Every president has their legacy. George Washington set the standard for presidents, that’s his. Abraham Lincoln preserved the union. LBJ massively expanded government and helped destroy families. Legacies can be good or bad, but they are lasting and form how that president is thought of by future generations. President Donald Trump’s legacy has yet to be written, and if leftists have their way it will be as negative as anyone could imagine. But if there’s justice in the world, and intelligence, Donald Trump’s legacy will not only be positive, it will be lasting.
If you read the New York Times you’d think President Trump will go down as the worst we’ve ever had, if you watched MSNBC-CNN you’d think he’ll go down as a war criminal, even though he, unlike most of his predecessors, didn’t start any wars. But what it should be is clearly and unequivocally positive.
So what did Donald Trump do that should be his legacy? The economy? Record-low unemployment? No, it’s something much more significant and important, provided we’re smart enough as a nation to recognize it and, honestly, not screw it up.
To hear the media tell it, Donald Trump bungled handling the coronavirus, like he could somehow have stopped a microscopic virus China hid from the world until it was too late. But the coronavirus response by the Trump administration led to what could be one of the greatest legacies any president could have: Operation Warp Speed.
I’m not talking about the program that created a vaccine in a fraction of the time it has ever taken to create one, I’m talking about what was done to make it, or more accurately allow it, to happen.
With Operation Warp Speed, President Trump exposed one of the greatest lies politicians have been telling for generations: the government is helpful and necessary.
That’s not to say government isn’t necessary, but what Operation Warp Speed showed us is just how intrusive and obstructive government has become. What normally would have taken years took less than one – a new vaccine, two, from nothing for a virus the world didn’t know existed a year ago.
Operation Warp Speed cut through all the red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy government had allowed to grow, unfettered, over decades. We’d gotten used to it, accepted it, to the point we were barely aware of its existence. President Trump cut through it like a jungle guide with a machete. In doing so, and with spectacular success, the president made us all wonder why it was there in the first place.
The fact of the matter is this: were Hillary Clinton President of the United States, or really any Democrat or any other Republican, this likely would not have happened.
No Democrat would have accepted the removal of government, any layer of it, from a process they’d worked so hard to insert it into. The thought wouldn’t have occurred to them. Democrat governors impose restrictions and lockdowns with the excitement of a kid ripping open Christmas presents; COVID is seen as an opportunity as much as a crisis, and they never want a good crisis to go to waste. Judging by what they’ve said publicly, this is a chance to change things, to impose their perverted view of “justice.” The idea of expediting an end to this opening is inconceivable.
On the other hand, other Republicans in Washington talk a good game about reducing the size and scope of government, but when it comes to actually doing anything to make that happen…they’re not so great at that. Either they campaign one way and govern another, or they’re too cowardly to implement the actions they say they want. Either way, the result in the same: status quo. If the idea of waiving regulations and red tape had occurred to them, the likelihood of them doing anything about it is almost zero. Highly paid consultants would’ve focus-grouped it out of them.
Donald Trump is a lot of things, but one thing he is not is a consultant-driven, focus-group typical politician. He’s a businessman who sees a problem and tries to take the most direct route to solving it. When it comes to legislating, it’s not really possible with Congress being involved. But when it is something completely contained in the executive branch, there’s nothing preventing action, and he took it. Most Republicans wouldn’t have had the guts because it meant also opening yourself up to all the blame if it didn’t work. No guts, no glory.
Donald Trump had the guts entitles him to the glory, all of it. And thank God he was president at a time when we needed a president with guts. As these vaccines roll out, remember he’s about the only person with a chance to be president who would have done what was essential to get us to this point.
More importantly, he’s shown it’s possible to rein in government in an emergency and make things better. Once people realize that, maybe they’ll realize it’s possible in non-emergency situations, and that it’s important there too. And maybe, just maybe, Republicans will start working toward accomplishing some of those other goals they’ve campaigned on wanting too. That is one hell of a legacy.
Derek Hunter is the host of a free daily podcast (subscribe!), host of a daily radio show on WCBM in Maryland, and author of the book, Outrage, INC., which exposes how liberals use fear and hatred to manipulate the masses. Follow him on Twitter at @DerekAHunter.