Learning to Love the Donald

Reviewed by John Morrissey

Can't Trump This: Top Trump Wins and Epic Speeches is a proudly partisan compendium of President Donald Trump's achievements in his first year in office, along with a collection of his important speeches, at home and abroad. The author is Ed Martin, the hand-picked successor of the late Phyllis Schlafly (1924-2016) to run her Eagle organisations. He is currently president of Phyllis Schlafly Eagles.

Much of his book will surprise many Australians, hoodwinked by the scant credit which Trump receives in our mainstream media. Recent reports in the Wall Street Journal of labour shortages in many parts of the United States, however, endorse Martin's enthusiasm for Trump's achievements. Part 1 lists 40 major "wins", some still subject to roadblocks in the courts and Congress, and these are explained and discussed, and a further 60 are appended.

Martin's introduction tells readers how to use his work: "This is a book you can hand to others and say 'Face these facts' or 'Get over your doubts and delusions'." He adds that it is to "invigorate those who believe in President Trump" and "sway some of those who remain on the fence".

He recalls a meeting held with Trump in March 2016, where the now President promised Phyllis Schlafly and himself to keep the Republican platform conservative and to pick judges "like Scalia and Thomas" - all of which he has done.

Among the top wins is the appointment of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, and scores of other conservative lawyers to the bench. This was dependent on Senator Mitch McConnell's work in blockading the confirmation of a raft of President Obama's nominees in the last months of his term of office.

Another huge win was the appointment of a conservative cabinet: Ben Carson as Health Secretary, Betsy De Vos in Education, Jeff Sessions as Attorney-General, and Marine Corps General James Mattis at Defense, and especially Rick Perry in Energy, putting science before "left-wing renewable energy schemes". And what a captain's pick was Nikki Haley as UN Ambassador!

Promises made in his campaign have been fulfilled in many areas. The U.S. economy is robust once more, with soaring business confidence, record low unemployment and very respectable GDP growth, all driven by the "greatest tax cut in history". Further gains have been made in "draining the swamp": restrictions on lobbying, and cutbacks on the massive growth of federal agencies during the Obama years.

"Making America great again" has meant pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, putting question marks against the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and taking steps against illegal immigration, such as the planned Mexico wall and the (stalled) travel bans on arrivals from some Muslim countries.

On foreign policy the Trump administration got serious on ISIS, reassuring the Middle East's Christians, standing up to Syrian atrocities, as well as to North Korea's "Little Rocket Man". Yet more significant was Trump's exiting the Paris Accord on climate change - "No to Paris; Yes to Pittsburg" - an example which Australia and any other nation which plays by the rules would do well to follow.

On the social front, it was action against opioid addiction, health care for veterans, restoring the word "Christmas" to the "Holiday season", and attempting to end Obama's transgender "experiments" in the military, (currently facing a judicial injunction). More important to many of us, the President has also ended the flow of U.S. taxpayers' funding for overseas abortions, by reinstating the Mexico City Policy rescinded by Obama. Also significant for us in Australia today is that Trump has signed an executive order to enforce religious freedom, as he had promised.

Turning to the President's epic speeches in the latter part of the book, we find his inaugural address, his remarks in a joint address to Congress, a lengthy speech to the UN General Assembly, two beautifully crafted speeches given in Poland and South Korea respectively, and remarks on tax reform and the economy, given in Missouri.

The sentiments of the speeches given in Warsaw and Seoul were particularly well received and deserve closer attention.

In Warsaw, after a warm introduction given by First Lady Melania, Trump began with "America loves Poland and America loves the Polish people". He then paid tribute to Poland's current leaders and to former President Lech Walesa, of Solidarity fame. Commencing with "Poland is the geographic heart of Europe, but more importantly, in the Polish people, we see the soul of Europe", he alluded to the country's tragic history and expressed his admiration for its farms and villages in the countryside and the cathedrals and squares of its great cities.

He declared, "Poland lives, Poland prospers, and Poland prevails", to much applause. Evoking Copernicus, Chopin and Pope (now Saint) John Paul II, he lauded the country's heroes, their spirit and the part played by Poles in the American Revolution - and the audience loved it, chanting his name - as he went on to describe them as a people who had never lost hope, been broken or forgotten who they are.

Trump acknowledged in detail Poland's sufferings during the 20th century, from 1920, when the Poles during the Battle of the Vistula saved an exhausted Europe from the advancing Soviet Red Army, to 1939, when they suffered invasion from both Germany and the USSR. He mentioned the 1940 Katyn forest massacre, the Holocaust, both Warsaw Uprisings (1943 and 1944), the destruction of the city, the deaths of nearly one in five inhabitants, and the systematic murder of the Jewish population. He acknowledged the cynical calculation of the Soviet leaders in allowing the Nazis to crush the 1944 uprising.

He recalled Pope John Paul II's triumphant Mass in 1979, which sounded the death knell of communism in Europe, and the one million Poles who sang, "We want God." He then reminded them of shared values, especially the dignity of human life. Following deafening applause, the President switched to the menace of Islamic terrorism and Russia's destabilising of Ukraine. Finally, he hailed the belated action of NATO countries paying their way for the defence of Europe and praised Poland for hosting the Patriot missiles on its soil. He then returned to a vivid account of the Polish Home Army's heroic defence of Jerusalem Avenue during the Warsaw Uprising of August 1944, and concluded his speech with the words, "God bless the Polish people ... and God bless the United States of America."

In his speech in South Korea, Trump's approach was the same. He evoked the bloody war of 1950-51, which was fought over and which has divided the Korean peninsula since. He invoked the closeness of South Korea and the U.S. to this day. Trump acknowledged not only the American lives sacrificed but the loss of "hundreds of thousands of brave [South Korean] soldiers and countless innocent civilians in that gruesome war". Trump went on to hail the progress which the South Korean people have made since 1951. It was the same call: praising the stand of America's allies against the enemies of freedom and democracy across the globe, with whom the previous Obama administration had temporised.

Trump's words are an assurance to the free world that his administration will not only talk the talk, but also walk the walk in the minefield of global politics. Australian statesmen, please take note.

John Morrissey is a retired secondary school teacher who has taught in government, independent and Catholic schools. He lives in Hawthorn, Victoria, with his dog "Wreck".

<< Back to newsletter