As the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency came to a close, it is difficult to try to define it. The Economist published a scathing piece saying “Mr Trump has been a poor president in his first year.”

A Troubled Anniversary

With the one year mark passing on his presidency, Trump was required to take his annual medical, while many called for him to undergo mental health testing as well. The economist called into the spotlight the fact that first 365 days in office have made a vocal group of Americans – from medical experts to lay people – wonder about his mental wellness. The U.S. now finds itself caught in a debate over the president’s sanity.
Is the president truly deserving of this criticism based on the past year? Will the next one be any better?

The “Very Stable Genius” in 2017

In his own words, Trump is a “very stable genius.” That said, the Economist recently released a piece slamming him and saying that 2018 may be even worse. The Economist is hardly alone. Other respected news media such as CNBC added a similar sentiment in their summary of the last year.
The Economist underscored the struggles still facing the United States and that as a result of the last year, many of them are much more immediately threatening to the American people. For instance, the Economist pointed to the current Twitter boasting the president is making in his nuclear boasting against North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, saying that his nuclear button – a device that does not actually exist – is the larger of the two.
The economist cautioned that the presidency “it is also incomplete and a dangerous distraction.

Where Did 2017 Leave the US?

Since President Trump took office, the economy continued its growth from when Barack Obama was in the Oval Office, said the Economist. Blue collar income growth took off even faster than the economy as a whole. Unemployment rates have continued to decline and the stock market is climbing. These are trends that have continued throughout the world economy since 2010.
Most of the loudest campaign threats Trump made before becoming president have been pushed to the back burner. Still the decisions he has made have been slicing the country away from international relationships upheld for years, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which is currently in renegotiations with Canada and Mexico, as well as the departure from the TPP. He labeled NATO as obsolete.

Within his country, he has made multiple attempts to ban visits from several countries with primarily Muslim populations, has proposed a mass deportation of 11 million illegal immigrants from the U.S., including the “Dreamers,” and may recently have made vulgar remarks about African and Caribbean countries – the fallout of which American diplomats in those countries continue to struggle.
Though the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) has bipartisan support, it has been expired for months, leaving kids from low-income families at risk of running out of health care coverage.

Trump’s Legislative Accomplishments

Despite Trump’s repeated failure to repeal the Affordable Care Act, he did create a tax reform he’d been aiming to make. He has also withdrawn considerable support to environmental and human health projects and programs, as well as withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement, the results of which have yet to be seen.
According to the economist: “His opportunism and lack of principle, while shameful, may yet mean that he is more open to deals than most of his predecessors.”
The paper warned that: “The danger of the Trump character obsession is that it distracts from deeper changes in America’s system of government.” They went on to say that “Mr Trump is a deeply flawed man without the judgment or temperament to lead a great country. America is being damaged by his presidency.”