The economy is booming, the nation is en route to “energy dominance,” the Environmental Protection Agency’s war on coal is over, and that’s not all. Speaking to reporters Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders shared the big accomplishments the Trump administration achieved in 2017.
As December winds down, I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to look back at what has been, by any measure, a historic year.
Nearly 1.7 million new jobs have been created, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.1 percent, the lowest rate in 17 years. The stock market reached a record high more than 60 times and closed above 24,000 for the first time in history.
We’ve rolled back 22 regulations for every one new regulation, saving taxpayers over $8 billion and liberating America’s economy from the grip of bloated government.
We’ve withdrawn from, or began renegotiating the trade deals that once threatened to destroy American industry and shipped our jobs around the world.
We finally set up our nation on a path to not only energy independence, but energy dominance. We approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines, directed the EPA to end the job-killing war on coal, and upon the tax bill’s passage, will have opened up ANWR to responsible energy exploration.
The president has protected America’s communities. We’ve seen the lowest level of illegal border crossings on record. We ended the Obama administration’s dangerous catch-and-release policies, restoring law and order both on the border and in the interior. And we’ve designed and built eight wall prototypes for the border wall.
We’ve taken unprecedented steps to tackle America’s opioids epidemic by directing the declaration of a nationwide public health emergency.
And we’ve promoted peace through strength. Under the president’s leadership, ISIS has lost nearly all of its territory and its most important strongholds in Iraq and Syria.
We’ve restored old alliances, forged new ones, begun rebuilding our military, and made it clear to the world that there is no greater ally, no more fearsome adversary than the United States of America.
We’ve reshaped the American judiciary for generations. Justice [Neil] Gorsuch was confirmed to the Supreme Court, and 22 judges have been confirmed, including a record-setting 12 circuit judges. We protected life by reinstating and expanding the Mexico City Policy that protects $9 billion in U.S.-taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions.
And this evening, hopefully upon passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the president will have delivered the most significant tax cut in the history of the nation and repealed the Obamacare individual mandate.
The president has delivered on promise after promise, issue after issue, time after time, and we’re just getting started.
As some of you may have seen yesterday, Disney World debuted its animatronic President Trump for its famed Hall of Presidents.
In the president’s remarks for the exhibit, which he recorded here at the White House earlier this year, he said, “From the beginning, America has been a nation defined by its people. It’s why our Founders began our great Constitution with three very simple words: We the People.”
In the coming days, political analysts will write and the talking heads will discuss what this year means — what it means for the President, what it means for Republican and Democrat parties, and for the never-ending political theater in Washington, D.C.
But I would encourage everyone to take a step outside of the Beltway bubble and consider what this year means for the American people.
To the forgotten men and women around our country, you are forgotten no more. This president is with you 100 percent. And as this year has already proven, he will never let you down.