First post; hi everyone! I tend to believe that life is roughly 10 percent what you say and 90 percent what you do. In 2016 I was a McMullin voter, mainly because I didn’t like candidate Trump’s style and guessed his leanings were big-government, old-time Democrat.

But! As soon as he won, I rooted for the president to do a good job. And now I think there is a strong case to be made he has already been the best president of my adult lifetime (which is from Clinton onward).

His words have grown on me, but actions are what count, and here is a list of ten actions President Trump has taken that I believe are conservative, successful, and of lasting importance. Your mileage may vary!

1. The tax cut. Cut rates, reduced many distortions in the tax code, and spurred economic growth.
2. Cutting regulations by the boatload. Also a big aid to the economy.
3. Opportunity zones. I believe this by itself would have been a big aid to impoverished communities, much more valuable than handouts because of the incentive to invest and economically develop those areas. Though I fear the riots in many of the same cities might have counteracted much of the effect.
4. Lowest minority unemployment rates in history before Covid-19.
5. Peace deals between Israel and at least three other middle-eastern countries.
6. Killed Soleimani, used sanctions to cripple Iran to a degree that I have never seen.
7. Renegotiated NAFTA. I am in general in favor of free trade, but to pretend that there is unadulterated free trade between any two nations is… optimistic (with subsidies, quotas, etc etc). So knowing that all trade deals are in fact deals, improving the terms of the deals in my opinion is a substantial win. I have been persuaded by Trump on this point.
8. Reducing illegal immigration. I am very much in favor of legal immigration, but the least skilled Americans have born the brunt of extra competition from millions of illegal immigrants over the last few decades.
9. Originalist judges. I believe Trump’s supreme court picks are already far better than either of the two Bushes (who each nominated at least one mediocre to poor choice). Though I could be proved wrong in the future.
10. China. This one falls somewhere between words and actions. Decoupling from and countering China to me is the number one issue for the next 30+ years. President Trump began that action via the tariffs/trade-deal, threats of more tariffs (which may cause American companies to move supply chains), and persuasion to other countries to disallow Huawei to operate their 5G networks. I know other presidents and candidates have discussed China, but these tangible actions are the first substantial ones that I can remember offhand from the last few decades.

Hope everyone has a safe and happy election day!