PART 1 | Trump Report Card: Border Security, Deportations, Energy & Manufacturing - Year One Grades

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Good Thursday morning, Patriots. Welcome back to O'Connor's Write Stand. I'm your host, John O'Connor, software programmer by day, conservative truth seeker by night. Happy New Year, everyone. Can you believe we are starting 2026? Man, time flies when you're watching America get fixed. This is episode 47 since we launched last June. And, Patriots, we are starting the new year with something different.

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Something the mainstream media won't do because it requires honesty. We need to jump right on into this episode as it's going to be long, and I mean long, likely around double the length of our normal episodes. You've been warned. So today we are grading President Trump's first year back in office. That's right, a real report card. Not the propaganda from CNN, not the spin from MSNOW, an honest assessment of Trump's 20-point plan he ran on.

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And here's what makes this fair. I'm grading him like a teacher, not a cheerleader. Some promises, he crushed them. Others, not so much. Because patriots, we don't worship politicians here. We hold them accountable. Three weeks from now marks exactly one year since Trump's second inauguration. So consider this your early assessment, your roadmap for what's working, what's not, and where we go from here.

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By the end of this episode, you will know Trump's GPA on a 4.0 scale. Will he make the Dean's List? Or is he barely passing? Let's find out together. The Right Stand starts now.

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Patriots, before we dive into the grades, let's remember what Trump promised. On his campaign website, he laid out 20 core promises to make America great again. These weren't vague platitudes, these were specific commitments. Border security, deportations, inflation, energy, manufacturing, constitutional freedoms, world peace, ending weaponization, crime, cities, military, the dollar.

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Social Security, Electric Vehicles, Critical Race Theory, Women's Sports, Campus Radicals, Election Security, and Unity. That's a packed agenda. Ambitious? Absolutely. But Trump's always been ambitious. The question is, did he deliver? I'm grading each promise on a standard scale. A equals exceptional. B equals good progress. C equals average or mixed results.

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D equals disappointing, F equals failure. Then we calculate his GPA like you do in college. Side note, remember, because I think I may receive some hate for this, this is year one for Trump. So think of this like his freshman year. He still has three more years to make improvements. Additionally, some of this, even if I'm tough on Trump, may not be Trump's fault. Some of this is being held up because of Congress.

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but I'm grading this on the promises of completion. Ready? Let's go through them one by one. number one, seal the border and stop the migrant invasion. Patriots, this is Trump's biggest win, and it's not even close. When Trump took office on January 20th, 2025, the border was an absolute disaster. Let me paint you the picture of what Biden actually did, because the media won't tell you.

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Biden didn't just have an open border. He created a systematic operation to bypass immigration law. Here's what Heritage Foundation documented in congressional testimony. Biden created mass parole programs for aliens from Afghanistan, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, Ukraine, and Venezuela. He even paroled aliens who had been previously deported.

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Courts ruled this illegal, but Biden kept doing it anyway. Biden created the CPP-1 app, a scheduling system that let inadmissible aliens make appointments to enter the US at ports of entry. Then border patrol would parole them in. It was a shell game. Crossings between ports dropped temporarily, but Biden just shifted everyone to the ports and called it legal.

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Biden told border agents to call illegal aliens non-citizens and process them into the country instead of returning them across the border. He restricted ICE to only arrest spies, terrorists, and some felons. Everyone else got a free pass. The result? Over four years, CPP encountered millions at the border. The illegal alien population grew from roughly 11 million to 16 million.

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an increase of 5 million under Biden's watch. He encountered over 550,000 unaccompanied children. A record. HHS lost contact with over 300,000 of those kids. Cities collapsed. Cartels made billions. Fentanyl poured across. It was an invasion by design. Then Trump took office.

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And on day one, everything changed. Trump declared a national emergency, reinstated Reemain in Mexico, ended Ketch and Release, shut down the CBP One app, terminated Biden's illegal parole programs, finished sections of the wall, deployed the military to the border. The results? Historic. Border crossings dropped 93 % year over year.

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from 155,000 monthly apprehensions under Biden to just 245 per day under Trump. From May through November, Border Patrol released zero, I repeat, zero illegal aliens into the country. The Department of Homeland Security reported that border encounters dropped 95 % since Trump took office. 83 miles of new wall are under construction or in planning.

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Fentanyl trafficking at the southern border? Cut in half. This is the most secure border in modern American history. Full stop. Critics said it couldn't be done. They said the border was too big. They said catch and release was inevitable. They said Trump was racist for wanting border security. They were wrong on every single count. Do you see the difference between Biden's manufactured crisis and Trump's solution?

