By Matt Rooney | SaveJersey.com
Election Day is November 3rd, Save Jerseyans. You can vote early in person through Sunday.
Look, you don’t have to agree with everything Donald Trump does.
Iran remains controversial though I believe there are good (albeit under-advertised) arguments in the White House’s favor. Affordability? Americans want more progress. So do I. Groceries, housing, electricity and just about everything else remain too damn expensive. Let’s not insult everyone’s intelligence by pretending the affordability crisis magically materialized on January 20, 2025. It didn’t. And reversing years of accumulated price increases was never going to happen overnight.
Here’s what I think is getting lost in all the noise.
Imagine any other president compiling even a partial list of the policy changes and measurable results we’ve witnessed during Trump’s second term.
A dramatic collapse in illegal border crossings. Historic reductions in violent crime. Major tax relief for workers and families. A smaller federal bureaucracy. A fundamental reversal of federal offshore wind policy and energy policies generally. And a serious national debate over food quality and chronic disease that’s already producing changes in the marketplace.
Some of these trends began before Trump took office. Others remain unfinished. Fair enough.
But would the political and media establishment be discussing the record differently if a more conventional president occupied the Oval Office?
I suspect the conversation about his historical standing would be very different.
Instead, much of the discussion remains consumed by Trump’s personality, his latest controversy or whatever somebody posted on social media before breakfast.
You can dislike the man, disagree with some of his decisions and still acknowledge that his administration has changed a remarkable amount in less than two years.
Here’s a *partial* list of ten major developments of the past two years worth examining before the polls close on Election Day…
1. Offshore wind development has hit a federal roadblock.
Trump halted new federal offshore wind leasing and initiated reviews of existing permits. His administration has also negotiated the cancellation of several leases.
It’s a substantial reversal of federal policy, with particular significance for the Jersey Shore, which would be economically devastated by offshore industrialization.
2. Violent crime has fallen dramatically.
The FBI reports that the national violent crime rate fell 9.3% in 2025, the largest annual percentage decline in its historical estimates.
Murder declined 18.1%. Robbery fell 18.5%. Motor vehicle theft dropped 22.7%.
These aren’t numbers from a campaign commercial. They’re federal crime statistics.
The magnitude of the decline deserves attention in any discussion of public safety.
3. Illegal border crossings have plummeted.
Perhaps the most unmistakable change in federal policy has occurred at the southern border.
Apprehensions over the twelve months ending in August 2026 were approximately 91% lower than during the final twelve months of the Biden administration.
It’s difficult to imagine a more striking contrast with the border conditions that dominated the preceding administration.
The numbers don’t mean illegal immigration has been eliminated or the problem is solved, but they demonstrate how quickly federal enforcement policy and migration patterns can change. It also demonstrates how the Biden excuse that “Republicans are holding up border security by refusing to pass legislation” was complete bullshit.
4. Tax relief for tips, overtime and seniors is now law.
The 2025 federal tax law established deductions for qualifying tip income and overtime compensation, as well as an additional deduction for eligible older Americans.
Eligible workers can deduct up to $25,000 in qualified tips annually. The overtime deduction reaches $12,500 for individuals and $25,000 for joint filers, although it generally covers the overtime premium rather than an entire overtime paycheck.
These are substantive changes to the tax treatment of workers and retirees.
5. Latin America’s political map is shifting.
Argentina’s Javier Milei, El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele and a series of center-right electoral victories elsewhere in the region have helped change the political landscape.
Bolivia, Chile and Honduras have also experienced important electoral shifts away from established left-wing leadership.
The United States now faces a changing ideological landscape in its own hemisphere, with opportunities for closer cooperation on trade, security and migration. That’s good for our country and bad for China and Russia.
6. Fentanyl enforcement is producing substantial seizures as overdose deaths decline.
CBP reported intercepting more than 100 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl along the southwest border during fiscal 2026 as of May.
Meanwhile, CDC provisional estimates show synthetic-opioid overdose deaths fell from approximately 48,913 in 2024 to 38,084 in 2025—a reduction of roughly 22%.
That is welcome news for families who have watched the opioid epidemic devastate their communities.
The combination of intensified interdiction and fewer deaths is an important development worth following.
7. Washington’s bureaucracy is actually shrinking.
For decades, Republican politicians have talked about making the federal government smaller.
This time, the workforce numbers actually moved.
The Government Accountability Office documented a net reduction of nearly 256,000 employees across 22 major federal agencies between December 2024 and January 2026.
The reduction itself is real, measurable and substantial, and it’s a historic accomplishment for limited government conservatives.
8. DEI policies face a fundamental federal reassessment.
The administration has moved to eliminate DEI programs across federal agencies and restrict certain practices among contractors and educational institutions.
The change has forced institutions to reconsider practices that had become deeply embedded in government, education and corporate life.
9. Working families received additional federal tax provisions.
The 2025 tax legislation extended major provisions of the 2017 tax cuts, increased the maximum Child Tax Credit to $2,200 per qualifying child and established new family savings provisions.
These are meaningful statutory changes, not merely promises of future tax relief.
10. RFK Jr.’s MAHA agenda has moved from slogans to actual food-policy changes.
For years, Americans have argued about food additives, highly processed diets and the country’s chronic-disease burden.
Now federal agencies are taking concrete steps.
The FDA has approved additional naturally derived food colorings and encouraged manufacturers to phase out certain synthetic dyes. Nestlé USA has completed its removal of certified artificial colors from its American portfolio, while other companies have announced or implemented reforms.
The administration has also proposed changes to food-ingredient disclosure and federal nutrition policy.
Not every MAHA initiative has been completed, but the movement has already produced identifiable changes in regulation and manufacturing.
And here’s the part that really gets me, folks.
We’re not talking about ten campaign promises. We’re talking about enacted laws, major policy reversals, measurable changes in federal employment, dramatic border-enforcement results and historic reductions in violent crime.
Not every reform has been completed. And no serious person should pretend that the country has run out of problems.
But consider the historical double standard.
If a president named Clinton, Obama or Biden had presided over this collection of developments, would we be hearing nonstop arguments about his place among the most consequential presidents in American history?
I think we would.
Perhaps historians will eventually reach that conclusion about Trump, too. Perhaps they won’t. The long-term consequences of his decisions, including Iran, federal spending and the economy, still matter.
But the scale of the changes already underway deserves recognition, even from people who don’t particularly like the man responsible for pursuing them.
You can want lower prices. I do.
You can disagree with the president on foreign policy. That’s your right.
You can wish he’d make fewer jokes about other men’s bodies. Not everyone has a sense of humor!
None of that requires pretending that the accomplishments and policy changes outlined above don’t exist. More to the point, you have more reason to show up at the polls this year than simply opposing socialism and jihadists – though that should be enough! You have a substantial, positive record to vote FOR, which would never have happened if you’d stayed home in 2024.
That’s the conversation I’d rather have than another argument about the latest poll.
So read the record. Make up your own mind.
And for God’s sake, get off your ass and vote. You have ample justification.
