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Yes he had the book and he did read it.Here is the complete story and why Fake News and Make America Great Again are not original. Borrowed right out of Hitler’s speeches.Published onFriday, August 09, 2019byLeading Civil Rights Lawyer Shows 20 Ways Trump Is Copying Hitler’s Early Rhetoric and PoliciesThe author, Burt Neuborne, is one of America’s top civil liberties lawyers, and questions whether federal government can contain Trump and GOP power grabs.bySteven RosenfeldViews Wednesday, June 17, 2020 2020 Voters' Calendar—The General Election Starts in August On June 9, Georgia Democrats set not only a primary turnout record, but a lamp for the nation. Over a million voters overcame obstacles, including long lines, relocated polling places, and a complicated vote-by-mail application process, to cast their votes. And a majority of ballots were cast by... Read more Views Thursday, November 07, 2019 Social Media Is Amplifying Trump’s Rants and Disinformation More Than Ever—Can Society Protect Itself? As 2020 nears, disinformation—intentionally false political propaganda—is increasing and getting nastier. Central to this disturbing trend is President Trump, whose re-election campaign and allies revel in mixing selected truths, half-truths, knowing distortions and outright lies, especially with... Read more Views Friday, August 23, 2019 Is a Nationally Widespread New Voting System Ready for the 2020 Elections? A new precinct-based voting system being widely acquired by states and counties before 2020 that relies on printed bar codes to record votes, not handmade ink marks, may pose problems for independent efforts seeking to double-check election results. The Express Vote , from the nation’s largest... Read more Views Friday, August 09, 2019 Leading Civil Rights Lawyer Shows 20 Ways Trump Is Copying Hitler’s Early Rhetoric and Policies A new book by one of the nation’s foremost civil liberties lawyers powerfully describes how America’s constitutional checks and balances are being pushed to the brink by a president who is consciously following Adolf Hitler’s extremist propaganda and policy template from the early 1930s—when the... Read more Views Thursday, June 27, 2019 The GOP Is Embracing More Ruthless Power Grabs in the Face of Huge Political Challenges On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on two cases highlighting the collision between partisan power grabs and setting the ground rules for two of the most important elections in America—those for U.S. House and state legislative chambers. One ruling concerns whether the Trump... Read more Views Tuesday, June 18, 2019 Phone and Online Voting for Democrats in the 2020 Caucuses? DNC Is at a Major Crossroads The Democratic National Committee may reverse course on its plans to increase participation in 2020 presidential caucus states by offering off-site voting options—starting with telephone voting in Iowa and possibly online voting in other states. That prospect of a reversal, at least in the early... Read more Views Wednesday, June 05, 2019 America Is Missing Its Chance to Fix Our Election System Before We Vote in 2020 As 2020’s elections edge closer, recent troubling developments are casting new light on an old question—what will it take for the results to be trusted? The emergence of powerful forms of online political propaganda, the absence of progress in 2019 state legislatures on improving audits and... Read more Views Saturday, April 06, 2019https://www.commondreams.org/author/steven-rosenfeldWe’re used to thinking of Hitler’s Third Reich as the incomparably evil tyranny that it undoubtedly was. But Hitler didn’t take power by force. He used a set of rhetorical tropes codified in Trump’s bedside reading that persuaded enough Germans to welcome Hitler as a populist leader. (Photo: photolibrarian/Flickr/cc)A new book by one of the nation’s foremost civil liberties lawyers powerfully describes how America’s constitutional checks and balances are being pushed to the brink by a president who is consciously following Adolf Hitler’s extremist propaganda and policy template from the early 1930s—when the Nazis took power in Germany.In When at Times the Mob Is Swayed: A Citizen’s Guide to Defending Our Republic, Burt Neuborne mostly focuses on how America’s constitutional foundation in 2019—an unrepresentative Congress, the Electoral College and a right-wing Supreme Court majority—is not positioned to withstand Trump’s extreme polarization and GOP power grabs. However, its second chapter, “Why the Sudden Concern About Fixing the Brakes?,” extensively details Trump’s mimicry of Hitler’s pre-war rhetoric and strategies.Neuborne doesn’t make this comparison lightly. His 55-year career began by challenging the constitutionality of the Vietnam War in the 1960s. He became the ACLU’s national legal director in the 1980s under Ronald Reagan. He was founding legal director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School in the 1990s. He has been part of more than 200 Supreme Court cases and Holocaust reparation litigation.“Why does an ignorant, narcissistic buffoon like Trump trigger such anxiety? Why do so many Americans feel it existentially (not just politically) important to resist our forty-fifth president?” he writes. “Partly it’s just aesthetics. Trump is such a coarse and appalling man that it’s hard to stomach his presence in Abraham Lincoln’s house. But that’s not enough to explain the intensity of my dread. LBJ was coarse. Gerald Ford and George W. Bush were dumb as rocks. Richard Nixon was an anti-Semite. Bill Clinton’s mistreatment of women dishonored his office. Ronald Reagan was a dangerous ideologue. I opposed each of them when they appeared to exceed their constitutional powers. But I never felt a sense of existential dread. I never sensed that the very existence of a tolerant democracy was in play.”A younger Trump, according to his first wife’s divorce filings, kept and studied a book translating and annotating Adolf Hitler’s pre-World War II speeches in a locked bedside cabinet, Neuborne noted. The English edition of My New Order, published in 1941, also had analyses of the speeches’ impact on his era’s press and politics. “Ugly and appalling as they are, those speeches are masterpieces of demagogic manipulation,” Neuborne says.“Watching Trump work his crowds, though, I see a dangerously manipulative narcissist unleashing the demagogic spells that he learned from studying Hitler’s speeches—spells that he cannot control and that are capable of eroding the fabric of American democracy,” Neuborne says. “You see, we’ve seen what these rhetorical techniques can do. Much of Trump’s rhetoric—as a candidate and in office—mirrors the strategies, even the language, used by Adolf Hitler in the early 1930s to erode German democracy.”Many Americans may seize or condemn Neuborne’s analysis, which has more than 20 major points of comparison. The author repeatedly says his goal is not “equating” the men—as “it trivializes Hitler’s obscene crimes to compare them to Trump’s often pathetic foibles.”Indeed, the book has a larger frame: whether federal checks and balances—Congress, the Supreme Court, the Electoral College—can contain the havoc that Trump thrives on and the Republican Party at large has embraced. But the Trump-Hitler compilation is a stunning warning, because, as many Holocaust survivors have said, few Germans or Europeans expected what unfolded in the years after Hitler amassed power.Here’s how Neuborne introduces this section. Many recent presidents have been awful, “But then there was Donald Trump, the only president in recent American history to openly despise the twin ideals—individual dignity and fundamental equality—upon which the contemporary United States is built. When you confront the reality of a president like Trump, the state of both sets of brakes—internal [constitutional] and external [public resistance]—become hugely important because Donald Trump’s political train runs on the most potent and dangerous fuel of all: a steady diet of fear, greed, loathing, lies, and envy. It’s a toxic mixture that has destroyed democracies before, and can do so again.