Two Historic Achievements

Originally published at Fox News.  by Newt Gingrich

Analysts, historians, and scholars will look back on this week as the moment the Trump Administration became truly historic.
The publication of the National Security Strategy report on Monday, followed by the passage of the largest change to the tax code in 31 years, guarantees that President Trump’s first year in office will be seen as a remarkable success.
These are two very big achievements, and without the right leadership, focus, and determination, both could have easily failed.
The hostile and bitter news media has been, and continues to be, relentless in their mission to mislead the American people about the progress President Trump and Republicans are making.
They have continuously lied about Trump’s foreign and national security policies.
Similarly, they have spent the last few months misconstruing reports about tax reform. They have lied about policies and gone out of their way to emphasize anything about the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that they view as negative, while skillfully avoiding covering the cuts, credits, and reforms that will benefit hard-working Americans.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have been as relentlessly hostile as the news media and have been more focused on escalating anti-Trump pressure and “resistance” than working with Republicans and the President to pass positive reforms for the American people.
However, despite facing all of this aversion, the Republican team banded together and worked toward achieving big goals and implementing bold changes.
And this week, America saw them succeed.
Two very big, long-term projects came to fruition in a three-day period. One had taken almost a year. The other could be traced back to Paul Ryan’s call for tax reform in December of 1998 – before he was even sworn in as a freshman House member. In fact, it could be traced back 25 years to his work for Senator Bob Kasten and later, former Congressman Jack Kemp on supply-side economics and job creation.
Both of these historic achievements reflected candidate Trump’s campaign pledges.
During the campaign, candidate Trump articulated a stronger and stronger critique of the existing national security and foreign policy consensus. By the South Carolina primary, he was repudiating President George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. Throughout the campaign, his contempt and hostility for the Obama policies were intense, resolute, and unhesitating.
The new National Security Strategy report is an extraordinary break with the globalist elite model of a “New World Order,” which had defined U.S. foreign policy from the early 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union made the Reagan Doctrine outmoded – because it had worked.
The explicit linking of economic and technological goals as the long-term foundation for effective national security is a decisive break from the post-World War II pattern of giving away economic advantages in hopes of achieving diplomatic goals.
The definition of a sovereignty-based – or America first – approach to alliances and relationships is a recognition that ensuring our nation’s safety and preserving America’s role in the world, depends on a strong, prosperous American economy.
Amazingly, the new central role of economic growth came to fruition the very same week as the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
It is symbolically appropriate that the tax cuts designed to once again make America productive and prosperous passed the same week that the new National Security Strategy report was released.
The key slogan of the Trump presidential campaign was “Make America Great Again”.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is designed to make America greater by making America more competitive. The two goals of this legislation are to lower individual taxes so that working Americans have more money in their pockets and to lower business taxes so that businesses are incentivized to invest in the U.S. economy and create jobs.
Economist Stephen Moore believes these tax cuts, when combined with President Trump’s deregulation effort, could lead to 4 percent economic growth next year.
If Moore is right, the American people will have clear, undeniable proof that Trumpism works – while the Left’s anti-Trump deterrence strategy of spreading lies continues to fail.
Furthermore, at 4 percent real growth, our national security requirements will be much easier to fulfill.
This has been a truly historic week for America.
Your Friend,
Newt