President Donald Trump is weeks away from celebrating his first year in office. As such, now is probably a good time to reflect on the president’s accomplishments and shortcomings during his first year at the helm of the nation’s most important office. Is he a great president? A mediocre one? Perhaps just average?

Below, StrategicScope.com will attempt to “grade” the president on the first year of his term. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of the president’s actions, nor is it a scientific grading system. It’s just a general attempt at an objective, fair and unbiased look at president Trump’s overall performance in 2017.

Accomplishments (High Grades)

• Supreme Court Confirmation: President Trump successfully secured the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch less than 4-months after being inaugurated. Despite strong opposition from Democrats, Gorsuch was a relatively safe, respectful and non-controversial choice, having previously served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, to which he had been appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed without opposition in the Senate.
• Tax Reform: The president’s sole legislative victory was the passing of the $1.5 trillion tax reform package, which provides steep tax cuts for businesses, and more modest help for middle and low-income households. The tax bill also removes the individual mandates of the Affordable Care Act (ACA)/Obamacare. It’s the biggest tax legislation to be approved by Congress since 1986
• Executive Orders: President Trump has utilized his powers to sign more Executive Orders than most of his predecessors during the same time, including the reversal of Obama-era regulations, rolling back environmental protections and exiting the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP).
• Economy: The economy is doing great. Unemployment is at near historical lows, the stock market is at record highs and there’s a general sense of optimism among businesses and consumers alike. While the economic recovery has been ongoing for several years, there seems to be a lot of support in the business community for the president’s plans to cut corporate taxes, reduce regulations and emphasize fair trade by opening up foreign markets to U.S. companies.
• Confirmation of Cabinet Members: Most of the president’s cabinet selections were confirmed by the Senate, including somewhat controversial figures such as Betty DeVos as Education Secretary and Rex Tellerson for Secretary of State.
• Reducing Regulations: Under the current administration, agencies have issued 22 deregulatory actions for every one new regulatory action. Agencies have also withdrawn or delayed 1,579 planned regulatory actions, as the president aims to shrink the Code of Federal Regulations to the 1960 level of about 20,000 pages, down from 185,000 pages today.

Ongoing (Medium Grades)

• Muslim Travel Ban: Candidate Donald Trump vowed a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the United States. However, as president, Donald Trump narrowed the ban down to only 6 Muslim-majority countries. Ironically, of all the terror attacks on U.S. soil, almost none involved citizens from any of the countries covered by the ban. Additionally, legal challenges and court rulings have forced various refined versions of the ban. The initial ban was very poorly and hastily drafted and included a ban on many permanent residents of the United States as well as interpreters and other personnel who risked their lives supporting the U.S. military effort in Iraq. Also, the ban seemed to have initially included people who were already granted entry visas by the U.S. government. The ambiguity of the initial ban resulted in chaos at U.S. airports and created a very confusing situation for U.S. Customs and Border Control agents. However, the ban is now in effect, pending review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Foreign Policy: Despite the president’s forceful rhetoric, the current administration’s foreign policy is a bit vague. North Korea continues to develop its nuclear capabilities and provoke Washington by improving its long-rang missiles. No one is sure on whether Russia is a friend or foe. Relations with European allies have been strained as a result of the U.S. policy in the Middle East, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord, and interfering in the immigration policies of other countries. Further, secretary of state Rex Tillerson has often contradicted president Trump’s position on policies regarding North Korea and the Middle East, even reportedly referring to the president as a ‘moron’, all while a great number of senior diplomatic positions remain vacant. However, the overall contours of U.S. foreign policy remain unchanged.
• Russia Investigation: Despite consistent denials by the president and his allies, the investigation into allegations of collusion with Russia during the 2016 campaign continues to gain steam. Two former campaign associates, General Mike Flynn and George Papadopoulos have pled guilty of lying to the FBI and both men are apparently now cooperating with the investigation headed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Additionally, former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates have been indicted by a federal grand jury. Making matters worse, president Trump does not appear to be cooperating in good faith with the investigation, giving rise to accusations of obstruction of justice. Not content with just firing former FBI Director James Comey, the president and his allies continue to attack Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rob Rosenstein and even Attorney General Jeff Sessions, one of the earliest and most ardent supporters of the Trump candidacy. The president’s actions and rhetoric seem to indicate that he is worried about something and may have possibly given the Democrats enough ammunition for impeachment, should they win back Congress after the 2018 midterm elections.

Shortcomings (Low Grades)

• Failure to Repeal & Replace Obamacare: One of the key promises of candidate Donald Trump was to repeal and replace Obamacare on “day one” of his presidency. However, despite a Republican controlled Congress, Obamacare remains the law of the land.This has pushed a frustrated president Trump to try to undermine the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without providing a viable alternative. This has caused a record number of Americans, fearful of losing any healthcare insurance coverage, to signup for Obamacare, including many of president Trump’s core voters. Therefore, president Trump’s efforts to undermine Obamacare have ironically made it more popular.
• No Border Wall Yet: President Trump continues to vow to build a wall on the southern border with Mexico, at the Mexican government’s expense. However, the Mexican government has stubbornly resisted any efforts to fund the wall. As a result, budget issues and other matters such as eminent domain and the seizure of private land to build the wall have slowed down the project.
• Defiance of Sanctuary Cities: U.S. courts have prevented the Trump administration from withholding federal funds to cities with sanctuary policies for illegal/undocumented immigrants. In fact, California state leaders recently announced that the entire state of California is now a sanctuary state.
• Republican Party Divisions: Despite a loyal core base, the president’s rhetoric has alienated many of his Republican allies. The result is a near civil war within the Republican party. This was illustrated by the loss of the Virginia gubernatorial election, as well as the loss of a senate seat in the Republican stronghold of Alabama.
• Disunity: President Trump has made little effort to heal the divisions from his often divisive presidential campaign. Fear and resentment continue to galvanize various minority communities throughout the nation. This was especially evident during the clashes between supporters and opponents of removal of confederate statues in Charlottesville, VA, with the president seemingly sympathizing with some of the people siding with white supremacist.

Summary

President Trump’s first year has been a tumultuous one. The president is living up to his reputation as an outsider intent on disrupting how Washington DC does business. However, even with a Republican Congress, president Trump is finding out just how difficult and complicated it is to get things in a democracy, where painful compromise is often needed to account for the disparate needs of various constituencies. The president is discovering that he is not a king. He cannot overrule Congress or the courts. Much to his dismay, president Trump is finding it difficult to simply institute change by the stroke of a pen, including ordering legislation, firing everyone he disagrees with or locking up political opponents.

Given his lofty promises on  the campaign trail and the fact he enjoys a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress, the president’s shortcomings and divisive rhetoric significantly diminished and overshadowed many of his accomplishments. Therefore, we believe a fair overall grade for president Trump during his first year in office is a C-.