“Give Trump credit,” he continues. “He did his homework well and became the twenty-first-century master of divisive rhetoric. We’re used to thinking of Hitler’s Third Reich as the incomparably evil tyranny that it undoubtedly was. But Hitler didn’t take power by force. He used a set of rhetorical tropes codified in Trump’s bedside reading that persuaded enough Germans to welcome Hitler as a populist leader. The Nazis did not overthrow the Weimar Republic. It fell into their hands as the fruit of Hitler’s satanic ability to mesmerize enough Germans to trade their birthright for a pottage of scapegoating, short-term economic gain, xenophobia, and racism. It could happen here.”20 Common Themes, Rhetorical Tactics and Dangerous PoliciesHere are 20 serious points of comparison between the early Hitler and Trump:1. Neither was elected by a majority. Trump lost the popular vote by 2.9 million votes, receiving votes by 25.3 percent of all eligible American voters. “That’s just a little less than the percentage of the German electorate that turned to the Nazi Party in 1932–33,” Neuborne writes. “Unlike the low turnouts in the United States, turnout in Weimar Germany averaged just over 80 percent of eligible voters.” He continues, “Once installed as a minority chancellor in January 1933, Hitler set about demonizing his political opponents, and no one—not the vaunted, intellectually brilliant German judiciary; not the respected, well-trained German police; not the revered, aristocratic German military; not the widely admired, efficient German government bureaucracy; not the wealthy, immensely powerful leaders of German industry; and not the powerful center-right political leaders of the Reichstag—mounted a serious effort to stop him.”2. Both found direct communication channels to their base. By 1936’s Olympics, Nazi narratives dominated German cultural and political life. “How on earth did Hitler pull it off? What satanic magic did Trump find in Hitler’s speeches?” Neuborne asks. He addresses Hitler’s extreme rhetoric soon enough, but notes that Hitler found a direct communication pathway—the Nazi Party gave out radios with only one channel, tuned to Hitler’s voice, bypassing Germany’s news media. Trump has an online equivalent.“Donald Trump’s tweets, often delivered between midnight and dawn, are the twenty-first century’s technological embodiment of Hitler’s free plastic radios,” Neuborne says. “Trump’s Twitter account, like Hitler’s radios, enables a charismatic leader to establish and maintain a personal, unfiltered line of communication with an adoring political base of about 30–40 percent of the population, many (but not all) of whom are only too willing, even anxious, to swallow Trump’s witches’ brew of falsehoods, half-truths, personal invective, threats, xenophobia, national security scares, religious bigotry, white racism, exploitation of economic insecurity, and a never ending-search for scapegoats.”3. Both blame others and divide on racial lines. As Neuborne notes, “Hitler used his single-frequency radios to wax hysterical to his adoring base about his pathological racial and religious fantasies glorifying Aryans and demonizing Jews, blaming Jews (among other racial and religious scapegoats) for German society’s ills.” That is comparable to “Trump’s tweets and public statements, whether dealing with black-led demonstrations against police violence, white-led racist mob violence, threats posed by undocumented aliens, immigration policy generally, protests by black and white professional athletes, college admission policies, hate speech, even response to hurricane damage in Puerto Rico,” he says. Again and again, Trump uses “racially tinged messages calculated to divide whites from people of color.”4. Both relentlessly demonize opponents. “Hitler’s radio harangues demonized his domestic political opponents, calling them parasites, criminals, cockroaches, and various categories of leftist scum,” Neuborne notes. “Trump’s tweets and speeches similarly demonize his political opponents. Trump talks about the country being ‘infested’ with dangerous aliens of color. He fantasizes about jailing Hillary Clinton, calls Mexicans rapists, refers to ‘shithole countries,’ degrades anyone who disagrees with him, and dreams of uprooting thousands of allegedly disloyal bureaucrats in the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, the FBI, and the CIA, who he calls ‘the deep state’ and who, he claims, are sabotaging American greatness.”5. They unceasingly attack objective truth. “Both Trump and Hitler maintained a relentless assault on the very idea of objective truth,” he continues. “Each began the assault by seeking to delegitimize the mainstream press. Hitler quickly coined the epithet Lügenpresse (literally ‘lying press’) to denigrate the mainstream press. Trump uses a paraphrase of Hitler’s lying press epithet—‘fake news’—cribbed, no doubt, from one of Hitler’s speeches. For Trump, the mainstream press is a ‘lying press’ that publishes ‘fake news.’” Hitler attacked his opponents as spreading false information to undermine his positions, Neuborne says, just as Trump has attacked “elites” for disseminating false news, “especially his possible links to the Kremlin.”6. They relentlessly attack mainstream media. Trump’s assaults on the media echo Hitler’s, Neuborne says, noting that he “repeatedly attacks the ‘failing New York Times,’ leads crowds in chanting ‘CNN sucks,’ [and] is personally hostile to most reporters.” He cites the White House’s refusal to fly the flag at half-mast after the murder of five journalists in Annapolis in June 2018, Trump’s efforts to punish CNN by blocking a merger of its corporate parent, and trying to revoke federal Postal Service contracts held by Amazon, which was founded by Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post.7. Their attacks on truth include science. Neuborne notes, “Both Trump and Hitler intensified their assault on objective truth by deriding scientific experts, especially academics who question Hitler’s views on race or Trump’s views on climate change, immigration, or economics. For both Trump and Hitler, the goal is (and was) to eviscerate the very idea of objective truth, turning everything into grist for a populist jury subject to manipulation by a master puppeteer. In both Trump’s and Hitler’s worlds, public opinion ultimately defines what is true and what is false.”8. Their lies blur reality—and supporters spread them. “Trump’s pathological penchant for repeatedly lying about his behavior can only succeed in a world where his supporters feel free to embrace Trump’s ‘alternative facts’ and treat his hyperbolic exaggerations as the gospel truth,” Neuborne says. “Once Hitler had delegitimized the mainstream media by a series of systematic attacks on its integrity, he constructed a fawning alternative mass media designed to reinforce his direct radio messages and enhance his personal power. Trump is following the same path, simultaneously launching bitter attacks on the mainstream press while embracing the so-called alt-right media, co-opting both Sinclair Broadcasting and the Rupert Murdoch–owned Fox Broadcasting Company as, essentially, a Trump Broadcasting Network.”9. Both orchestrated mass rallies to show status. “Once Hitler had cemented his personal communications link with his base via free radios and a fawning media and had badly eroded the idea of objective truth, he reinforced his emotional bond with his base by holding a series of carefully orchestrated mass meetings dedicated to cementing his status as a charismatic leader, or Führer,” Neuborne writes. “The powerful personal bonds nurtured by Trump’s tweets and Fox’s fawning are also systematically reinforced by periodic, carefully orchestrated mass rallies (even going so far as to co-opt a Boy Scout Jamboree in 2017), reinforcing Trump’s insatiable narcissism and his status as a charismatic leader.”10. They embrace extreme nationalism. “Hitler’s strident appeals to the base invoked an extreme version of German nationalism, extolling a brilliant German past and promising to restore Germany to its rightful place as a preeminent nation,” Neuborne says. “Trump echoes Hitler’s jingoistic appeal to ultranationalist fervor, extolling American exceptionalism right down to the slogan ‘Make America Great Again,’ a paraphrase of Hitler’s promise to restore German greatness.”11. Both made closing borders a centerpiece. “Hitler all but closed Germany’s borders, freezing non-Aryan migration into the country and rendering it impossible for Germans to escape without official permission. Like Hitler, Trump has also made closed borders a centerpiece of his administration,” Neuborne continues. “Hitler barred Jews. Trump bars Muslims and seekers of sanctuary from Central America. When the lower courts blocked Trump’s Muslim travel ban, he unilaterally issued executive orders replacing it with a thinly disguised substitute that ultimately narrowly won Supreme Court approval under a theory of extreme deference to the president.”12. They embraced mass detention and deportations. “Hitler promised to make Germany free from Jews and Slavs. Trump promises to slow, stop, and even reverse the flow of non-white immigrants, substituting Muslims, Africans, Mexicans, and Central Americans of color for Jews and Slavs as scapegoats for the nation’s ills. Trump’s efforts to cast dragnets to arrest undocumented aliens where they work, live, and worship, followed by mass deportation… echo Hitler’s promise to defend Germany’s racial identity,” he writes, also noting that Trump has “stooped to tearing children from their parents [as Nazis in World War II would do] to punish desperate efforts by migrants to find a better life.”13. Both used borders to protect selected industries. “Like Hitler, Trump seeks to use national borders to protect his favored national interests, threatening to ignite protectionist trade wars with Europe, China, and Japan similar to the trade wars that, in earlier incarnations, helped to ignite World War I and World War II,” Neuborne writes. “Like Hitler, Trump aggressively uses our nation’s political and economic power to favor selected American corporate interests at the expense of foreign competitors and the environment, even at the price of international conflict, massive inefficiency, and irreversible pollution [climate change].”14. They cemented their rule by enriching elites. “Hitler’s version of fascism shifted immense power—both political and financial—to the leaders of German industry. In fact, Hitler governed Germany largely through corporate executives,” he continues. “Trump has also presided over a massive empowerment—and enrichment—of corporate America. Under Trump, large corporations exercise immense political power while receiving huge economic windfalls and freedom from regulations designed to protect consumers and the labor force.