As the history books are written, Donald Trump’s presidencies aren’t likely to be recorded as the “golden age” that he and his followers hoped for. It’ll read as a tumultuous time for American democracy and diplomacy. It shouldn’t exactly read like the Book of Revelation either because much of his project has failed to materialize and, importantly, not everything that Trump has done is awful – some of what he does is quite good.
I’ve slung heavy criticism at the president so this will be an exercise in objectivity. Not that I need to exercise my objectivity, many people say that nobody is more objective than I am.
One example of something that isn’t necessarily a bad thing is that Trump has “motivated” the rest of NATO to increase their defense spending, thereby lessening America’s burden in the region. While some may be tempted to complain that these increases are merely a consequence of Trump scaring NATO into believing that the US cannot be counted on in the future, the fact is that we can maintain our commitment to European security while allowing European countries to pick up the slack.
Despite Trump antagonizing NATO countries, the military alliance is very likely to survive beyond Trump’s second term. Unfortunately, he’s also vowing to increase our own military spending by 12% to make it an even trillion next year, washing away any possible savings.
The Trump administration is also attempting to reduce prescription drug prices with his signing of the, “Lowering Drug Prices by Once Again Putting Americans First,” executive order in April and the “Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients” executive order last week.
According to the Trump administration, pharmaceutical companies are using American patients to subsidize drug costs in foreign nations. Given that Americans pay 3.22 times what comparable countries pay for brand name drugs, some version of this seems plausible.
Trump’s executive orders won’t lower drug prices without the help of Congress, by the White House’s own admission, but it is nevertheless a step in the right direction given the current state of affairs where other countries negotiate a price on behalf of their patients.
The plan is to tie the prices that Americans pay for drugs to those of other countries – if I may levy one small criticism: it would probably be unwise to bank on pharmaceutical companies simply eating the cost. They will probably either increase their prices in other countries, or retreat from whatever market our price is tied to in order to maintain their status quo in the larger American market.
It should strike one as a bit odd that our government is unwilling to institute the comprehensive power to negotiate prices with pharma companies, but is willing to do so by using other nations as proxies. It’s important to note that Trump is simultaneously attempting to impose tariffs on some prescription drugs, which could drive up prices.
On another issue, President Trump signed the Take It Down Act, which targets revenge porn and deepfakes. While it can be argued that deepfake photos are not genuine explicit depictions of the victim, and that punishing their publication presents troubling first amendment concerns, the impact that deepfakes can have on youth is difficult to ignore.
Dozens of teenagers have committed suicide as a result of deepfakes and sextortion (where a victim is blackmailed with the threat of releasing explicit material of them). Many more have suffered lasting emotional damage. I’ve criticized Trump for consistently choosing to take the least reasonable course of action so it’s only fair to commend him when he chooses sensibly.
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Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group.
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