Republican Party : President Trump Is Making The World (And Space) Safe Again

The Facts:

PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS KEPT HIS PROMISE TO STAND UP TO ROGUE REGIMES LIKE RUSSIA, IRAN, VENEZUELA AND CUBA, AND KEPT HIS PROMISE TO ELIMINATE THE TERRORIST GROUP ISIS

• Under President Trump's leadership, ISIS has been defeated and its notorious leader and founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been eliminated.
• President Trump has stood up to Russia and bolstered allies in the wake of Russian provocations and election interference:
  • The Trump Administration has implemented a wide array of sanctions and other punitive actions against Russia for their destabilizing actions and provocations against the U.S. and its allies.
  • President Trump has bolstered NATO spending, and increased the U.S. contribution to the European Deterrence initiative in the face of Russian provocations.
  • The U.S. has increased troops and its military capability in Eastern Europe and dramatically increased training and drills with its NATO partners.
  • President Trump has pressured allies to oppose Vladimir Putin's number one geo-economic project, the Nord Stream 2 Pipeline.
  • President Trump allowed the sale of lethal weapons to Ukraine addressing the country's vulnerability to Russian-backed separatists in its eastern provinces.
• President Trump has put the pressure on Iran including withdrawing from the flawed Iranian Nuclear Deal, applying stringent sanctions to the country, and rolling back the country's destabilizing activities across the Middle East including eliminating Iranian General Qassem Soleimani.
  • On January 2, 2020, the Pentagon announced Thursday that the U.S. killed Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, at the direction of President Donald Trump.
    • Top Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes was killed alongside Gen. Soleimani.
    • Soleimani was designated as a terrorist by the Obama Administration in 2011, and has been sanctioned many times by the Department of the Treasury.
    • CNN National Security Analyst Michael Weiss : Soleimani ran a proxy war that killed 'at least' 603 American soldiers in Iraq.
    • Former FBI agent and MSNBC contributor Clint Watts : 'Soleimani led an Iran- US proxy war in Iraq for the last decade.'
    • CNN's Jim Sciutto : Hundreds of American families watched news of Soleimani's killing particularly closely, he engineered attacks that 'that killed hundreds of US service-members & wounded thousands more.'
  • On May 8, 2018, President Trump fulfilled his campaign promise by withdrawing from the dangerous Iran Nuclear deal.
  • President Trump has applied stringent sanctions to the country in response to its provocations across the Middle East.
• President Trump has stood up against Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro and thrown his support behind Venezuela's Democratically elected interim President Juan Guaido:
  • Since taking office, President Trump has issued five executive orders that hinder the Maduro regime's ability to sustain its control over the country's economy and state-owned assets.
  • As of June 2020, the Trump Administration has sanctioned at least 144 Venezuelan individuals or Venezuela-connected individuals, and the State Department has revoked more than 700 visas, including 107 of former diplomatic personnel.
    • Since 2017, the U.S. has made over 300 Venezuelan related sanctions designations .
    • Under an executive order relating to human rights and anti-democratic actions, the Trump Administration has sanctioned 91 Venezuelan officials.
    • The U.S. has imposed a travel ban on members of Venezuela's Maduro-controlled Constituent Assembly.
    • The Trump Administration has also imposed sanctions on Venezuela's state oil company (Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A., or PdVSA), government, and central bank.
    • After outreach by the Trump Administration, the Bank of England blocked the Maduro regime's attempted withdrawal of $1.2 billion worth of gold.
  • On January 23, 2019, President Trump recognized Venezuelan National Assembly President, Juan Guaidó, as the Interim President of Venezuela.
    • The U.S. has given Guaidó control of Venezuela's assets and property in U.S.-based bank accounts.
    • Following President Trump's lead, at least 57 other countries have affirmed their support for Guaidó as the rightful President of Venezuela.
    • In a demonstration of his commitment to Democracy in Venezuela, President Trump hosted Guaidó for his 3^rd State of the Union Address.
  • The Trump Administration's Venezuela's policy and, in particular, its decision to recognize Juan Guaidó as the legitimate President of Venezuela has been cheered by Democrats in Florida.
    • In January 2019, thousands of Venezuelans gathered in a park outside Miami to voice their support for President Trump's decision to recognize Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's interim President.
    • Politico : 'To Venezuelan exiles in Florida, the national Democrats criticizing Trump sound as if they're echoing Maduro.'
  • NBC news op-ed : 'Trump's Venezuela's policy isn't a case of right versus left. It's a case of right versus wrong.'
  • Los Angeles Times op-ed : 'Trump is getting it right on Venezuela. In fact, he needs to double down.'
  • Politico op-ed : 'Trump is right about Venezuela.'
• The Trump administration has rolled back President Obama's disastrous rapprochement with Cuba, which only benefited the country's dictatorship instead of its people.
  • At the direction of President Trump, the Department of Transportation has suspended flights beginning October 13, 2020.

PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS STOOD UP TO CHINA ON TRADE, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY THEFT, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES, AND DESTABILIZING ACTIVITIES IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA:

• On the campaign trail, Republican Presidential Candidate Donald Trump promised to protect American workers and stand up to trade cheating 'anywhere and everywhere.'
• As a candidate, President Trump promised to stand up to China's illegal activities by applying tariffs and bringing trade cases against China for its theft of intellectual property and illegal product dumping.
• Candidate Trump also promised to stand up to China's aggression in the South China Sea.
• President-elect Trump emphasized the United States' close political, economic, and security ties to Taiwan.
• On August 18, 2017, the USTR initiated an investigation of any of China's 'laws, policies, practices, or actions that may be harming American intellectual property rights, innovation, or technology development.'
  • On July 6, 2018, President Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on $34 billion of Chinese imports.
  • On August 23, 2018, President Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on $16 billion of imports from China.
  • On September 24, 2018, President Trump imposed tariffs on 10% of $200 billion of Chinese imports.
  • On May 10, 2019, President Trump raised the rate on previous tariffs from 10% to 25%.
• Following President Trump's pressure on China, the two countries signed a phase one trade agreement on January 15, 2020.
  • The agreement includes stronger legal protections for American goods.
  • The deal also includes commitments by China to eliminate pressure for foreign companies to transfer technology, ending its currency devaluation, improve access to its financial services market, and refrain from supporting outbound investment aimed at acquiring foreign technology.
  • In the deal, China committed to purchasing at least $200 billion American products and services and increase its purchases of U.S. agricultural products.
• President Trump has applied stringent sanctions on China due to its unfair trade practices, intellectual property theft, and human rights abuses:
  • Since September 2019, the Commerce Department and State Department have imposed export restrictions on 21 Chinese government entities and 16 Chinese companies complicit in the abuses in Xinjiang.
    • The State Department has also imposed visa restrictions on Chinese communist party officials deemed responsible for the abuse of Uighurs.
  • In October 2019, the Trump Administration imposed visa restrictions and import controls on organizations in Xinjiang, the location of China's human rights abuses against its Uighur Muslim minority population.
  • On July 1, 2020, President Trump issued an advisory to U.S. businesses against contributing to China's human rights abuses through their operations in Xinjiang warning these businesses will face reputational, economic and legal risks by associating with entities that engage in human rights abuses.
  • On June 17, 2020, President Trump signed a bill pressuring China over its human rights abuses in Xinjiang to its Uighur population.
  • On July 9, 2020, President Trump imposed sanctions on Chinese officials over the mass detention of Muslims.
    • The targets of the sanctions included a member of China's 25-member ruling Politburo, Chen Quanguo, former deputy press secretary of Xinjiang region, Zhu Hailun, and Director of the Xinjiang Public Security Bureau, Wang Mingshan.'
• The Trump Administration ' champions a free and open Indo-Pacific region' and is standing up to Beijing's unlawful claims to resources in the sea.
  • On July 13, 2020, the Trump Administration announced it regards 'virtually all Chinese maritime claims outside its internationally recognized waters to be illegitimate.'
    • Foreign Policy : 'The new U.S. policy is the first full-throated rejection' of China's encroachment in the region.
    • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo : 'The world will not allow Beijing to treat the South China Sea as its maritime empire.'
  • On July 6, 2020, the U.S. conducted joint exercises with two U.S. aircraft carrier groups in the South China Sea in freedom of operation missions.
• On November 28, 2019, President Trump signed the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, which requires the U.S. to annually certify Hong Kong is independent enough from Beijing to retain favored trading status.
  • The bill allows the U.S. to impose sanctions and travel restrictions on individuals who commit human rights violations in Hong Kong.
• President Trump has bolstered the United States' support for Taiwan, including ramping up arms sales and implementing laws to support Taiwan in the face of increased Chinese pressure.
  • After the 2016 election, President Trump became the first U.S. leader to speak directly with a Taiwanese leader since the United States broke diplomatic relations in 1979.
    • In the call, President Trump noted the 'close economic, political and security ties between Taiwan and the United States.'
  • President Trump approved an $8 billion sale of F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan to aid in their military defense capacity.
  • Under President Trump's Administration, U.S. warships regularly sail through the Taiwan Strait in routine operations.
  • On March 26, 2020, President Trump signed the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act of 2019 which requires the Department of State to report to Congress on steps taking by the U.S. government to strengthen Taiwan's diplomatic relations with other partners in the Indo-Pacific region and to alter the U.S.' engagement with nations that undermine the security of prosperity of Taiwan.
• Upon entering office, President Trump signed an executive order investigating China's intellectual property theft in the United States.
  • The Trump Administration's Department of Justice has pressed charges against numerous Chinese citizens for economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.
  • In January 2019, President Trump led a multination condemnation of China's IP theft and the stealing of trade secrets.
  • In May 2020, President Trump issued a proclamation barring Chinese graduate students with potential military ties from studying the U.S. to protect U.S. research against intellectual property theft.
  • On July 22, 2020, the Trump Administration ordered the Chinese consulate in Houston closed due to Chinese diplomats aiding economic espionage and the attempted theft of scientific research.
  • In May 2019, President Trump signed an executive order laying the basis to block Chinese telecommunications companies, and particularly Huawei, from selling equipment in the U.S. in order to neutralize Beijing's ability to compromise next-generation wireless networks and U.S. computer systems.
    • On May 15, 2020, President Trump extended his executive order targeting Huawei until May 2020.
  • President Trump has ramped up pressure to ban the phone app, Tik Tok, from the country citing privacy concerns due to the company's close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.
  • On May 1, 2020, President Trump issued an executive order to limit the use of foreign supplied components in the nation's electric grid due to stop China's potential ability to interrupt the U.S.' electrical infrastructure through hidden footholds in Chinese supplied components.

PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS WORKED TO STABILIZE THE MIDDLE EAST BY SIGNING A PEACE AGREEMENT IN AFGHANISTAN, NEGOTIATING A PEACE DEAL BETWEEN THE UAE AND ISRAEL, AND BOLSTERING THE UNITED STATES' SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL

• On August 13, 2020, the Trump Administration announced that the UAE and Israel had agreed to the full normalization of relations between the two countries in an 'historic deal.'
• Axios : The deal is a 'major breakthrough' between 'Israel and a major Arab power.'
• The New York Times : 'Israel and United Arab Emirates strike major diplomatic agreement.'
  • 'If fulfilled, the agreement would make the UAE the third Arab country to establish normal diplomatic relations with Israel after Egypt, which signed a landmark peace agreement in 1979, and Jordan, which signed a treaty in 1994.'
  • 'It could reorder the long stalemate in the region between Israel and its neighbors, potentially leading other Arab nations to follow suit while taking prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's explosive annexation plan off the table at least for the moment.'
• On February 2, 2020 , the Trump Administration signed a preliminary peace agreement with the Taliban that sets the stage to end 'America's longest war.'
  • Under the agreement , the U.S. will withdraw nearly 5,000 troops from the country in 135 days in exchange for a Taliban agreement to not allow Afghanistan to be used for transnational terrorism.
    • Time Magazine reported that other components of the agreement included an agreement that U.S. counterterrorism forces stay in the country, permissions for the CIA to operate in Taliban-held areas and details of how the Taliban's promises to reduce violence will be monitored and verified.
  • The deal has been called the ' best chance to end this conflict ,' a ' decisive move ' towards peace, and ' the best path ' for the united states.
  • The war in Afghanistan is the longest in U.S. history, a conflict that has killed more than 3,500 U.S. and NATO troops and cost U.S. taxpayers nearly 900 billion dollars.
• President Trump has taken historic steps to strengthen the United States-Israel alliance:
  • President Trump fulfilled his promise to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and has moved the U.S. embassy to the city.
  • President Trump withdrew the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) due to its anti-Israel bias.
    • Since 2006, the HRC had passed more than 65 resolutions condemning Israel for human rights violations compared to just 11 resolutions condemning North Korea.

