On the eve of the "midterms", Trump's record is marked by a flourishing economy and short-termism

The large billboards in the background of Donald Trump's meetings constantly remind one of his campaign arguments: " Promises made, promises kept ". It is also one of the first advancing Joseph A. Bauer, crossed the 1^st November in Columbia (Missouri), who works in construction and presents himself as an average American, " the type of Joe you find everywhere ". Arrived at the White House on January 20, 2017, Donald Trump has deployed an activism that allows him today to praise achievements he considers unprecedented in the history of the United States.

During the first months of Trump's presidency, this behavior resulted in the proliferation of presidential decrees previously accused by Republicans of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama. Unlike the latter, he nevertheless has the full support of Congress.

The president claims full and exclusive paternity of a flourishing economic situation, already well on its way to power. It considers that it has been boosted by a wave of deregulation, particularly in the field of the environment, as well as a tax reform that benefited mbadively the companies and the wealthiest people.

Spectacular measures of distrust

This triumphalism is overshadowed by two phenomena: the anticipation of a gradual slowdown in the economy, already reflected by the stagnation of the stock market, which Donald Trump had made the barometer of its action in 2017; and the widening of an equally unprecedented fiscal deficit during a period of strong growth, a direct result of the tax reform that has dried up part of the revenues of the federal state.

The deficit is the blind spot for this economic success. Donald Trump promised during the campaign, new tax cuts for the middle clbad, noting the continuing unpopularity of his reform, without taking into account the theme of a reduction of social programs, considered by the republican leadership as the only possible way out.

Likewise, it has multiplied in just under two years spectacular measures of mistrust compared to an international consensus shared by previous administrations. He withdrew, in 2017, the United States from the international agreement to limit global warming – a theme he never addresses – without offering any alternative speech.

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He moved the US embbady in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem at the cost of an unprecedented crisis with the Palestinian side. This decision compromises the success of the peace plan it has announced for months. Trump also removed the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, negotiated by his predecessor in July 2015, before embarking on a new confrontation with the Tehran regime. An approach that has isolated the United States, supported only by Israel and their Gulf allies.

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Two major shadows hover over this progress report. The president proved unable to " delete and replace " the social protection put in place by Barack Obama, a promise that has been repeated for years by the Republican Party and that has disappeared from the campaign speeches that Obamacare has become popular. Donald Trump was similarly unable to make any progress on his favorite theme, immigration. The "wall" on the border with Mexico, which the latter had to finance, remained in the state of promise.