting.  There is a YIN to every YANG on this list.  It's great that you can sell your house at a high price -- but it also means someone else might be priced out of buying it.

Even growth -- yeah, no shit there's growth.  We have had economic collapse.  There's nowhere to go but up.  I'm not saying that none of this matters, but it's intellectually lazy to look at a list of stats that don't have anything to do with a President like some kind of checklist to be compared against administrations.

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On the wars front, yeah -- that's pretty much Trump.  He oversees the military, so that's definitely a feather in his cap.  He was fortunate enough not to have a crisis land on his doorstep, like 9/11, but he gets credit just the same.

I'm seeing this as the go-to meme for the far right on my FB feed today...

I would disagree, or at least question the conditions that apply (example: You say the economy is recovering well. By what standard?) for many of these points.

I would also be interested in which of these items that you feel Trump is responsible for...and how. Remember, we are talking about a serial liar who has spent the better part of his 74-ish years either taking credit for shit he had nothing to do with, or denying any responsibilities for the shit he actually did.

A bunch of my friends on Facebook are posting that as well.  


Actually, super low gas prices mean oil production, which means jobs in this country.  I have a lot of friends in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico that are in the industry.  Trump has given the permit for the Keystone Pipeline and allowed fracking and all other kinds of projects to ensure we produce our own oil.  Biden, on day one, has killed all that and eliminated thousands of jobs.  He's also rejoined the Paris Accord, which will eliminate thousands more jobs.  



Keep in mind that Biden needed 20,000 troops to protect him in his own country.  Trump walked into North Korea alone.  When you need 20,000 troops to protect you from the people, then chances are you weren't duly elected by the people.

That's just not what's happening here in today's case.  This is way more complicated and deals with global oil powers fighting.

I learned all about this a few months ago.  There are two competing oil regions (I think that Russia was one and I think the other was in the middle East).  One of them (I think Russia) increased production with the sole purpose of flooding the market with demand, trying to make oil costs low.  They wanted to use that to apply pressure to the other region.  So the other was doing the same and they were playing a game of chicken.  Supply of oil is totally variable...any of these places can just pull more out of the ground when they want to, so they work together to set prices.

Anyway, so both these places are doing this, causing prices to dip.  Then BOOM -- Covid hits worldwide.  So now there's a ton of oil out there, but now we're using way less gasoline in cars, planes, etc.  And the economy slows, so less use for plastics and things like that.  It caused gas to plummet in price because there was huge supply and little demand.

It literally has zero to do with Trump, Biden ...or even America.


This is a foolish statement that I will leave to history.

Trump had to tear gas a bunch of peaceful protesters just to walk across the street from his house.

Wrap your head around this one, Artie... Maybe, just maybe...those jobs aren't lost, but instead just need to be transitioned to a type of job that doesn't actually help destroy our planet.

Just sayin'...


What an absolutely ridiculous thing to say. Of course Biden was duly elected...but a few thousand fringe right-wing whackjobs got butt-hurt over Trump losing and threw an insurrectionist temper tantrum. Those 20,000 troops weren't there to protect the new, true and rightfully elected President, they were there to send a message to those aforementioned whackjobs that if they try any stupid shit like that now, they won't get far.

But it could.  We produce our own oil and we don't have to rely on Russia or the Middle East.  Trump has this country working towards that.  Biden killed it

Why would we want to deplete our own oil reserves?
To the extent that we need to use oil, we should be paying other countries to deplete their oil reserves.

What we should try very hard to avoid is a future situation where we are both reliant on other countries' resources AND no longer have the money to pay for them (after falling from our perch as the richest country in the world).

Being dependent on oil at all is a national security risk, but using up our own finite fossil fuel resources, when we can just buy them from other countries, creates an even worse long-term national security risk.

Do you realize how long it will take to deplete those reserves?  By the time they are depleted, our great great grandkids will be dead.   Plus the Keystone Pipeline had oil flowing from Canada which is loaded with it

Suppose for the sake of argument that I agree with your timeline.  I still don't want my great-great-great-grandkids to be begging other countries for their oil.

Let everyone else use up their oil first.  In the 21st century, America has enough money to afford to pay for foreign oil; in the 23rd century, America may not.

Canada can build a pipeline to their own coast if they think it's that important.

TBH, I'd rather wait until, say, 2250 and see if we need a Keystone XL pipeline then, after the oil reserves in the Middle East and Russia have been bled dry.

I thought you guys on the left wanted to replace oil with "clean" energy. If that's the case, the best way to achieve that goal would be to use up all the oil ASAP so we have no choice but to use alternate energy. Can't use what you don't have anymore.

I do want to replace oil with renewables where possible... but we can't make plastic out of sunlight or wind.  There are certain products that we require oil to produce, at least for the time being.  So yeah, we should try to stop using oil as car fuel and save it for things where it's less replaceable.

But even if I was on board with using up all the oil: I'd still want to use up their oil first.  Particularly since the governments in the regions I spoke of would be well-served to to have significantly less power and influence in the future.  Let them fight each other in an oil price war (as they have been for the past few years) and deplete their reserves.