“Hitler despised the German labor movement, eventually destroying it and imprisoning its leaders. Trump also detests strong unions, seeking to undermine any effort to interfere with the prerogatives of management.”15. Both rejected international norms. “Hitler’s foreign policy rejected international cooperation in favor of military and economic coercion, culminating in the annexation of the Sudetenland, the phony Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact, the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and the horrors of global war,” Neuborne notes. “Like Hitler, Trump is deeply hostile to multinational cooperation, withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Paris Agreement on climate change, and the nuclear agreement with Iran, threatening to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement, abandoning our Kurdish allies in Syria, and even going so far as to question the value of NATO, our post-World War II military alliance with European democracies against Soviet expansionism.”16. They attack domestic democratic processes. “Hitler attacked the legitimacy of democracy itself, purging the voting rolls, challenging the integrity of the electoral process, and questioning the ability of democratic government to solve Germany’s problems,” Neuborne notes. “Trump has also attacked the democratic process, declining to agree to be bound by the outcome of the 2016 elections when he thought he might lose, supporting the massive purge of the voting rolls allegedly designed to avoid (nonexistent) fraud, championing measures that make it harder to vote, tolerating—if not fomenting—massive Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, encouraging mob violence at rallies, darkly hinting at violence if Democrats hold power, and constantly casting doubt on the legitimacy of elections unless he wins.”17. Both attack the judiciary and rule of law. “Hitler politicized and eventually destroyed the vaunted German justice system. Trump also seeks to turn the American justice system into his personal playground,” Neuborne writes. “Like Hitler, Trump threatens the judicially enforced rule of law, bitterly attacking American judges who rule against him, slyly praising Andrew Jackson for defying the Supreme Court, and abusing the pardon power by pardoning an Arizona sheriff found guilty of criminal contempt of court for disobeying federal court orders to cease violating the Constitution.”18. Both glorify the military and demand loyalty oaths. “Like Hitler, Trump glorifies the military, staffing his administration with layers of retired generals (who eventually were fired or resigned), relaxing control over the use of lethal force by the military and the police, and demanding a massive increase in military spending,” Neuborne writes. Just as Hitler “imposed an oath of personal loyalty on all German judges” and demanded courts defer to him, “Trump’s already gotten enough deference from five Republican [Supreme Court] justices to uphold a largely Muslim travel ban that is the epitome of racial and religious bigotry.”Trump has also demanded loyalty oaths. “He fired James Comey, a Republican appointed in 2013 as FBI director by President Obama, for refusing to swear an oath of personal loyalty to the president; excoriated and then sacked Jeff Sessions, his handpicked attorney general, for failing to suppress the criminal investigation into… Trump’s possible collusion with Russia in influencing the 2016 elections; repeatedly threatened to dismiss Robert Mueller, the special counsel carrying out the investigation; and called again and again for the jailing of Hillary Clinton, his 2016 opponent, leading crowds in chants of ‘lock her up.’” A new chant, “send her back,” has since emerged at Trump rallies directed at non-white Democratic congresswomen.19. They proclaim unchecked power. “Like Hitler, Trump has intensified a disturbing trend that predated his administration of governing unilaterally, largely through executive orders or proclamations,” Neuborne says, citing the Muslim travel ban, trade tariffs, unraveling of health and environmental safety nets, ban on transgender military service, and efforts to end President Obama’s protection for Dreamers. “Like Hitler, Trump claims the power to overrule Congress and govern all by himself. In 1933, Hitler used the pretext of the Reichstag fire to declare a national emergency and seize the power to govern unilaterally. The German judiciary did nothing to stop him. German democracy never recovered.”“When Congress refused to give Trump funds for his border wall even after he threw a tantrum and shut down the government, Trump, like Hitler, declared a phony national emergency and claimed the power to ignore Congress,” Neuborne continues. “Don’t count on the Supreme Court to stop him. Five justices gave the game away on the President’s unilateral travel ban. They just might do the same thing on the border wall.” It did in late July, ruling that Trump could divert congressionally appropriated funds from the Pentagon budget—undermining constitutional separation of powers.20. Both relegate women to subordinate roles. “Finally,” writes Neuborne, “Hitler propounded a misogynistic, stereotypical view of women, valuing them exclusively as wives and mothers while excluding them from full participation in German political and economic life. Trump may be the most openly misogynist figure ever to hold high public office in the United States, crassly treating women as sexual objects, using nondisclosure agreements and violating campaign finance laws to shield his sexual misbehavior from public knowledge, attacking women who come forward to accuse men of abusive behavior, undermining reproductive freedom, and opposing efforts by women to achieve economic equality.”Whither Constitutional Checks and Balances?Most of Neuborne’s book is not centered on Trump’s fealty to Hitler’s methods and early policies. He notes, as many commentators have, that Trump is following the well-known contours of authoritarian populists and dictators: “there’s always a charismatic leader, a disaffected mass, an adroit use of communications media, economic insecurity, racial or religious fault lines, xenophobia, a turn to violence, and a search for scapegoats.”The bigger problem, and the subject of most of the book, is that the federal architecture intended to be a check and balance against tyrants, is not poised to act. Congressional representation is fundamentally anti-democratic. In the Senate, politicians representing 18 percent of the national population—epicenters of Trump’s base—can cast 51 percent of the chamber’s votes. A Republican majority from rural states, representing barely 40 percent of the population, controls the chamber. It repeatedly thwarts legislation reflecting multicultural America’s values—and creates a brick wall for impeachment.The House of Representatives is not much better. Until 2018, this decade’s GOP-majority House, a product of 2011’s extreme Republican gerrymanders, was also unrepresentative of the nation’s demographics. That bias still exists in the Electoral College, as the size of a state’s congressional delegation equals its allocation of votes. That formula is fair as far as House members go, but allocating votes based on two senators per state hurts urban America. Consider that California’s population is 65 times larger than Wyoming’s.Meanwhile, the Supreme Court’s majority remains in the hands of justices appointed by Republican presidents—and favors that party’s agenda. Most Americans are unaware that the court’s partisan majority has only changed twice since the Civil War—in 1937, when a Democratic-appointed majority took over, and in 1972, when a Republican-appointed majority took over. Senate Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s blocking of President Obama’s final nominee thwarted a twice-a-century change. Today’s hijacked Supreme Court majority has only just begun deferring to Trump’s agenda.Neuborne wants to be optimistic that a wave of state-based resistance, call it progressive federalism, could blunt Trump’s power grabs and help the country return to a system embracing, rather than demonizing, individual dignity and fundamental equality. But he predicts that many Americans who supported Trump in 2016 (largely, he suggests, because their plights have been overlooked for many years by federal power centers and by America’s capitalist hubs) won’t desert Trump—not while he’s in power.