The Trump, the Dems won't talk about

Sir John Key's recent interview with Stuff journalist Samantha Hayes, seems to have brought the always-latent 'Trump Derangement Syndrome' to new foam-flecked heights. That Key should express preference for a second Trump administration, at least on economic grounds, hasn't stopped local ire, even though we may do very nicely from a resurgent US economy. No, according to Key's critics, all of the supposed Trump failures of both omission and commission must be evaluated.
Taking Trump 'in toto', let's look at a few Trump successes. By adopting a 'don't tread on me' posture and without entering any new ME war, Trump destroyed Isis and killed Iranian warlord Soleimani. Consider the recent emboldenment of Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthi to underline the abject failure of post-Trump policies. Despite Putin's invasions of nearby territories during three out of four adjacent presidencies, he made no such moves under Trump. Likewise, China made no threats against Taiwan during the Trump presidency, but has done so repeatedly under Biden. NATO members grizzled like spoiled children when told by Trump to up their defence spending to long-agreed two percent of GDP levels. But, in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine, NATO has fallen into line. Trump reduced US forces in Afghanistan and was set to continue the drawdown through the defensible military base at Bagram. Regrettably, it was left to Biden to ignominiously cut and run from Kabul's main airport, with unnecessary loss of life. The Bagram base was left to the Taliban along with billions of dollars worth of war materiel. No chance of getting that gear out or disabling it with Biden's headstrong timetable. Want a cheap Humvee? - call 0800 TALIBAN. The US Southern Border is a disaster and it was deliberate acts by Biden to cancel Trump's initiatives that has brought this about. The hopelessly late attempts by Kamala Harris to 'hang tough' on the border, simply underline the correctness of Trump's stance. The former President's critics seized on the January 6th Capitol events as an insurrection that posed a threat to democracy, yet ignore importation of millions of illegal (and likely Democrat voting) migrants, that would prevent a Republican presidency for decades to come. It is noteworthy that in the last couple of days, Vice-Presidential nominee Tim Walz, has again promoted the idea of scrapping the Electoral College, this being the mechanism by which the Constitution ensures the continuation of the Union. The Democrat companion policy of stacking the Supreme Court, adds to the power-at-any-cost, nation-destroying approach of the Democrats. Domestically, Trump's economic policies bequeathed Biden a record low inflation of 1.8 percent, but by 2022, he had overseen a quadrupling of the rate. Electorally Blacks and Hispanics who have been bottom of the economic 'pile', are moving to the GOP in record numbers. For Hispanics who migrated legally, sometimes taking years to achieve their dream, the sight of millions entering just by walking across the border, is too much to bear.  But it is the increasing number of Black Americans changing sides that is the most interesting. Their realisation that their reliance on welfare promoted by the Democrats, has been their undoing. Until FDR's 'New Deal' in the 1930s, Blacks had been proud supporters of the party of the Great Emancipator Abraham Lincoln. The Democrats are the party of slavery, of the KKK and Jim Crow.  Biden also failed to build on the rapprochement Trump had forged with North Korea's Kim, with the result that Kim is now firmly back in the role of useful idiot to China and Russia. It is noteworthy that Obama told the incoming Trump that Kim was his 'worst foreign policy threat', yet from a standing start President Trump met with Kim three times. History will show Obama to be the charlatan he undoubtedly is, but his power over the Democrats means that a major step towards peace in our near neighbourhood to the  North, had to be sacrificed on the altar of Obama's ego. The next time North Korea fires a test rocket into the South Pacific, I suggest John Key's critics take time to reflect.