We Don’t Win Anymore

Trump has said at almost every chance he gets that America doesn’t “win” anymore.

“Our country doesn’t win anymore. We used to win, we don’t win anymore. We lose on trade, we lose with ISIS, we lose with one of the worst deals I’ve ever seen negotiated of any kind — that’s our recent deal with Iran.”

Comments like these punch a huge hole through the Republican idea of American Exceptionalism and instead sounds like some pinko communist. Why doesn’t he just start praising Russia? Oh wait, Trump already did that.

Reality

By all measures, we’re winning all the time. Here are a few examples:

And while we’re adding more and more to this list, it all adds up to a whole lot of winning.

Where We Don’t Win

But…But…But…

Those of you who want a “change candidate” have to contend with the fact that:

  1. The evidence shows things are going pretty well.
  2. Of course things can *always* be better but…
  3. Can you guarantee change you want will be for the better? Because Republican ideology of de-regulation got us into the Great Recession in the first place.

Now, I know we’ll see the tired old trope from Trump supporters that “Obama gave us the slowest growth since World War II.” Like what we see in this WSJ article.

But the only other economic event that 2008’s Great Recession could be compared to was the Great Depression, which occurred from 1929-39, a few years BEFORE America’s entry into World War II in 1941. So if you cherry pick your dates, pull some shenanigans like only looking at GDP growth without considering other factors, ignore the effects of the sequester and other cuts in government spending, or completely ignore America’s only other economic collapse, then yeah you can have a point.

But if you want to intellectually honest, and have a debate based on actual evidence, then you’ll have to contend with the full story.

That we win all the time.