“When tyrants like Hitler are ultimately overthrown, their mass support vanishes retroactively—everyone turns out to have been in the resistance—but the mass support was undeniably there,” he writes. “There will, of course, be American quislings who will enthusiastically support an American tyrant. There always are—everywhere.”Ultimately, Neuborne doesn’t expect there will be a “constitutional mechanic in the sky ready to swoop down and save American democracy from Donald Trump at the head of a populist mob.” Whatever Trump thinks he is or isn’t doing, his rhetorical and strategic role model—the early Hitler—is what makes Trump and today’s GOP so dangerous.“Even if all that Trump is doing is marching to that populist drum, he is unleashing forces that imperil the fragile fabric of a multicultural democracy,” Neuborne writes. “But I think there’s more. The parallels—especially the links between Lügenpresse and ‘fake news,’ and promises to restore German greatness and ‘Make America Great Again’—are just too close to be coincidental. I’m pretty sure that Trump’s bedside study of Hitler’s speeches—especially the use of personal invective, white racism, and xenophobia—has shaped the way Trump seeks to gain political power in our time. I don’t for a moment believe that Trump admires what Hitler eventually did with his power [genocide], but he damn well admires—and is successfully copying—the way that Hitler got it.”Steven Rosenfeld is a senior writing fellow and the editor and chief correspondent of Voting Booth, a project of the Independent Media Institute. He is a national political reporter focusing on democracy issues. He has reported for nationwide public radio networks, websites, and newspapers and produced talk radio and music podcasts. He has written five books, including profiles of campaigns, voter suppression, voting rights guides, and a WWII survival story currently being made into a film. His latest book is Democracy Betrayed: How Superdelegates, Redistricting, Party Insiders, and the Electoral College Rigged the 2016 Election (Hot Books, March 2018).

The term “individualism” is an interesting one, and seems to mean a number of different things to different people.I’ve seen a number of American Quorans using the word to suggest a self-sufficiency, “I’ll do my thing, you do yours, we will go our own way” mindset. This is understandable with those early years of many colonists working away on their own patch of land, over which they had control. However, is this attitude productive as a place becomes more and more urbanised?Others see in it an endorsement of initiative and gumption, of being willing to take a risk in order to develop a new enterprise. I think we can all agree this is an area where the US has shown real strength.There is also an interpretation which sees it as a “I only care about me and mine, I don’t care about you” attitude. This is seen as a big factor in the lack of public healthcare, and the lack of public services to the extent that is seen in other Western countries.It is interesting to note that a few Europeans visiting the brand new US commented on the lack of care that Americans seemed to have towards their fellow countrymen and women. It may be that the size, the mixed ethnic background and the lack of an overarching, unifying authority meant that Americans felt disconnected from each other in a way that Europeans (and those in many other countries) did/do not.I would like to add one other possible factor to this almost hostile attitude some Americans seem to have towards the ideas of a living wage, public healthcare and lots of public investment: slavery.What? What does this have to do with anything? Well, if you have a section of society who is chronically undervalued, whose work is undervalued, and around who you have a narrative that they just don’t deserve the same life conditions as yourself, you are going to have a justification for paying someone poorly.If you have a society where it is normalised that one section does not deserve to live at the same levels as yourself, it will be easy to feel that you should not invest in improving their lives.If you have a society where one section - the poorest - is devalued, you will always devalue the lowest section, even when slavery is abolished. On top of that, your society, in order to have these divisions, will no doubt have a strong narrative about how those lowest down the social ladder deserve their treatment. And remember, this is the same type of subconscious message that was delivered about peasants and the working poor in Europe, and about caste in India (and no doubt in other places). It’s just that we are further along in both having these beliefs, and trying to move beyond them.In this context, “individualism” lays the life circumstances of each person entirely at their feet, no matter what life has thrown at them (good or bad).However, I’d like to give an angle on the reverse of individualism. In other Western countries, there are complex and highly organised public bodies that run chunks of society. In the US, this seems much less to be the case. For example, I was listening to an American true crime podcast recently, in which they played an emergency call. The hosts commented on the lack of professionalism of the phone responder, and mentioned that the 911 service was run out of a private nursing home at night, as a way to provide another task for employees who would not be particularly busy at night.As an Australian with a British/European background, I was absolutely flabbergasted! How could a nursing home employee possibly know the correct procedures for emergency calls? Why wasn’t there a state/national body that oversaw standards and training, and ran this essential public service - one that holds human life in its hands for the majority of its interactions?Correct me if I’m wrong, but this gave me the impression that there was a need, which was not sorted by the local/state government, so a contract was given out to private industry? With seemingly little in the way of oversight?This got me thinking about the history of Europe. I also recalled a comment by an American Quoran who said that Europeans were “dependent” on their governments in a way that Americans are not.If we go back a few thousand years, we know that most of Europe was in a pretty underdeveloped state compared to Ancient Greece and Rome. We know that both places had cultures of incredible achievement and development. We know that the Romans spread out and conquered many lands around their own. We know that the Roman Empire was so incredibly powerful because it was so far advanced compared to most of the places it invaded. Not only was it highly organised in a military sense, meaning that tribes and settlements in other areas were not able to repel the Roman Army, but also that the inhabitants of the occupied places took up a lot of the Roman practises, in effect becoming another member of the Roman Empire themselves.This experience (on England included) was of being in a state that was suddenly revealed to be quite backward and primitive when invaders came along. Not only did their armies have incredible battle strategies, and a highly organised structure that assigned tasks like providing meals, and caring for horses and equipment to non-combatant members, the rest of their society showed equal levels of brilliance. There were the engineering feats like straight road, the incredible aqueducts and sewers, central heating, and buildings that were so far advanced compared to local efforts. There was the highly organised structures in their society, whether it was the bureaucracy which tracked finances and arranged public works, or the political and military structures that oversaw control of these colonies. There were public squares, noticeboards, scribes, and all the benefits of greatly increased international trade.Basically, these other Europeans saw, not a paradise, but an incredible demonstration of human brilliance. Not only did the citizens of Rome and Ancient Greece succeed in practical fields, they were also so advanced in the arts and in intellectual thinking. Here was the foundation of logic and reason, of scientific investigation, of trying to answer why we exist. Just look at the ceramics, the mosaics or the marble carvings from these two