Trump's leadership is exemplary so far

It’s August. Surely the world and the government can take a break before everything falls apart again.

During the 2024 campaign for president, “experts” predicted an avalanche of bad news for a Trump 2.0 presidency including health concerns for the Commander in Chief. As you might imagine before 2024 ended experts were predicting worldwide economic crises tumbling one after another due to Trump’s tariffs and deals. Of course, all the experts predicted soaring inflation and a worldwide recession.

So far in 2025, the sky has not fallen over America. Trump’s tariffs and deals have produced income from other nations as well as new jobs returning to America from overseas.

Returns have been measured in terms of billions of dollars whereas before President Trump’s deals America was at the bottom in the international standings regarding reciprocal trade deals and tariffs.

NATO nations have agreed to increase their fair share of defense spending to strengthen Ukraine’s position in the war with Russia, though still no breakthrough with Putin for a cease fire.

Hopefully President Putin will not squander his meager gains in Ukraine with thousands more young soldiers and innocent civilians dying unnecessarily every week. Please end this senseless war. Trump’s warnings to Russia about sanctions have elicited raw responses from Dmitry Medvedev, currently deputy head of Russia’s security council. He has described Westerners as “bastards and degenerates,” declared that “Ukraine is, of course, Russia,” and raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Russia’s enemies.

Last week President Trump responded, “Based on the highly provocative statements, I have ordered two nuclear submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.” That’s a refreshing response to an aggressive Russian boast that’s wasted three years of wealth and butchery of millions of innocents to prove some kind of international bravado. Who could have predicted such a war in the face of what President Biden dismissed as a “minor” incursion?

Back to the real world in 2025, Congress has recessed for the summer break opening a large berth for topical social and cultural spats.

For example, American actress Sydney Sweeney dared to pose in a pair of American Eagle blue jeans. Of course, that set off the wild woke Nazi killers. Anyone could see how an attractive blonde, blue-eyed white model would resurrect images of German Nazis touting their own superior nationalistic genes … uh, jeans at Fuhrer und Reichskanzler Hitler rallies in 1930s Germany!

Seriously? Like I said, August is a historically slow month for real news.

Back in Washington, the White House is touting, “real wages for hourly workers have seen their largest increase under any administration in nearly 60 years….” The U.S Treasury has raked in the first June surplus since 2005 with nearly $90 billion in tariff duties since January 2025.

Maybe the biggest news for Americans was passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill. Voting to keep the Tax and Jobs Act of 2017 delivered the largest tax cut in American history. That Act significantly reformed the U.S. tax code, lowering individual and corporate tax rates, nearly doubling the standard deduction, and eliminating personal exemptions. Every Democrat in Congress voted against those tax cuts, which would have substantially raised taxes on individuals and businesses in 2026.

Whew! Page A2 Thursday, August 7, 2025 MAGNOLIA GAZETTE