I don't think we're in disagreement. He did #4, as I said. I personally believe he could have accomplished #1 and #3 with a second term. The point was he was really trying to accomplish those feats in spite of pressure. And, no... he wasn't getting backlash because he wanted to use our money. He got backlash because Democrats don't care about our border, as evidenced by our current crisis.

I conceded 5, and said he exposed the swamp, but did not drain it, so basically a concession there. The problem with the swamp is that who are you going to appoint to those positions if you think the people there are corrupt? I've thought about that myself. If you look outside the system, you are brining in people that will be in over their heads and exploited. If you look inside the system, there's a good chance you end up with someone on the take. It's not like you can just start from scratch without risking national security. I think it's a VERY difficult problem. I am more lenient than you there. It could be cronyism, but it could also just be trying to put competent people in places you trust.

For example, I believe Ben Carson is smart and honest. Having him in charge of HUD is clearly not an area of expertise for him, but is it something he can learn, break down, and repair. Unfortunately, having only 4 years to learn the system, he ended up accomplishing nothing. You can either look at that and say he's incompetent (which was inevitable for a time) or you can say Trump should have brought in an expert, which probably wouldn't have changed the status quo, either. Who knows with a second term? Carson reportedly wants to open a think-tank now because he feels like he has learned enough to start making an impact, but it's probably too little too late.

You're right in picking up that Trump has flaws. I just think we, the people, actually had a chance at manipulating his flaws to our advantage, as opposed to with the polished politicians that make it seem like they care when they don't.

Oh, the poll was a RealClearPolitic poll, but I can't find the link to it anymore. I did find one of their stories that referenced it, but the link wasn't there. The Atlantic also had an article that discussed the phenomenon.

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