societies. The people who made them were both clear-eyed and also working with incredible detail and delicacy.What does this mean to Europeans? it left an indelible impression. Here was a society of such amazing structure and achievement. From then on, Europeans were always comparing what they had, to what they knew was possible. They had a template, an ideal, that drove them to try to recreate it. Over time, the cruelties and flaws of the Roman Empire were forgotten, as those who experienced it died out, but the beautiful architecture, the incredible engineering, the poems and texts, the sculptures and artwork remained. In those, the Europeans saw what could be achieved. And that template has always been a subconscious part of the European mindset.With a highly organised society, you have two factors.Specialisation. Just as in the Roman army, where there were different roles for combatants, cooks, stablehands etc etc, there were also specialised roles within the wider community. If you want to create anything with a high degree of sophistication, whether it is a tiled bath house, or an illustrated manuscript, or a giant colosseum, or a performance of a play based on mythology, you need people to focus on a small area of skill and really develop to a great degree. That’s how you get amazing achievements - not by people doing a bit of everything.Authority. You cannot have a large, efficient organisation without layers of authority. Each unit within the organisation must report to someone, and all these someones must report to someone above them. There need to be people who oversee different departments, and ensure the proper running of projects. Activity must be directed, and progress towards goals must be defined and assessed.So, built into the subconscious attitudes around organised society, Europeans have a collective trust in authority, and the expectation that it will bring positive things to their lives. They also understand that each person is just one part of a very complex and productive whole. When you specialise, you have a valuable (though narrow) role to play in something much larger and greater than yourself. You look at others as filling different but equally important niches within that overarching structure. In this way, Europeans can be seen to be more collectivist, in that they see themselves as a “cog in a giant machine”, rather than as an individual alone. It’s not about seeing yourself as less important, but about seeing yourself as part of an enormous team, each playing a vital part.It is also why Europeans look to governments to solve social problems. The government is just an extension of the people. Gravitas and authority is embodied in the timeless roles within society, not so much by the people who fill them. Europeans see their society as that complex machine that will attack problems in different parts of itself, using the wisdom and capabilities of ints organised, unified approach. They see workers in public services just the same as themselves or in other areas: people who will work to the best of their ability to achieve an outcome. As everything else is managed well this way, so too should problems like poverty, education, housing, health.In contrast, Britain had a very light touch as far as the colonies of North America. It seems to have left the colonists mostly to themselves as long as the riches were pouring in. The settlers who were born in the US grew up without any experience of the complex achievements of their European cousins. There were no great cathedrals to pray in, no historical universities with libraries full of ancient books, no museums filled with half a millennia of art, no buildings of government where old traditions were kept, no castles inhabited by families who had lived in them for centuries.When King George III finally moved, with his Royal Proclamation of 1763, to try to limit the land seizures by settlers who kept pushing Native American people of their homelands, it must have been a bridge too far. Here was a far-off stranger trying to limit and control what they did. They were faced with incredible natural riches, which seemed just ripe for the taking. Within just over a decade of the Proclamation, the settlers were fighting the British for independence, and we all know they won it.So here was a population of European background, but with little experience of Europe. This was the period (just) before the mass circulation of newspapers or novels, let alone the telegraph or even the television. Communication and information between the US and Europe was slow and very limited. The ties that connected these 2 continents were mostly severed, and there was now a period of development by the US at the time when it was both physically and psychologically cut off from Europe. Adding to this was the mindset, perhaps developed to justify breaking away from Britain, the Europe was a dark place beset by problems that the US simply did not have.I suspect that, during this period, the settlers became even more disconnected from the European way of thinking and, because they had nothing surrounding them to bring them the understanding of it, they lost the concept of the highly organised society. Therefore, there is no internal image of society with great oversight and structure in every area. There is no internal image of states or nations with consistent regulations and standards, administered from above.This is how a Norwegian can expect the government of Norway to oversee the extraction of Norwegian oil, and the management of those funds for the public benefit. This is how a French person can expect the delivery of top quality education to all of France’s children. This is how a British person can expect top notch treatment from the NHS. And this is how a town in Texas can assign the job of responding to nighttime 911 calls to a private company, not expecting that this is a task that is best run by a highly structured public sector.And there we have the reasons for one group to see themselves as part of a giant collective, and the other group to see themselves as individuals who look to individuals, or companies, to solve the problems that come with societies.****This answer is full of simplistic generalisations. It can’t cover the topic in any sort of complexity or subtlety, due to the shortness of the text. It also uses the idea of “Europeans” as being similar, but really applies to western, central and Northern Europeans (Eastern Europeans, in particular Russians, seem to have quite a different attitude regarding authority and personal responsibility) . Also, that collective concept must exist in plenty of countries with long histories - Japan is one a know a little of and see the same thing.

Dereck,It would not happen of course until after 2024, but hypothetically, he will have put in place a Template for the resurrection of US business, a national patriotic society, with belief & respect for the law, order, the military, and all people. I personally hope a return to moral rectitude, selflessness as opposed to faux emotion signaling, and an end to Political Correctness.I have used this before, but as to his legacy:-My favorite is making the biggest self-sacrifice, selfless beyond any I have seen from a US President since WW2, that despite clearly Democrat TDS, their mental illness and ever-increasing amoral standards, that Trump showed courage & moral rectitude, knowing exactly the reaction from those ‘nut jobs & psycho’s’, and their Fake MSM, many who wanted Nuclear WW3, killing billions, just to spite Trump, he was courageous and saved the lives of all those mothers sons & daughters that the Democrat lunatics would fill up as a blockade, a wall of ‘billions’ of dead, of everyone but their own children - Trump extended the hand to ‘jaw-jaw’, to avoid war wars, Armageddon.‘Otherwise take your pick:-Fighting Sanctuary cities. Not being amoral by making one's own voters pay tax to protect criminals & illegal migrant criminals in Sanctuaries and provide welfare, to those same detritus that will, or have, sodomized, robbed, mugged, harmed, raped, sold drugs too, or killed, their own sons, mothers, wives & daughters; come to think of it ‘what a perfect definition for ‘delusional’.TDSWhooped crooked Hillary.Neil GorsuchConsumer confidence 17 year high>2m jobsLowest jobless claims in 50 years.Mortgage apps 7 years highUnemployment 17 year lowTrump added 298k jobs in his first month (after President Obama said jobs were not coming back!).Women in Entrepreneurship ActGutted Obama Era job herniating RegsEnded the war on coalResurrected coal jobs.Weakened Dodd-Frank regsPromoted buying & hiring AmericanPut in place Economic plan that in the long term seeks to reduce the $22T National Debt, of which 46% including interest payments was created by Obama.Record Dow, the DOW took just 66 days to climb from 19,000 to above 21,000, the fastest 2000 point run EVER.Stock market gained >$3T, improving instantly pensions.Investment from the US Business’Investment from foreign business’.Reduced Debt by $100B in less than the first 4 months.