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because the contrast couldn't be more obvious. My grade for him? A. Promise 2. Carry out the largest deportation operation in American history. Trump promised the biggest deportation operation in history. Has he delivered? Mostly. As of mid-December, the Trump administration deported more than 622,000 illegal aliens, another 1.9 million self-deported, meaning

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They left voluntarily to avoid arrest. That's 2.5 million illegals gone in one year. Let me put that in perspective. Biden increased the illegal population by roughly 5 million over four years. Reported. Trump removed 2.5 million in just one year. That's erasing half of Biden's damage in 12 months. That's massive. And remember,

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Biden was actively importing people through his parole scams. Trump's working against the flow. He's not just stopping new arrivals. He's reversing the invasion. ICE arrested over 595,000 illegal aliens in 2025. 75 % of those arrests were criminal aliens with convictions or pending charges. Murderers, rapists, gang members, MS-13, Trendyagua, they are getting deported.

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Trump even used Guantanamo Bay to detain the most dangerous criminals. He deported nearly 300 gang terrorists to El Salvador's Ceacat prison, the toughest prison in the Western Hemisphere. Those animals are in cells where they can't hurt anyone ever again. Trump also launched a multi-million dollar ad campaign in the US and internationally telling illegals to leave now or

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face arrest. DHS even offered free flights home and $1,000 cash to anyone who self-deports. Smart move, cheaper than arresting and processing them. So why am I not giving an A? Because the goal was the largest deportation operation in American history. And while 622,000 deportations is impressive,

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It's not quite at the level of Eisenhower's operation wetback, which removed over one million in a single year. But here's the thing, Trump's on track. If he maintains this pace, he will hit one million deportations by year two. He's building the infrastructure. He's hiring agents. He's filling detention centers. The momentum is there. For year one, strong B plus.

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By year two, this could be an A. Promise number three, end inflation and make America affordable again. This one's complicated, Patriots. And I'm giving Trump a C plus because the results are mixed. Let's start with the good news. Inflation dropped from 3 % in January to 2.7 % in November. That's progress. The White House celebrated it as a blockbuster report. Kevin Hassett.

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Trump's National Economic Council director said the numbers came in better than all 61 forecasts on Bloomberg. Gas prices? Way down. Four states hit $1.99 per gallon, the lowest since May 2021. Energy costs overall are dropping. But here's the bad news. Prices are still higher than when Trump took office. Grocery prices are up 2.7 % year over year. Beef steaks?

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up 17%. Coffee, up 18%. Electricity bills rose over 10 % in the first eight months of 2025. And inflation increased for five consecutive months from April through September before dropping in November. So the trend was bad for most of the year. Why the mixed results? Tariffs. Trump's tariffs on China, Europe, and other countries raised costs for manufacturers.

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And some of those costs got passed to consumers. Companies are still adjusting. Supply chains are still reorganizing. Is inflation better than under Biden? Yes. Biden's inflation peaked at 9.1%. But is America affordable again, like Trump promised? Not yet. Wages are outpacing inflation now, which is good. But voters feel the cumulative price increases from the Biden years. Groceries cost $1.5

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49 % more than in 2020. That pain is real. Trump's heading in the right direction, but he hasn't solved the affordability crisis yet. So again, my grade on this? C+. Promise number four. Make America the dominant energy producer in the world by far. Patriots Trump delivered on energy dominance, and this grade is almost an A. On day one, Trump declared a national energy emergency.

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He opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for drilling. He ended Biden's ban on LNG exports. He approved new offshore drilling in California, Florida, and Alaska. He repealed burdensome regulations on coal plants. The results? America produces more oil and natural gas than any country on Earth. We produce as much natural gas as Russia, Iran, and China combined. 108 billion cubic feet per day.

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The Department of Energy approved more LNG export capacity in 10 months than the world's second largest exporter produces annually. That's dominance. Trump also revived the nuclear industry. $800 million to small modular reactors. $1 billion to restart a Pennsylvania nuclear plant. The goal is to quadruple nuclear capacity from 100 gigawatts to 400 gigawatts by 2050.

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Propane, kerosene, firewood, and fuel oil prices all down. So why not a full A? Because oil drilling activity decreased in 2025. Rig counts dropped. Why? Well, market forces. Oil prices fell into the 60s per barrel, making some wells unprofitable. Companies slowed drilling because of price uncertainty and tariff impacts. Trump opened the doors for drilling.

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He removed regulations. He approved projects. But the industry hasn't ramped up production as fast as expected. That's partly beyond his control, but it's still a factor. Overall, America is the energy superpower. Trump kept his promise. My grade for this? A minus. Promise number five. Stop outsourcing and turn the United States into a manufacturing superpower. Patrice, this one is complicated.

