You may know me as the Korean dude who wears Notre Dame shirts around campus.
I am also the Korean dude who voted for President Donald Trump.
With the one-year anniversary of the biggest political upset in modern American history, I figured it is best to express my viewpoint of President Donald John Trump one year after his historic victory.
Just because I may be a number in a minority statistic group, does not mean I uphold generic voter tendencies amongst minorities in America. In fact, I don’t consider myself a minority in this country, I consider myself a part of the majority, which is being an American.
Contrary to what other people may believe, President Trump has made some significant accomplishments during his first year in the White House.
To me, I’m not fazed by President Trump’s “low” approval ratings. I feel that the mainstream media who inaccurately predicted him to lose are still on their “Never Trump” pledge.
Remember people, it’s Year One. After year two or three, then the approval rating matters. Give him a chance! I gave President Obama a chance even though I didn’t vote for him or support his policies.
I’ve also heard many people compare Donald Trump to the 40th President, Ronald Reagan. Aside from multiple marriages and divorces alongside having a career in television, President Reagan was also loathed by the Republican establishment.
Like President Trump, President Reagan also had low approval ratings in his first year. According to the University of California, Santa Barbara’s American Presidency Project, President Reagan had an approval rating of 48%. Rasmussen Reports have Donald Trump at a 42% Approval rating as of November 9.
Despite all the adversities that President Donald Trump has faced from establishment Republicans and the “obstructionist” Democrats, he has managed to make some huge progress and fulfill campaign promises.
To me, his biggest accomplishment this year was foreign policy. He has removed America from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Paris Climate Agreement. Everyone thought he was going to start World War III with someone. However, his unpredictable temperament is beneficiary to the “peace through strength” approach to foreign policy. His speeches in Poland and South Korea have shown America’s strength in the world.
I admire him for saying to the press that we will not release our battle plans, especially when fighting ISIS. Trump executes common military sense that most generals would get an A+ on in our military academies. Despite not having a military background, he truly understands that we should not tell our enemies when we are pulling out of a certain area or downsizing our troops.
I like seeing and having a president that our enemies fear. I want to be assured that our homeland’s line of defense is being protected and supported abroad.
Truly, I am not for outright war. I don’t want to see the start of World War III.
I recently found my biological family in South Korea and obviously, I do want to go over there and meet them one day. With that being said, I keep a close eye and ear on the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, I feel that the “peace through strength” approach will allow me and other Korean-American adoptees to one day visit and meet our biological relatives.
I also admire him for his everlasting support for our military. As a child of an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, I always feel the support and gratitude towards him. To me, it’s nice to see a president that genuinely exemplifies his support for our veterans. His legislation and reforms on the Department of Veteran Affairs give me hope that our veterans will be treated with the respect they truly deserve.
Another huge accomplishment is the economy, The Dow Jones is going up and broken many records this year. I truly believe that his business background is the reason why many investors are having faith in the stock market right now.
This is not to say that I have not been critical of Mr. Trump at times. I will admit there are some times where I wish she did not have his iPhone on in regards to twitter. There are just some days I just laugh at the things he tweets. I also say that there were some scenarios in Year One that he should have stayed out of or avoided.
In regards to his agenda, we all know that Mr. Trump tried to repeal and replace Obamacare. That was a promise that was repeated like a broken record player. This being by Republican lawmakers over the last eight years. However, I believe that healthcare should not have been the first priority.
Recently over the last few months, Trump and the Republicans are trying to reform taxes by reinstating tax cuts and rewriting the tax code for all Americans. I truly feel like that Trump could’ve easily gotten bipartisan support for infrastructure and taxes within the first 100 days.
Growing up in a working-class family, Donald Trump’s tax cuts are desperately needed. As a family, we have some huge milestones coming up. Tax reform would allow our family to not only pay for my sister to go to college but also allow me to buy a car and a trip to South Korea. tax cuts and reforms within the tax code are truly other reasons why I voted for Donald Trump.
Ratifying and passing bills on tax reform and infrastructure would have been his easiest campaign promises to pass through Congress. Coincidentally, there are some Democratic seats in the Senate that are very vulnerable for the 2018 midterm elections, in states, Trump won by double-digit margins. Passing these bills would have been beneficial for some of those Democrats if they want to keep their jobs after next November.
I feel like the Republicans will become the biggest choke artists if they don’t pass anything. The Republicans must get over their hatred for Donald Trump and work with him. I feel that they are the real “obstructionists” to Donald Trump’s agenda.
I am truly waiting for this bill to pass. I am hoping that the Republican establishment gets their heads out of their tails and swallow their pride to ensure economic prosperity for the American people by passing these tax cuts.
Does this mean that I’m 100% happy about the job he’s done in his first year? No, it doesn’t. However, I was taught to look at positives about things that just don’t go hundred percent my way. As year one of the Trump presidency slowly comes to a close, there are many things that still have to be done. if someone asked me if I would elect trump again, I would say yes. truly, I’ve morphed into a Trump-like Republican.
His America first platform grabbed me and my vote last November. Truly in my heart, he is on his way to make America great again. I see his efforts to unite all of us as Americans from his tweeting and speeches. If we can all unite under his leadership and share the same vision of American pride and determination, we can accomplish many “huge” things.
