By Collins Chong Yew Keat

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: It has been a month since Trump made a historic comeback as the 47th President of the United States on 20 January, defying all odds and the persistent barriers put in place to halt him.

Having overcome all of these systemic and structural efforts to stop him the moment he stepped on the elevator in Trump Tower in 2015 in the beginning of his first campaign, he has again and again proven all his doubters and enemies wrong.

His First Term has been among the most successful of any presidencies in decades and even centuries, a fact that the far-left and his permanent enemies have been constantly reversing and downplayed.

Trump's Undeniable First Term Legacy

Trump led an unprecedented economic boom during his first four years. Before Covid hit, he built the world’s most prosperous economy. America gained 7million new jobs, middle-class family income increased nearly $6,000 – more than five times the gains during the entire previous administration.
The unemployment rate reached 3.5 percent, the lowest in a half-century. More Americans reported being employed than ever before , nearly 160 million and jobless claims hit a nearly 50-year low.

He delivered on his promise to fix the American economy and to regain the long lost American Dream. Often criticised for his perceived divide and rule approach, he actually did more for African Americans and Asian Americans than his predecessors. He delivered a future of greater promise for citizens of all backgrounds.

Unemployment rates for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and veterans all reached record lows. Unemployment for women hit its lowest rate in nearly 70 years.

In a reflection of his focus on helping the people despite accusations of him in dismantling socialist leaning policies  under Obama, he lifted nearly 7 million people off of food stamps and  poverty rates for African Americans and Hispanic Americans reached record lows.

Income inequality fell for two straight years, and by the largest amount in over a decade.  All of these were possible due to his common sense economic policies of cutting regulations and taxes and incentivising manufacturing and industries  to come back to America. He brought jobs, factories, and industries back to the USA. He created more than 1.2 million manufacturing and construction jobs, bringing back jobs and firms from overseas.

During the third quarter of 2020, the economy grew at a rate of 33.1 percent, setting the record as the most rapid GDP growth ever recorded.
Since coronavirus lockdowns ended, the economy has added back over 12 million jobs, more than half the jobs lost.

A total of  $3.2 trillion in historic tax relief was passed and the tax code was reformed.

The share of total wealth held by the bottom half  increased, while the share held by the top 1 percent decreased, reflecting his approach that trumps even the left’s socialist approach but with few results to show.

Tim Scott’s trademark idea of the Opportunity Zone has created nearly 9,000 Opportunity Zones where approximately 1 million Americans will be lifted from poverty as a result of these new investments.

He championed massive deregulations and ended the  regulatory assault on American businesses and workers, removing unnecessary regulations that impeded job creation.

He secured historic trade deals to defend American workers, ended and renegotiated many of them to fix the systemic deficits and unfair practices.
Trump regained American energy independence and unleashed America’s oil and natural gas potential.

For the first time in nearly 70 years, the United States has become a net energy exporter and it was the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world during his reign.

No Stones Unturned in Trump 2.0

Now in his second term, not only has he shown more urgency and unyielding drive to correct Biden’s mess and to bring back the broken American Dream, he has proven that he has done more in one month  than any other president.

After systemic years and decades of wastages and fraud, he formed the Department of Government Efficiency with the help and foresight of Elon Musk in not only cutting bureaucracy but most importantly, saving taxpayers’ money with misplaced priorities and spending and the fraud and wastages that have plagued the coffers without the needed focus by the Biden administration.

Under DOGE within this one month, 104 DEI contracts were cancelled, saving more than $1billion. In the Department of Education alone,
89 contracts worth $881 million were terminated. In one day, $110 million was saved by canceling 78 contracts related to DEI and other non performing platforms.

During this first month, Trump also corrected all of Biden’s disastrous energy policy that has made America weaker.

Trump declared a national energy emergency on Day One, reducing red tape in the energy permit process, and established the Energy Dominance Council to increase energy resources, which will enable energy prices to be lowered and improve trade deficits. Crude oil prices have fallen 5% since Trump took office.

Biden’s misplaced EV mandates have been scrapped, and the ban on offshore drilling on 625million acres of federal waters have also been overturned.
America’s energy dominance will be regained soon under Trump’s leadership.

The border crisis has been one of the main focal points of Biden’s downfall. During these first four weeks, Trump has declared a national border emergency which has allowed the DoD to deploy the National Guard and active duty personnel to secure the southern border.

He re-established the Remain in Mexico policy and resumed the border wall construction, which will prevent illegal aliens from entering the US in the first place.

As a result, migrant encounters have already declined by 93%. He also ended the Catch and Release program, which will prevent offenders from being released back into the public.

The strongest facet of Trump’s one-month establishment will be his quest to strengthen America’s power and prestige, especially in the realm of making America wealthy again and fixing all the past unfair trade, defence, and security deals that have put the country at a disadvantage.

On Day One, he signed the executive order to deliver price relief to Americans and increase the prosperity of American workers.

A 25% tariff was imposed on steel and aluminium imports, protecting one million American jobs that would otherwise be at risk from a surge of steel from other countries, especially Mexico.

Apple CEO Tim Cook also just announced that Apple will invest $500 billion in the US to support and advance American innovation, advanced manufacturing, and high-tech job creation, in line with Trump’s call and direction.

Musk’s efforts to cut wastage and deficit will have a further positive spillover impact. Cutting back the deficit will also lessen the burden of inflation and drop interest rates.

When interest rates go down, it will be easier for people to settle their credit card, car, and housing loans.

The DOGE efforts in lowering the US national debt are therefore critical.

Trump is reviewing the international financial obligations that the US has been entangled in to make them fairer and to have direct, tangible effects on the people. Only when America is strong both financially and militarily will the subsequent global order and peace in the economic, finance, and security spheres be, too. This is one of the facts that has not been recognised and appreciated enough.

A Strong and Safe America is a Strong and Safe World

The United States is by far the world’s largest donor of international aid, providing close to $72 billion in foreign assistance in 2023, with nearly 61% of that money coming from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  However, hostile policies and unfair trade deficits continue to bleed US financial resources and resilience and the returns are not reflected  in proportionate terms for the decades of goodwill spending.

From the taxpayers’ money securing the global rules based order to funding vaccines, to funding the global GPS service which costs more than $2billion each year alone, other countries especially China have been reaping this systemic American safeguard of the world.

If America continues to weaken as hoped for by the alternatives who seek to dismantle its global primacy, the chain implications will be profound, and the world will not be safer.

Trump also stopped the prospects of WWIII, by fulfilling his vow to put an end to the senseless Ukraine war, and the steps taken now with the reset in ties with Moscow and the peace negotiations that have begun, all create a new hopeful era of global peace, as reflected in his pro peace approach during his first term where no major global conflict occurred and no major war was started.

The peace meeting and negotiations will not have been imaginable under Biden, and now Trump is left in the wake of Biden’s disastrous missteps and incompetence in, although he has now down more in the first month to create peace than what Biden did in his four years in seeing the world in security turmoil.

As the former UK Prime Minister put it, “what we are seeing now in America is a revolution, a conservative revolution, where all the problems that we have now whether its wokeism or anti-capitalism or extreme environmentalism – all those are being taken on by President Trump”.

In other words, common sense policies serve as the backbone of what is needed for a country, and the world in that regard.

*Collins Chong Yew Keat is a foreign affairs and strategy analyst and author in University of Malaya.*