The last four elections have defined one of the most dramatic political realignments in our country’s history. In those elections, we’ve seen a net shift of 64 U.S. House seats, 12 U.S. Senate seats, 10 governors, 919 state legislative seats and the presidency shift from Democrats to Republicans.
This happened in large part on three overarching mandates: revive the economy; secure our borders and repair our healthcare system. If President Trump can accomplish these three objectives, his administration and this congress will be remembered as one of the most successful and beneficial in our nation’s history.
In working toward these goals, President Trump has faced the most bitter, virulent and partisan opposition that any president has endured since the election of 1860. We have seen the radical left on full display across the nation, with its appalling incivility, its intolerance of other points of view, and its disrespect of our democratic process and constitutional institutions. Sadly, this opposition now permeates much of our press and academia.
Yet despite these obstacles, as we mark the first 100 days of this presidency, there is ample reason to celebrate the new direction President Trump and this congress have taken – and the progress we have made.
Our overarching mandate is to revive our economy and restore prosperity to millions of struggling American families who have suffered the most disappointing decade in more than 80 years, buried under an avalanche of Obama-era regulations and taxes.
American workers finally have an advocate in the Oval Office. This President has signed more legislation in his first 100 days than any President since Harry Truman – and many of these bills – as well as his executive orders — have begun repealing the heavy regulations that have been sinking our economy. One study estimates these actions have relieved our economy of $68 billion of destructive regulations – more than $500 for every American family.
The Keystone Pipeline alone will produce thousands of construction jobs, billions of dollars of private investment, and when completed, 830,000 barrels of Canadian crude oil entering American markets EVERY DAY.
And what has happened? Consumer confidence is up three points since the election, the S&P is up 11 percent, the NASDAQ is up more than 15 percent and the Dow up 13 percent. Three hundred seventeen thousand more Americans are working today than on the day the President took the oath of office, unemployment has dropped three tenths of a point, and the labor participation rate has started to inch upward again.
It’s not yet “morning again in America,” but the first faint shades of dawn are appearing on our economic horizon.
The second great mandate was to secure the borders after many years when millions of illegal immigrants made a mockery of our nation’s sovereignty and our rule of law. Wages for working Americans stagnated, jobs dried up and social services have strained as a result.
Finally, we have a president who takes the nation’s security and the sovereignty of our borders seriously. Renewed enforcement has by all accounts boosted morale of our immigration agencies dramatically, and criminal aliens are finally being deported – a 32 percent increase compared to the last administration. Because of this new resoluteness, illegal border crossings have plunged by some 60 percent.
Healthcare reform requires congressional action, and here the Congress has let him down. But as we approach the hundredth day of the administration, it appears legislation will soon begin moving to the Senate, and before long the collapsing one-size-fits- all bureaucracy of Obamacare will give way to a healthy and vibrant healthcare market where Americans will have the widest possible choice of plans to meet their own needs and a supportive tax system to assure these plans are within the financial reach of every American.
Ultimately, though, the success of this administration will not be measured by 100 days or by talking points from politicians. It will be measured by a simple question that every American will answer for him or herself: am I better off today? As we approach this first checkpoint in the course of this administration, there is strong reason to believe that answer will be a decisive yes.
This is a period of great change, and great change brings great controversy. But I believe this president and our nation can take increasing confidence from these first one hundred days and great strength in knowing that a day is fast approaching when we will awaken and realize it is indeed morning again in America.