What didn’t happen in 2017

The assessments of President Trump’s first eleven months in office that I posted last night focus on the administration’s accomplishments and some of the president’s foibles. Given the anti-Trump hysteria from the left and from some conservatives, it is also worthwhile to consider what didn’t happen this year.

Ignoring or violating court orders? Didn’t happen. When leftist judges pushed back against the administration, it modified the policies in question and tested them in court again.

Reckless military attacks on those who upset or annoy our allegedly unstable president? Didn’t happen (please don’t cite the April missile strike in Syria against an air field the regime used to launch chemical attacks on civilians).

Selling out to Putin? Didn’t happen. Indeed, as Scott discussed earlier today, Trump has reversed Obama administration policy by approving the sale of lethal weapons to Ukraine. He has also expanded sanctions against Russia.

Firing Robert Mueller? Didn’t happen. He did fire the James Comey, but that is best viewed as correcting the mistake Trump made when he decided to retain the treacherous, yet flaky, FBI director.

None of these items can be viewed as accomplishments. They represent the behavior we would expect from a sound president.

But it’s not what the Trump-hating critics expected from Trump. The critics were wrong, at least so far.

Thus, almost a year into Trump’s presidency, they are forced to hang their hats on tweets, comments at press conferences, and the hope that, after more than a year of searching, evidence of collusion with Russia will emerge or a case of obstruction of justice can be concocted.

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