A little less than a year ago, a significant number of independent and Republican voters decided to trade bad tweets for bad policy. Today, your Twitter feed is void of President Trump’s tweets. But the price was high.
Gone are the good policies that drove the Trump economy and made the world a safer place. In their place are policies antithetical to prosperity, freedom and security.
You traded energy efficiency for dependency on the Middle East. Whereas a year ago you enjoyed inexpensive gas, high paying energy jobs, and fewer incentives to entangle ourselves in Middle Eastern politics, today President Biden is begging OPEC to produce more oil. Apparently, his climate agenda can handle more oil production as long as Americans aren’t the ones profiting from it.
You traded an energy pipeline out of Canada for a crime pipeline out of Mexico. Instead of creating jobs for skilled American workers, Biden is creating opportunities for cartels, traffickers and COVID-positive migrants. By the end of 2021, according to New Mexico Rep. Yvette Herrell, the number of undocumented and illegal migrants welcomed across our borders by the Biden administration will be equivalent to the population of her whole state – about 2 million people.
Trump said no to federally funding abortion. You traded for Biden, who wants your taxes to pay for abortion, and your tax dollars are being sent around the world to fund abortion in other countries.
You traded rising wages for rising prices. Inflation is up sharply – 5.4% from a year ago, swallowing any wage gains produced by a tight labor market. In just the first eight months of the new administration, we are all paying more for food, gas, housing and vehicles.
With Democrats controlling the House, the Senate and the presidency, our national debt has exploded to more than $28 trillion. That’s enroute to an expected $40 trillion to $45 trillion within 10 years. In just seven months, Democrats have spent $6.5 trillion of the estimated $3.8 trillion expected in federal revenues this year.
Though President Trump was no fan of austerity, his spending priorities, tax reductions and approach to regulations at least drove economic growth and prosperity. Since Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., took control of the House purse strings three years ago, Democrat bills marketed as COVID relief or infrastructure are generally filled with bailouts and slush funds. We’re lucky if the percentages available to fulfill the bill’s purpose is above single digits.
You traded safety and security for less safety and security. The one and only spending priority Democrats have shown a willingness to cut is security. Their spending legislation cuts military spending by nearly $400 billion over the next 10 years.
Their immigration agenda demands dramatic reductions in border security and deportations. Their rhetoric demands defunding the police, releasing criminals without bail, reducing felonies to misdemeanors, and electing prosecutors who refuse to charge those who commit crimes. They have no solution to the crime problem that continues to get worse under their watch.
You traded fairness for a George Orwell version of equality. Under the new administration, there are two systems of justice. Protesters on the left can set buildings ablaze, vandalize them and shoplift with impunity. Protesters on the right will be branded, surveilled and prosecuted as domestic terrorists.
Americans are not better off than we were eight months ago, with one notable exception. Trump’s efforts to engage the private sector in fast-tracking the vaccine have been enormously successful. For that success, Joe Biden is happy to take credit.
But the grim reality for Trump haters is this: the tradeoff has been costly. The cost could become even more dear if Democrats are successful in leveraging their slim majority to commandeer control of local elections. Their ability to tilt the playing field dramatically in their favor could prevent voters from ever restoring the freedom and prosperity we took for granted just eight months ago.
Jason Chaffetz is a Fox News contributor, a distinguished fellow for the Government Accountability Institute, former chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and the host of the “Jason In The House” podcast.