(President Obama increased the US debt in his first 100 days by more than $560 Billion.)The S&P500 broker $20T for the first time in its history.In the history of the DOW, going back to January 1901, the DOW record for most continuous closing high trading days was set in January of 1987 when Ronald Reagan was President. The DOW set closing highs an amazing 12 times in a row that month. On February 28th Trump matches Reagan when the DOW reached a new high for its 12th day in a row!Reduced illegal immigration.Signed a resolution encouraging women in entrepreneurship and STEMBorder wall being built, slowly despite Democrat obstruction.Against killing unwanted born babies.Victims of Immigrant Crime Engagement [Pelosi would not even see the Angels]Changed R.E. against ISISRepealed Obama’s ‘terms of engagement’ that put the US lives at greater risk than terrorists.Plan to defeat ISIS.Reduced F35 cost5 Year lobbying ban.Sanctioned Iran.Repealed Iran deal, evidence now proves Nuclear capability of Iran.Responded to Syria with the bombingTax reform plan.Resurrected Pig Iron Smelting & jobs.Withdrew from TPPExited the [Voluntary & unenforced] Paris Accord.Created Crime task force.DOJ targetting MS13Energy Independence.Economic growth.E.O. establishing The American Technology Council.E.O to protect policeE.O. targetting drug cartels. President Trump signed three Executive Orders – 13773, 13774, and 13776 – aimed at cracking down on international criminal organizations, including drug cartels and gangs, and preventing violence against law enforcement officers.E.O. Religious Freedom.E.O. on Obamacare subsidies.E.O. to reduce Federal government waste/excess created by Obama, saving taxpayers potentially hundreds of millions.E.O all federal agencies to create task forces to cut regulations that hurt the economy.Inter State insurance competion on Medic Care.Action against Big Pharma drug prices - cheaper in Mexico etc.Sending Education back to the States.Fixing the V.A.Firing crooked Comey.Travel ban.Keystone pipelineCreated Commission on Opioid Addiction.Combating Human Trafficking.Rollback of Obama Cuba policy.Food stamp use lowest in 7 years.Reduced Whitehouse payroll burden on taxpayers by removing 16,000 unnecessary Obama created jobs.Working for free.A successful trip to Asia.China trade dealCanada & Mexico level-playingfield trade deal.E.U. leveler playing field deal.Designated N. Korea a terrorist stateISIS almost defeated, but not gone.Jerusalem capital of Israel.Tax Reform billBusiness investments up 39% due to tax cuts.Signed 130 bills into law.136 Presidential Proclamations64 E.O’sArmed Ukraine with heavy weapons.Confirmed no more waste of US military lives in lost causes &/or no interest conflicts.Food to Puerto Rico.Various national natural disasters handled.NATO paying its fair share.Encouraged RINO’s to leave.Reinforced Judeo-Christian beliefs.Funded the Military.Placing a hiring freeze on federal employees.Twice tried to pay government employees during the shutdown, but was blocked by Democrats.Sanctioned Russia more time than Obama.Signed the First Step Act criminal justice reform into law, helping especially Blacks, a FIRST.Subsequently pardoned unjustly treated black convicts. Unlike Cuomo & Obama, non were killers.More American employed than ever before & no ‘created fake jobs, unlike Obama.The release of Pastor Brunson from Turkey.Construction jobs up 300k in 2018.Kavanaugh was sworn in despite disgusting, disgraceful, amoral efforts by Democrats.Middle-class income rise is a record.Cut $300m to Pakistan.Cut $200m to Palestinians.Worlds largest oil producer.10million barrels a day.Given Russia, Iran & Turkey stopped re-building aid to Syria, saving taxpayers $230mManufacturing grew faster than in 14 years.Record low black unemploymentWar heroes remains returned from NOKO.Possible peace with NOKO.The release of 3 political US prisoners from NOKO.2026 World CupBlack Business Ownership Under Trump Jumps 400 PERCENT in ONE YEAR [Getty]Youth Unemployment hits 52 year low.Peace between North & South Korea’s.Work REquirement for Welfare.Nominates first woman to head CIA.Black support up to 29%Tax surplus in January.Pay rate highest since 2008.Hispanic unemployment hits low.Proposes reform of Civil Service ‘Hire the best, fire the worst’.Signs Bill to combat synthetic opioids - needs to with Democrats resisting closed border.2017 Record of lifetime appointed Judges.Rolled back $900m in Offshore Obama restrictions.US Imposes Sanctions on 52 People and Entities for Abuse and CorruptionHome build permits hit highest since 2007.Economy growth 5.7% in 1st Q of 2018, remained high since.Stock Market bubble outlasts subversive Federal Reserve rate hikes.$700 Billion Defense Bill.For Trekkies, Space Policy Directive.20% take rate for Corporations, to enable economic growth, create jobs and make efficiencies to infrastructure delivery of products.Capital Additions reduced to 1 year from >20 to enable tax deductibility on buying in & replacing inefficient production machinery.Trumps HHS defines life begins at inception / Moron Dems pass infanticide laws.$285m cut in the UN Budget, benefit for taxpayers.Reduction in refugee applications.WIC Welfare Participation Hit 17Year Low (dropped to 7,283,000 in 2017, its lowest level since 2000 when 7,192,000 participated in the program.)Broadcom to move back to US.A new strategy on Iran.Trump Signs Healthcare Order Expands Choice and Access through associationsWithdrew from Ani-Semitic UNESCO.Tech giants pledge millions to Trump initiative.Federal Reserve; Household Wealth in America at record high of 17 trillion Rising property values and Financial gain.Rolls back Environmental Laws herniating infrastructure re-building time etc.$15b Hurricane Harvey.US Small Business Admin. Centre assistance.Job satisfaction highest since 2005.Repeals Obama’s ridiculous ‘Waters of the US’ Rule.Cuts more Federal Debt for a longer period than any other President. When President Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017, the amount of US Federal Debt owed both externally and internally was over $19 Trillion at $19,947,304,555,212. As of August 17th, the amount of US Debt had decreased by more than $100 Billion to $19,845,188,460,167.Privatize Air Traffic Control for desperately needed investment.Vote Fraud investigation.Gas prices 12 year low.Ben Carson Finds 500 Billion In Errors during Audit of Obama HUD. (Obama era fraud?)$200m in Apprentice funding.Reversal of Clean Power Rule, to allow safe power.Bill to prioritize training for veterans & police seeking jobs.Anti-Terrorism pact with Qutar.Thousands of jobs created &/or protected in pact with Saudi Arabia on trade.Poland increased arms & US presence v Russia.DOJ sued California for interference with illegal immigration enforcement.DOJ more than 1000 arrests in sex trafficking.DOJ charging 4 for leaks.DOJ took down Alphabay, the largest Dark Web market.DOJ new civil forfeiture rules.DOJ charges 400 in largest Medical Healthcare Fraud.DOJ support of Texas voter ID law.DOJ charged sex traffickers who took hundreds from Thailand to US.DOJ harsher sentences for drug dealers etc.DOJ, Attorney General Sessions designated MS-13 as a priority for the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, to allow Federal law enforcement to utilize an expanded toolkit in its efforts to dismantle the organization.The United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras joined together to charge more than 4,000 MS-13 and 18th Street gang members in the United States and Central America, including the alleged leader of MS-13’s “East Coast Program.”August 2018 - More than 20 individuals associated with MS-13 were arrested in California on Federal and State charges in connection with their gang activitiesThe Department of Justice convicted eight members of an international criminal organization, known as the Rendon-Reyes Trafficking Organization, on Federal charges arising from their scheme to force young women and girls from Mexico and Latin America into prostitution.Signed Rep. Rutherford's STOP School Violence Act and Sens. Cornyn-Murphy "Fix NICS Act."$2 billion for school safety.The Ideological Balance Of The U.S. Sixth And Seventh Circuit Courts Of Appeals Shifted From Liberal To Conservative, Thanks To Judicial Nominees Selected By President Donald Trump.The Department of Justice announced more than $98 million in grant funding through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services COPS Hiring Program to allow 802 additional full-time law enforcement officers.President Trump signed Executive Order 13809 to restore State and local law enforcement’s access to surplus equipment from the Defense Department, such as armored vehicles.In June 2017, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the creation of the new National Public Safety Partnership, a cooperative initiative with cities to reduce violent crimes.Attorney General Sessions expanded Project Safe Neighborhoods to encourage U.S. Attorney’s to work with communities to develop customized crime reduction strategiesAttorney General Sessions returned to longstanding Department of Justice charging policy for our Federal prosecutors, trusting them once again and directing them to return to charging the most serious, readily provable offense.Attorney General Sessions returned to longstanding Department of Justice charging policy for our Federal prosecutors, trusting them once again and directing them to return to charging the most serious, readily provable offense.