Socratic Education

Question 1

In 2019, we had over 850,000 apprehensions at the southwest border, the highest number in 12 years at the time. Does that mean he wasn’t effective?

Answer 1

It was despite Trump’s stance that that happened. People were exploiting loopholes from some incompetent leaders before Trump and as soon as he found ways to fight those loopholes (like “catch and release”), the crossings dropped sharply in 2020

Question 2

If Trump couldn’t make his policies stick the first time around, does that mean he was a failure in a way? Or do you think no one could have done better in his position?

Answer 2

Trump locked in things that were hard to reverse, like reshaping the federal judiciary with over 230 judges, passing the USMCA trade deal with bipartisan support, and achieving tax reform through legislation, not just executive action. Some things were reversed because they didn’t require congressional approval, and that made them easier to undo