Substance over style

By State Representative Adam Niemerg

The cliché highlight reel that was the Joe Biden Inauguration address had plenty of style but was woefully lacking in substance.

While the political elites and national press corps swooned like love struck teenagers with every word of Biden’s speech, the hard-working men and women who make this country great heard a much different speech. They heard a lot of flowery words but could find no vision for the future, which is exactly what the political establishment wants.

With President Trump leaving office, power has once again been restored to the political elites of both political parties. The new normal is the old normal where campaign promises are just empty words and the rich and powerful cash in while working families wonder how they are going to pay their mortgages.

President Trump was rough around the edges, but he fearlessly took on the political elites and despite all of the roadblocks put in his way, he still accomplished a great deal in just four years in office.

During his term in office, America gained 7 million new jobs and middle-class income increased nearly $6,000 – more than 5 times the gains during the Obama administration. For 40 months in a row, there were more job openings than job hires. Incomes went up in every single metro area of the country for the first time in nearly 30 years. The unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanics and other minorities reach record lows. Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years, and the bottom 50 percent of American households saw a 40 percent increase in net worth.

There were more than 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs added and wages increased by 16 percent for low income and blue-collar workers.

Donald Trump led the way on passing $3.2 trillion in tax reforms. It was the largest tax reform package in history. He doubled the standard deduction and doubled the child tax credit. The Trump tax cuts increased the wealth share for the bottom 50 percent of income earners, vastly improving the lives of working families.

President Trump also aggressively rolled back regulation by eliminating 8 old regulations for every new regulation adopted. To put this in perspective, Trump eliminated 25,000 pages from the federal Register while the Obama administration added 16,000 pages.

When it comes to the judiciary, President Trump nominated and got confirmed an astounding 230 federal judges. He appointed three Supreme Court justices providing a 6-3 conservative majority on the High Court. In addition, he was able to flip the Second, Third, and Eleventh Circuits from Democrat-appointed majorities to Republican-appointed majorities.

President Trump also kept the American people safe by making tremendous strides in border security. Under his leadership, more than 400 miles of the world’s most advanced border wall was constructed which resulted in illegal border crossings dropping by more than 87 percent where the border wall had been constructed. He also ended the dangerous practice of Catch and Release.

He orchestrated an historic peace agreement in the Middle East and made tremendous progress in achieving a peace agreement with North Korea.

These accomplishments only scratch the surface of what President Trump was able to do for the country the last four years. Yes, his style rubbed some people the wrong way but there is no denying the substantive accomplishments of President Trump’s administration.

With the election of Joe Biden, it appears the country has chosen style over substance. There is a lot to like about Joe Biden’s Inauguration speech but the lack of a plan and a real vision for the country does not bode well for the future of the country.

While he was talking about unity, President Joe Biden was canceling the Keystone XL Pipeline, which eliminated more than 10,000 construction jobs for American works and he halted all deportations for all illegal immigrants – including violent criminals – for 100 days, which makes our country less safe.

Instead of putting America First, President Biden has signaled his loyalty is to the swamp – not to the people. Real people are hurting. They don’t need a well-rehearsed speech. They need bold action.

We had a President who could have provided the leadership we need. His name was Donald Trump. He may have lacked style, but he stood up for the hard-working men and women who make this country great, and the establishment hated him for it. He may not have made people feel all warm and fuzzy, but he took bold action to help real people and he proved every day that he was fighting to make a substantive difference in the lives of the American people. That is the real record of accomplishments for America’s 45th President.