( Criminals charged with unlawful possession of a firearm had increased 23 percent).Under President Trump, the Department of Justice has supported students whose free-speech rights have been under attack on university campuses. The Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division is reviewing a complaint by a coalition of more than 60 Asian-American associations that alleges racial discrimination against Asian-Americans in Harvard University’s admissions policies and practices.The Department of Justice secured a guilty plea for the first case prosecuted under the Hate Crimes Prevention Act involving a victim targeted because of gender identity.According to NERA Economic Consulting, the Obama CPP struck down by Trump would have increased electricity rates by as much as 14 percent, costing American households up to $79 billion.The Administration estimates that repealing the Clean Power Plan could eliminate up to $33 billion in compliance costs in 2030.Trump took Obama shackles of ICE. Deportations up 40%, crossings reduce.Success with his Ad Valorem tariffs.China opens rice market for US exports for the first time ever.MSM proven fake regards Trump's tariffs.Ordering review of unfair contracts & their abuses/abusers - WTOWages highest in 2018 since 2009>$350 B Saudi Arms deal protecting jobs in Miltary/Arms Industries.To combat Russia -E.U. The energy supply of gas; First Natural Gas Shipped to Poland.Coal export up 60% from an industry destroyed by Obama.A probe of China intellectual property theft.Argentina agrees to allow first US pork imports in 25 years.Crude oil shipment from Texas opens new vistas in IndiaUS ties; India’s first ever U.S. crude purchase to arrive in Sept 18. With this, India, the world’s third largest oil importer, joins Asian countries like South Korea, Japan, and China to buy American crude after production cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) drove up prices of Middle East heavy-sour crude, or grades with a high sulfur contentBlocked China from buying Semi-Conductor Company - Lattice.Trump Blocks Chinese Purchase of Chipmaker Due to National Security; President Trump has issued an executive order blocking Singapore-based Broadcom’s $117 billion takeover of U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm on national security grounds. The heated battle for ownership of Qualcomm has ended with a presidential decree barring Broadcom from ever owning the company after CFIUS cited national security concerns with the prospect of such a deal. $QCOM. $AVGO(— David Faber (@davidfaber) March 12, 2018).Additionally, Reuters reports that the Trump order says all 15 candidate directors proposed by Broadcom are disqualified for Qualcomm board. Trump’s decision confirms what Hayman Capital’s Kyle Bass explained last week.193. VA Accountability & Protection Law allows sackings of civil servants etc.194. Trump signed Forever GI Bill boosting aid to student vets.195. Tougher border controls bring about for crossing The Border Illegally Is Harder Than Its Been In 50 Years.196. MAGA.197. The Administration actually eliminated 22 regulations for every new regulatory action.198. The Administration issued 67 deregulatory actions while only imposing three new regulatory actions.199. In FY 2017, the Administration saved $8.1 billion in lifetime net regulatory cost savings, equivalent to $570 million per year.200. Throughout 2017, President Trump has made good on his promise to cut red tape, and in doing so has reenergized the United States’ agricultural, energy, and infrastructure sectors by freeing them from oppressive and stifling regulations.201. President Trump has signed 15 Congressional Review Act resolutions into law, more than any other president, ending burdensome Obama-era rules and regulations.202. According to a study by NERA Economic Consulting, implementing the Obama Administration’s plan under the Paris Climate Agreement could have cost the United States economy nearly $3 trillion and 6.5 million industrial sector jobs by 2040.203. President Trump signed 15 Congressional Review Act resolutions into law that is estimated to save American taxpayers $3.7 billion.204. President Trump signed an Executive Order that reduced the time it took to approve infrastructure projects from 10 years to two years.205. To date, 860 regulatory actions have been withdrawn or removed from active status.206. The WSJ said President Trump is "rolling back more regulations than any President in history.207. President Trump has signed a record-breaking 15 CRA bills to roll back regulations.208. Since the CRA became law in 1996, only one had ever been signed (George W. Bush in 2001)209. Along with Executive Orders, these bills will reduce regulatory costs by $18 billion annually.210. The Department of Agriculture issued guidance that would give more flexibility to state operations of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The new program maximized flexibility and holds states more accountable for the delivery of food benefits.212. President Trump created the Interagency Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity that Secretary Sonny Perdue chairs and developed suggestions. Suggestions include focusing on broadband access, improving the lives of rural Americans, developing methods to support a rural workforce, harness technological innovation for rural communities, and focusing on economic development in rural areas.213. August 2018 - USDA Announced An Investment Of More Than $124 Million To Help Rebuild And Improve Rural Water Infrastructure In 23 States214. September 2018 - The USDA Announced That They Formalized An Agreement With A Nonprofit Organization To Purchase Homes From The USDA And Convert Them Into Transitional Housing For People Recovering From Opioid Misuse. These houses will allow houses in Kentucky's Hart and Rockcastle counties to be converted into transitional housing for individuals and families215. The Department of the Interior proposed its largest oil and gas lease of over 76 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico.216. President Trump and his Administration acted aggressively to increase exports of energy resources to the global market. The Department of Energy announced the approval of the Lake Charles Liquefied Natural Gas terminal.217. The Administration announced the approval of the New Burgos Pipeline, a cross-border project that will export U.S. gasoline to Mexico.218. EPA Administrator Pruitt launched a task force to provide recommendations on how to streamline and improve the Superfund program, which is responsible for cleaning up land contaminated by hazardous waste.The Superfund task force released 42 detailed recommendations with the following goals in mind:Expediting cleanup and remediationRe-invigorating responsible party cleanup and reuseEncouraging private investmentPromoting redevelopment and community revitalizationEngaging partners and stakeholders219. EPA has re-launched launched the Smart Sectors Program to partner with the private sector to achieve better environmental outcomes. The lead for each sector serves as the ombudsmen within the respective agency across program offices, conducts educational site tours, analyzes data and advises options for environmental improvement, and develops reports that profile the impact of each sector.220. To ensure the Government serves the needs of all Americans, President Trump has called for a comprehensive plan to reorganize the executive branch and has begun to implement this plan.221. President Trump has commenced a comprehensive overhaul of digitally delivered Government services.222. President Trump has called for “conducting a full audit of the Pentagon.” The Department of Defense (DOD) responded to the President’s call to action and has begun its first full financial statement audit.223. $1.6 billion for border wall spending. This is the first time the wall has been funded since 2003.224. $703 million increase in ICE funding, from $6.4 billion to $7.1 billion, an increase of more than 10%.225. $21 billion down payment on the President's promise to rebuild infrastructure.226. The President’s infrastructure plan will establish a Rural Infrastructure Program to invest in rebuilding and modernizing rural infrastructure. The Rural Infrastructure