The White House communications team did not like this characterization. On Tuesday, it published a video purporting to show The Post what we “missed” over the course of Trump’s “summer of winning.”
[...]
As subscribers are probably aware, The Post did not take the summer off. In fact, we covered each of the major stories included in the video package. It’s just that, outside the White House, those individual accomplishments aren’t really a powerful counterweight to the self-inflicted wounds Trump’s presidency has suffered since the beginning of July. Most of those “wins,” in fact, are either executive orders making incremental changes, achievements that happened before the summer or announced changes that exist in limbo.
Here is each “win,” presented in the order shown in the video, with additional context.
Mexico tightens its southern border in response to a Trump tariff threat. The Post did
report on this — but the change happened in early June.
Trump eased the process for eliminating student debt for wounded veterans. We
covered this, too.
[...]
“In a few moments, I will sign a memorandum directing the Department of Education to eliminate every penny of federal student loan debt owed by American veterans who are completely and permanently disabled,” he said. “Incredible. Nobody can complain about that, right? Nobody can complain about that. The debt of these disabled veterans will be entirely erased. It’ll be gone. And you’ll sleep well tonight.”
[...]
The debt forgiveness already existed.
[...]
Imposition of new sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader. Here’s
The Post’s report on the sanctions targeting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
[...]
Trump became the first president to enter North Korea. A historic moment, to be sure, but not necessarily a “win” for the United States.
[...]
Last month, we
reported on how North Korea’s provocations have continued even since Trump greeted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in the demilitarized zone between the Koreas. Trump conceded this month that Kim might be violating U.N. mandates but seemed simply to shrug at the possibility.
Trump reached a “safe third-party country” agreement with Guatemala. [
Covered.]
[...]
The problem? “Guatemala’s constitutional court,” The Post reported, “has ruled any safe third country agreement would require legislative approval and the proposal has been widely criticized there.”
[...]
An executive order increasing transparency in health-care pricing.
As The Post’s
report notes, the order “does not immediately trigger changes in the health-care system.” Instead, “it sets in motion several new rules [the Department of Health and Human Services] and other federal agencies will write and gives Trump a set of pro-consumer talking points in the first week after he formally announced his reelection campaign.”
Trump “got a lot accomplished” at the G-7 conference in France. [...] The accomplishments include …
A new trade deal with Japan. As our report on the agreement notes, any such deal would need congressional confirmation. What’s more, it’s not clear how close a deal is.
[...]
Trump signed an executive order aimed at making kidney transplants easier. Here’s
The Post’s report on that development.
The president met with various other foreign leaders.
[...]
Trump traveled to El Paso to meet with people affected by a mass shooting. It was this shooting that was apparently carried out by a gunman echoing Trump’s immigration rhetoric. The Post covered Trump’s visit.
[...]
The White House held an event focused on putting inmates back to work. The Post
covered this, too — when it happened in mid-June.
Trump signed an agreement on beef exports to the E.U. This, too, happened in mid-June, with Trump holding an event focused on it in early August.
Trump held an event celebrating American energy production. The event wasn’t really pegged to anything that happened over the summer. We did learn, though, that many in the audience were given a choice to attend or to not get paid.
[...]
The White House thinks that the actions detailed above outweigh the negatives, proving that Trump “won” all summer long. We’ll leave that assertion up to you to evaluate.
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