[Maru]

As a person, not much of my opinion has not changed... he's still a malignant narcissistic toddlerman... and he is fairly consistently behaving on Twitter using that school of thought.

Tax Cuts:

I'm pleasantly surprised in some ways, especially later into the year when things started finally getting passed. The tax cuts were the right call... our corporate tax rate was way too high as it were and some of the highest in the world. It doesn't make for creating jobs locally and that's what we badly need in many states in the US.

There still needs to be another tax bill though... especially to address the tax loopholes and make the code leaner than it is atm. I was a fan of the new tax bracket system they were going to, it was much simpler and seemed to work better for those in lower brackets... but unfortunately that got canned near the end in order for it to get put through.

Our standard deductions will be double next year. I'm on border where I would need to itemize, but with the deduction increases will push that off for a little while longer.

Net Neutrality:

As for net neutrality rules being pulled, I'm 50/50. There were still practices before that the rules technically should've prevented, but the FCC said "oh this is innovative!"... so as long as they have the say in the end if something is outside their purview, then it might as well be deregulated... I don't think that that means companies will start charging stupid rates for broadband/cable...if anything, they will be begging us for business as many are now cord cutters, buying their own modems, etc to cut fees (since more tech savvy populace)... and I call cancellations once a year to renegotiate my fees, so I never really get screwed anyway.

The cellular industry is not regulated like fiber, and because of increased competition and the FCC preventing stupid mergers (like Deutsche merging T-mo and AT&T, etc), we've seen some pretty major wins in the past several years in terms of pricing and it has been very beneficial for the customer. So I think that breaking up monopolies certainly helps... but I actually think that red tape tends to hold back innovation and expansion... that's the issue with fiber. The US is just too big... and so only certain companies really have a strong foothold (like Comcrap)

Foreign Policy:

This is where his behavior on social media has the most negative effect. There were times we thought we'd get bombed... but you know... maybe some aggressive language is not a bad thing, if it forces other countries to not be too comfortable leaning on us for their own welfare. He did make some good choices for foreign policy... for example, Nikki Haley. A great choice and she's done a wonderful job as our UN ambassador.

His Family Business:

My biggest issue is he has not done enough to distance himself from his private business. He hasn't divested, so I believe he's still receiving a portion of his income from the Trump brand... though his kids are running it and supposedly they "don't talk about it"... his various trips to Florida, Mar a Lago has depleted the secret service budget and it's caused serious headaches for people running businesses locally. I also don't think it's right that he's hosting foreign dignitaries at these properties... and supposedly they are also staying in his hotels when in town. It's a huge breach in public trust imo and also a major conflict of interest...

Overall:

He's better than I expected in some ways, worse in others. Still a lot left to be desired... he's still saying stupid cr*p but I think for the most part, I've gotten used to it.

Many people thought he would be more of a centrist after the election, as people thought he was still a Democrat at heart. I'm actually surprised how conservative some of his policies are... and some of it is not actually a bad thing.

Ask me again in another year... This presidency is a bit of a roller coaster ride. Especially with foreign policy.