Program will seek to:Use outcomes-driven planning efforts and capital improvements to rebuild and modernize rural infrastructure.Grow business revenues and personal incomes in rural areas by expanding access to markets, customers, and employment opportunities.Enhance regional connectivity for rural communities through interregional and interstate projects developed by the public and private sectors.Spur economic growth and competitiveness by closing infrastructure gaps to attract more development and manufacturing investments in rural America.227. President Trump and his Administration allocated $50 billion to empower rural America to address the infrastructure needs of their communities. The $50 billion dedicated to rural America represented 25 percent of all Federal funds in the President’s plan.80 percent of the Rural Infrastructure Program funds will go directly to the governor of each State as determined by a formula.20 percent of the Rural Infrastructure Program funds will be provided to selected States that apply for Rural Performance Grants.NOTES:- States will be provided funding without burdensome bureaucratic commands on how they should spend it.The federal funding provided by the President’s plan will not be awarded in pre-packaged, asset-specific amounts, as is often the case with Federal programs.Funds provided under the President’s proposal will go directly to the governor’s office of the State receiving funds.This will allow Governors to make investments based on the individual infrastructure needs of their rural communities.228. President Trump’s infrastructure plan will enable the rebuilding and modernization of rural infrastructure across a broad range of asset classes.229. The array of broad asset classes eligible for funding under President Trump’s plan will include:Transportation projects will rebuild roads, bridges, railways, and other vital infrastructure.Broadband deployment projects which will improve access for rural communities.Water and waste projects to help ensure rural families have access to clean water.Power and electric projects to provide rural areas with reliable, affordable power.Water resources project to better manage flood risk and improve rural water supplies and waterways.230. In July 2018, Department of Transportation introduced a new pilot program that will boost military recruitment and help with the nationwide shortage of commercial vehicle drivers by allowing 18 – 20-year-olds who possess a U.S. Military equivalent of a commercial driver’s license (CDL) to operate large trucks in interstate commerce.231. President Trump has made clear that broadband should be an infrastructure priority.The President’s plan will provide States with the flexibility to invest in the needs of their rural communities, including broadband.The Rural Infrastructure Program allowed governors to spend 100 percent of Federal funds they received on broadband access.President Trump signed an Executive Order in January on “Streamlining and Expediting Requests to Locate Broadband Facilities in Rural America.”This was built upon the efforts of the Rural Infrastructure Program by the Trump Administration.232. In April 2018, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) laid out a comprehensive five-point strategy to combat the opioid abuse crisis.233. The Department of Justice announced that fentanyl substances are a drug class under the Controlled Substances Act. This meant anyone who possesses, imports, distributes or manufactures illicit fentanyl-related substances would be subject to criminal prosecution similar to other controlled substances.Anyone who possesses, imports, distributes or manufactures any illicit fentanyl-related substance will be subject to criminal prosecution similar to other controlled substances.The DOJ announced its first-ever indictments against two Chinese nationals and their North American-based associates for distributing large quantities of fentanyl and other opiate substances. On National Drug Take Back Day, the Drug Enforcement Administration collected a record-breaking 912,305 pounds – 456 tons – of potentially dangerous expired, unused, or unwanted prescription drugs at more than 5,300 collection sites.234. In his first week in office, President Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy that prevented $9 billion in foreign aid from being used to fund the abortion industry.235. President Trump de-funded a U.N. agency for colluding with China’s brutal program of forced abortion and sterilization.236. President Trump worked with the Congress to sign a bill overturning an Obama midnight regulation that prohibited States from defunding abortion service providers.The Trump Administration published guidance which promises to enforce the Obamacare requirement that taxpayer dollars should not support abortion coverage in exchange plans.237. Reinstated the Mexico City Policy to ban any U.S. foreign aid to organizations that perform abortions.238. Signed a Congressional Review Act bill to allow states to restrict Planned Parenthood Funding.239. In President Trump’s FY 2018 budget request, school choice was a priority for increased funding, including supporting $1 billion in Furthering Options of Children to Unlock Success grants for public school choice and $250 million to promote private school choice through the Education Innovation and Research Program.240. Implemented the year-round distribution of Pell grants, instead of limiting these grants to the Spring and Fall semesters.Low-income students will now have access to these funds over Summer and Winter breaks so they can earn their degrees faster with fewer loans.241. The Department of Education reformed the student loan servicing process to improve customer experience and lower costs.242. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid is being reformed to be more accessible to students.243. Experts from the financial services industry were brought into the Department of Education to modernize the way FSA offers and services student loans.244. The Department of Education is working to ensure regulations on the books adequately protect students while giving States, institutions, teachers, parents, and students the flexibility they need to improve outcomes.245. The Dept. of Education has identified and withdrawn nearly 600 regulations that are deemed unnecessary.246. Rescinded the 2011 Dear Colleague Letter and 2014 Q&A regarding Title IX enforcement, and interim guidance was issued.247. Paused the Obama Administration’s Borrower Defense to Repayment and Gainful Employment regulations.248. The Department of Education’s Regulatory Review Taskforce identified nearly 600 outdated guidance documents for rescinding.249. August 2018 - The Department of Education announced $359.8 million in Federal assistance to 20 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands to assist with the cost of educating students displaced by Hurricane Harvey, Irma, Maria, or the 2017 California wildfires.250. August 2018 - The Department of Education announced that it would potentially rescind the Gainful Employment Regulation.​​​​​​​The Department Of Education Claimed That The Removal Of This Regulation Would Help Provide Transparency And Fairness To Students In Higher Education.I am sure I have missed numerous ones and so I have included an URL from the Washington Examiner below too. I have not checked it against my own list, I only have 250 accomplishments vs their 289, but what’s 39 between friends, after all 39 exceeds Obama’s accomplishments by, coincidentally 39!!251. POTUS did not leave Vietnam empty-handed. He secured a $15 billion deal. Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways and VietJet Aviation JSC signed deals to buy 110 aircraft from Boeing Co. during President Donald Trump’s visit to Hanoi for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un.I am sure I have missed numerous ones and so I have included an URL from the Washington Examiner below too. I have not checked it against my own list, I only have 250 accomplishments vs their 289, but what’s 39 between friends, after all 39 exceeds Obama’s accomplishments by, coincidentally 39!!252.The U.S. economy added 20,000 jobs in February 2019 while the unemployment rate fell slightly to 3.8 percent, making February the 101st month of consecutive U.S. job growth.252. April 2019. Going nuclear on Trump government picks. Republicans set to stop the Democrat obstruction of employee picks that has seen:1. The least number ever confirmed for a President - period.2. Although Trump policy is to not overstaff, Democrat obstruction of any & all picks has seriously damaged government efficiency.This is to end; but why did the Republicans wait?......could it be to ensure the Democrats who deny obstruction, are proven liars yet again, and that the historical record will record it!253. Removal of the falsely claimed right to Pain-Free execution for Death Row killers. SCOTUS 5-4, April 2019.