Before the House impeachment vote in December 2019, Trump sent a letter to Nancy Pelosi decrying the impeachment process. Basically saying, “It’s not fair!” The letter is full of debunked lies, but I thought I’d take a look specifically at the accomplishments he claims to see what he got right.

1. He says: He created 7 million new jobs.
   Fact: Close. There’ve been about 6.6 million new jobs created, but that’s about the same level of job growth Obama left him with.
2. He says: We have the lowest-ever unemployment for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans
   Fact: Not a myth. This one’s true.
3. He says: He rebuilt the military.
   Fact: He’s made a good start and there are a lot of improvements in progress, but there’s a long way to go, according to military officials.
4. He says: He completely reformed the VA with Choice and Accountability for our great veterans.
   Fact: The program he’s referring to here was created by Obama. He did build on Obama’s achievement, though.
5. He says: He has more than 170 new federal judges and two Supreme Court Justices confirmed.
   Fact: I have 158 as of November, so this could be true. But it’s only an accomplishment if you don’t want a fair and balanced justice system.
6. He says: He oversaw historic tax and regulation cuts.
   Fact: His tax cuts rank 6th in tax cuts over the last century, measured as a percentage of GDP. Carter had more deregulation than Trump.
7. He says: He eliminated the individual mandate of the ACA.
   Fact: This is true, and insurance companies raised their premiums in anticipation of it.
8. He says: We saw the first decline in prescription drug prices in half a century.
   Fact: The last decrease in drug prices occurred in 2013, and have occurred periodically before that. Prices have been increasing again, but the trend depends on the method you use to determine the price and the year on which you base the index.
9. He says: He created the first new branch of the United States Military since 1947, the Space Force.
   Fact: That’s just about to happen. Whether it’s an achievement or not is subjective; I’ll just say that time will tell.
10. He says: He’s provided strong protection of the Second Amendment.
    Fact: I have no idea what he’s talking about here. No new legislation has been enacted to further codify protections for gun ownership. But there is bipartisan agreement right now for researching gun violence.
11. He says: He enacted criminal justice reform.
    Fact: This is true and was much needed. Trump signed the First Step Act into law with strong bipartisan support.
12. He says: We have a defeated ISIS caliphate and killed the world’s number one terrorist leader, al-Baghdadi
    Fact: Yes, we kicked them off their land, but ISIS is still a global threat. The killing of al-Baghdadi is a good accomplishment.
13. He says: He replaced the “disastrous” NAFTA trade deal with the wonderful USMCA (Mexico and Canada).
    Fact: The new agreement is about 90% identical to the previous one, with most of the changes being based on the other “disastrous” trade deal, the TPP. However, this trade deal was due for some modernization.
14. He says: He signed a breakthrough Phase One trade deal with China.
    Fact: It’s debatable how significant this is, though the intellectual property changes are good.
15. He says: He signed massive new trade deals with Japan and South Korea.
    Fact: As above, it’s debatable how significant this is.
16. He says: He withdrew us from the “terrible” Iran Nuclear Deal.
    Fact: Wow. I’m writing this after four weeks with some hindsight, and I’m going to say this might not be something he wants to brag about. Iran has fully started up its nuclear weapon development, we’ve killed one of their military leaders, and Iraq wants us out, leaving a vacuum for Iran to fill. The JCPOA was keeping Iran from nuclear arms development.
17. He says: He withdrew from the “unfair and costly” Paris Climate Accord.
    Fact: This is subjective, but it did remove us 100% from any leadership role in global climate issues.
18. He says: We became the world’s top energy producer.
    Fact: This occurred during Obama’s term in 2014.
19. He says: He recognized Israel’s capital, opening the American Embassy in Jerusalem, and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
    Fact: He did do all this. It’s subjective, though, depending on your ideological views.
20. He says: He oversaw a colossal reduction in illegal border crossings
    Fact: The CBP’s own numbers refute this (although, according to the AP, border arrests are not a good measure of illegal immigration).
21. He says: He ended Catch-and-Release.
    Fact: Mostly he did this, but detainees are still being released. He replaced it with the zero tolerance policy, which separated over 5,000 children from their families. So if you think that’s an accomplishment…
22. He says: He’s building the Southern Border Wall.
    Fact: The wall has been held up by many issues, including environmental impacts, eminent domain issues, and funding. According to CBP, they’ve replaced 90 miles of fencing and added three new miles.