PRESIDENT TRUMP HAS TAKEN TO STEPS TO ADVANCE AMERICAN LEADERSHIP AND FREEDOM OF ACTION IN SPACE AS CRITICAL TO U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY

• During his first year in office, President Trump released his National Security Strategy which emphasized the need for American leadership and freedom of action in space.
  • The National Security Strategy established that U.S. priority actions in space would include advancing space as a priority domain, promote U.S. commercial space capabilities, and maintain the lead in space exploration .
  • Space Policy Online : 'There is substantially more than in Obama's 2015 strategy,' about space.
• In 2018, President Trump unveiled his American First National Space Strategy emphasizing the need for dynamic and cooperative interplay between national security, commercial, and civil space sectors.
• With the signing of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, President Trump created the sixth branch of the armed forces, the U.S. Space Force .
  • The U.S. Space Force's mission is to organize, train and equip space forces in order to protect U.S. and allied interests in space including developing military space professionals, acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power, and organizing space forces to present to our combatant commands.
  • Secretary of Defense Mark Esper: 'The establishment of the U.S. Space Force is a historic event and a strategic imperative for our nation.'
  • The Washington Post Opinion: 'I was an astronaut. We need a Space Force.'
  • ' The United States must proactively ensure its ability to operate and defend itself in space - which is why Congress needs to act to finalize the U.S. Space Force as a sixth independent branch of our armed forces.'
• On June 30, 2017, President Trump reestablished the National Space Council in an executive order, saying it would send a 'clear signal to the world that we are restoring America's proud legacy of leadership in space.'
  • The National Space Council had not been active since the end of President George H.W. Bush's Administration in 1993.
  • President Trump : 'The National Space Council will be a central hub guiding space policy within the Administration.'
    • Sandy Magnus, Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics: The President's efforts ' strengthen our nation's space enterprise ,' and we 'view this as an opportunity to create an integrated strategic approach U.S. space endeavors.'
• In addition to the creation of the Space Force, President Trump has signed three other White House Space Policy Directives in order to facilitate his national space strategy priorities:
  • In December 2017, President Trump signed the White House Space Policy Directive 1, providing for U.S.-led integrated program with private sector partners for a human return to the moon, followed by missions to Mars and beyond.
    • CSIS expert Todd Harrison: 'Space Directive 1 is a clear departure from the Obama Administration.'
  • In May 2018, President Trump signed his Space Policy Directive 2 which eased regulations on private industry space endeavors.
    • Space.com : 'Trump's new Space Policy Directive 2 could make life easier for SpaceX and others.'
    • Alan Stern, Chairman of the board of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation: 'Now we can foresee a more streamlined legal and administrative regime that will allow us to continue to help transform how Americans access and use space.'
    • Tom Stroup, President of the Satellite Industry Association : 'SIA is delighted with the president's recognition of the importance of the commercial space business and we applaud his policy directive that encourages the continued growth and leadership of America's commercial satellite industry.'
  • In June 2018, President Trump signed Space Policy Directive 3 which addresses issues regarding the monitoring of objects in orbit , providing information to spacecraft operators to avoid collisions and other measures to limit the growth of orbital debris.

WITH THE USMCA TRADE DEAL PRESIDENT TRUMP FUFILLED HIS PROMISE TO RENEGOTIATE THE DISASTEROUS NAFTA TRADE AGREEMENT AND ENACT FREER AND FAIRER TRADE FOR ALL AMERICANS

• President Trump's USMCA trade deal has the potential to add 588,000 jobs and grow U.S. GDP by $235 billion .
• The USMCA trade deal comes into force after President Trump promised to renegotiate the disastrous NAFTA trade deal during the 2016 campaign.
• The USMCA trade deal has been widely lauded as a victory and ' clear win ' for the Trump Administration.
• More than 600 coalitions and associations have endorsed the USMCA agreement and joined the USMCA Coalition which worked to urge Congress to support the deal.
• USMCA is projected to help major American industries:
  • USMCA has been projected to result in an increase of 28,000 jobs and $683 million in annual investment for the automotive industry and includes key provisions to strengthen U.S. manufacturing.
  • USMCA is expected to increase U.S. agricultural and food exports by $2.2 billion.
  • USMCA is expected to add $226.8 million in total dairy output including $314.5 million of additional dairy exports above baseline.
  • U.S. poultry meat exports are expected to increase by nearly 50% to Canada by year six of the agreement.
  • The USMCA is expected to increase the value of U.S. E-commerce exports by $332 million.
  • USMCA will help small and medium sized businesses by cutting tape and reducing costs for cross border transactions.

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