Trump’s legacy: Rising unemployment, uninsured, political violence, COVID-19 deaths
MAGA’s Project 2025 agenda could make first Trump term seem like walks in the park
This article was updated on July 4, 2024.
Nov. 8, 2016, seems longer than eight years ago. Who can forget that sinking feeling as networks called the election for Donald Trump?
Little did we know how bad it would get. For one, there were more than 1 million American deaths from COVID-19, many of them preventable if Trump had devised a coordinated plan to attack the disease as leaders did in Canada, Australia, Germany, and most other wealthier nations. He incited a mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, resulting in at least five deaths and many more injuries. The mob hunted down and tried to take hostage Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi, and other leaders, desecrated artwork and other valuables in the seat of the American republic, stole laptops and other items, and crapped and pissed in the hallways of one of our most sacred landmarks.
But there were many other dark developments under Trump. Those include:
- Unemployment rose to 6.7 percent as Trump left in January 2021, up from 4.7 percent in 2017 when Barack Obama left the White House. Under Joe Biden, that rate slid to 4.0 percent in May 2024. The rate was down to 3.5 percent in February 2020 before the pandemic hit, as it spiked to almost 15 percent before declining again. Trump blamed the pandemic for the worsening economy under him, neglecting to understand how his pathetic response to COVID-19 doomed the economy.
- The percentage of adults with health insurance jumped to 14.7 percent from 11.9 percent under Trump. That dropped to 7.7. percent in 2023 under Biden. In 2009 when Obama entered the White House, some 21 percent of American adults were uninsured. Trump’s budgets would have cut billions of dollars from Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security if Congress had not approved changes.
- The national budget deficit’s percent of Gross Domestic Product rose from 3.4 to 9.8 under Trump, then declined to 6.3 percent in 2023 under Biden. Consumer confidence dipped to 88.6 from 111.8 under Trump, then rose under Biden. The stock market continued to rise substantially, with mostly wealthier Americans benefitting. Trump’s 2017 tax plan mostly benefited higher-income Americans, as those making less than $75,000 annually paid more in taxes.
- Trump lied about his policies and issues more than the average politician or business person. One of the biggest lies was that Joe Biden beat him due to voter fraud. That big lie led to the violence at the Capitol on January 6.
- Trump attacked the press probably more than even Richard Nixon did. By calling the media “the enemy of the people” and any report that criticized the administration fake, Trump signaled to supporters that it was fine to attack the media. Many journalists reported being physically attacked and having their equipment damaged by Trump backers, especially during the Capitol insurrection.
- Trump spent much of his time cozying up to dictators such as Russia’s Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un. He ignored crises, such as the Belarus dictator apparently stealing the 2020 election and violently cracking down on dissent, as well as Putin jailing leading dissident Alexei Navalny, who died in prison in 2024. Trump also offered Afghan militants bounties to kill U.S. soldiers. He tried to coerce the president of Ukraine into officially investigating Biden and his son in exchange for military aid, leading to his first impeachment. His second impeachment was for inciting the Capitol insurrection.
- Besides pulling out of major climate change agreements, Trump rolled back many environmental regulations, including allowing oil drilling in national parks and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. He relaxed carbon dioxide emissions rules and greatly expanded coal and nuclear power production.
- In his first week or so in late January 2017, Trump signed executive orders to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, ban immigrants from seven Muslim countries, allow the Dakota Access pipeline, curb abortion funding, build the wall along Mexico, and expand the immigration deportations. He also ordered all federal employees to stop sending out information on social media and not speak with the media or Congress. His administration went downhill from there. Biden reversed numerous Trump orders.
A few positives
As for positives of the Trump era, some cite how he kept the U.S. out of a major war, which seemed to be luck more than anything. His embrace of dictators perhaps kept enemies from pursuing actions that might lead to wars, but they were still mostly sickening. Trump had to be talked out of using nuclear weapons at times. He also made some strides in Middle East peace accords, though some say those were superficial.
The stock market continuing to rise substantially was positive for many and attracted much investment from middle-income Americans. Trump did support some pandemic aid that helped lower-income Americans, and thus the national poverty rate declined a little under him.
However, potential positive actions were dwarfed by negative ones.
Project 2025 agenda could turn another Trump term into darker nightmare
As Trump left the White House in 2021, he vowed that his MAGA movement that devolved into violence was “only just beginning.” If he is allowed to re-enter the White House in 2025, it will be perilous times, indeed.
The agenda of Project 2025, headed by the far-right Heritage Foundation, lays out MAGA’s vision of turning the United States into a “dictatorial male supremacist society” that outlaws gay rights and all abortions including for medical reasons, as well as implement harsh federal hiring stipulations based on political and religious beliefs, according to The New Republic.
Trump pledges to turn the DOJ into a revenge agency to satisfy his personal vendettas. Televised military tribunals could target political opponents and journalists.
Compared to a potential second term, the COVID deaths, rising unemployment, and other ills could seem like walks in the park.
