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Seattle Sports Outsider's picture

From a person who didn't vote Trump or Hillary, and who crosses over left/right on varrying issues, a score card:

1. Supreme Court: what they did to Merrick Garland was a shame, but Gorsuch seems reasonable and qualified (even if he rules in ways I would disagree - let's not get into "following the letter of the law", the Supreme Court makes it owns laws in either direction). Scorecard: Trump

2. Healthcare: total mess. The House bill in its current form is not appealing if your an Obamacare apologist, nor a traditional free market conversvative. The process has been a distraction and a blight - fuel for Trump's adversaries. Even Trump's Newsmax friend is saying single payer is the way to go. Healthcare bill is a mess - up and until we don't have insurance companies/lobbyists writing it. Scorecard: Never Trumpers

3. North Korea: playing his cards fairly right in my opinion - *if* you believe North Korea to be an existential threat. China controls them, so working through China is clearly the path. What we trade in order to get North Korea under control? To be determined. Might be so called "millions of American manufacturing jobs".  Side note: Tillerson seems like a great choice. Trade offs. Scorecard: lean Trump

4. Russia: the election collusion story is out of control, he's been adding fuel to the fire. Firing Comey and then immediately meeting with Russia? Not a good look. I actually think Mark Cuban had the correct take on the Trump/Russia collusion story. Trump's associates (Page, Manafort, etc) are the likely culprits. All in all, it has not been handled well. Scorecard: lean Never Trumpers

5. China: Wilbur Ross is the key here. He knows China well and speaks intelligently about it. Trump did well to build a personal relationship. China has shown they are China First at every turn - including the One Road One Belt project. I'm doubtful anything changes with China - trade, South China sea, etc. They might help with North Korea - but they expect something from us in return. Giant megacorporations benefit from China trade - that'll be a tough enemy to wage war against to get trade reform past. Scorecard: leaning Trump

6. Leakers: Trump can't control leaks in the way he wants. Stopping leaks depends massive support for the president within each institution. Trump came out swinging at most of these institutions and individuals. Expect them to hit back. Trump is highlighting the leaking as wrong, but that's not going to plug them. Scorecard: lean Never Trumpers

7. Tax Reform: mess waiting to happen. Lowering tax rates on pass through business entities helps weathly people - unless all of the average workers can call themselves an LLC and get paid that way without losing their worker protections. Tax code is a mess, so ripe for improvement. Hopefully it comes out a bit more equitably (read and interesting article about middle/upper class housing welfare here - goo.gl/rvI0rV). Then again, I would personally choose government action that supports those that are struggling so depends on your angle. Apparently, conversatives long abandoned the idea of the balanced budget. Scorecard: lean Never Trumpers

8. Immigration/wall: deportations continue, just as they did under Obama. Now they are all over the media. In conversation with a whole host of immigrants, I was suprised to hear they don't object to the deportations. Even those that were hear illegally in the past. Breaking up families is terrible - gotta choose wisely (from a Christian perspective on the issue). Deporting kids who were brought over here without their volition - terrible. Can't fault them and send them back to a place they have never lived. Treat them as victims of crimes (trafficing?) and deal with them with empathy. Wall - Scott Adam's take on reducing immigration by 70% just through Trump's persuasion - great. Can't have a such a pourous border. A physical wall is ludicrous and won't do a thing to stop trafficing drugs (the biggest problem). Some more critical thinking on this is needed. Scorecard: lean Trump

9. Staff morale / approval ratings: clearly not many people like Trump. Doubt the approval ratings or staff morale matter enough to Trump for him to change for the better. He seems like a true believer - in his own important, capable self. Scorecard: wouldn't want to work there, but does any of it really matter?

SABR Matt summarized my exact thoughts when we were going through election season: "the media is now so completely unreliable that I have ZERO idea what stories are true, which ones are exaggerated, and which ones are just lies". I told people that Trump's lasting gift to America will be the breakdown of trust. Trust rapidly detoriating to zero: in the president, in the media, in the Supreme Court, in Congress, in the law, in our neighbors. Scorecard: absolute failure. Trump owns at least some of that failure.

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