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And the media is definitely lying to you about the results. Yes, manufacturing employment decreased by 58,000 jobs since Trump took office. The Institute for Supply Management reported eight consecutive months of contracting manufacturing. That's the bad news. And we aren't going to sugarcoat it. Why? Uncertainty. Trump's tariff created short-term chaos. Companies didn't know which tariffs would stay, which would go.

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or how to reorganize supply chains. So they froze hiring. Input costs spiked. Companies trimmed labor to maintain margins. But here's what the media won't tell you. Trump is crushing China's stranglehold on American manufacturing. In 2018, starting with this push by Trump, China supplied 21.6 % of all US imports. By 2024,

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That dropped to 13.4%. And in 2025, China's imports fell another 25 % in the first three quarters. That means that China now supplies less than 10 % of U.S. imports. Let me say that again, less than 10%. China dropped from the number one source of American imports to number three behind Canada and Mexico. Trump's tariffs destroyed China's export advantage.

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Where did that manufacturing go? Some went to Vietnam, Taiwan, and other countries. But more importantly, companies announced $1.4 trillion in new US investments. Hyundai pledged $21 billion for American facilities. TSMC and Nvidia announced massive semiconductor plants. The Chips Act brought high-tech manufacturing home. These factories take years to build.

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Construction is happening right now, but the jobs won't arrive until 2027 or 2028. That's the reality of reshoring. It doesn't happen overnight. Trump also passed the one big beautiful bill with tax cuts and incentives for domestic manufacturing. That's setting the stage for long-term wins. So, yes, we lost some jobs in year one, but we broke China's grip on American manufacturing.

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We are ending our dependence on hostile communist regime, and we're building the infrastructure for future American dominance. Is the promise fulfilled? Not yet, but the foundation is laid. This gets a B minus because Trump's playing the long game and winning it. Promise number six, large tax cuts for workers and no tax on tips. Trump delivered on this one, patriots, and workers are already seeing the benefits.

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The one big beautiful bill passed in July, signed on the 4th of July, included massive tax cuts. The standard deduction jumped by $750. Tax brackets stayed low, and Trump added new deductions for seniors, tipped workers, and overtime workers. Let's talk about no tax on tips. This was a campaign promise Trump made back in Las Vegas, and he's kept it. Starting in 2025, workers in tipped occupations can deduct

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up to $25,000 in tips from their taxable income. Waiters, bartenders, barbers, hairstylists, nail technicians, and even digital content creators qualify. Six million workers report tipped wages. Most of them will see savings of thousands of dollars. Trump also added a deduction for overtime. Workers can deduct up to $12,500 in overtime pay, or $25,000 for married couples.

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This helps blue collar workers who grind those long hours. And seniors, they get an additional $6,000 deduction if they are 65 years of age or older. That's on top of the standard deduction. Critics say these tax cuts benefit the middle class more than low income workers. And that's true. Low income workers already don't pay federal income tax, so they can't benefit from deductions. But middle class workers?

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They are getting the real relief. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that one big beautiful bill will reduce federal revenue by $3.4 trillion over 10 years. That's a lot of money staying in workers' pockets instead of going to Washington. So why am I not giving this an A? Because deductions are temporary. They expire in 2028. Trump should have made them permanent. But overall, this is a solid win. I give

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Trump, A, B plus. Promise number seven, defend our constitution, our bill of rights, and our fundamental freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms. Patriots, this promise is harder to grade than most because constitutional freedoms involve ongoing battles, not one-time victories. But let's break down what Trump's actually done. First Amendment free speech.

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Trump took on big tech censorship ahead on. He issued executive orders prohibiting federal agencies from colluding with social media companies to censor Americans. He threatened Section 230 reforms to stop platforms from playing publisher while hiding behind platform protections. The results? Mixed. X, which is obviously formerly Twitter under Elon Musk, became more open. But Facebook, YouTube, and Google?

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still censor conservative voices. Trump's executive orders face legal challenges. The fight continues. Second Amendment Gun Rights. Trump appointed three Supreme Court justices who expanded gun rights. The court struck down New York's concealed carry restrictions. Trump's appointees sided with gun owners repeatedly. But Trump also faced criticism for his bump stop ban during his first term, and he didn't expand gun rights legislatively.

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He just defended them judicially. That's good, but not great. First Amendment religious liberty. Trump reversed Biden's attacks on religious freedom. He ended policies forcing religious hospitals to perform abortions. He protected religious schools from discrimination. He defended Christians' rights to pray publicly. The Little Sisters of the Poor, protected. Religious adoption agencies, protected. Christian business owners,

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protected from being forced to violate their conscience. Judicial appointments. This is Trump's biggest constitutional win. He appointed conservative judges at record pace, not just to the Supreme Court, but to circuits, courts, and district courts across America. These judges will defend the Constitution for decades. So why am I only giving Trump a B instead of an A? Because the battles aren't over.

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Left-wing judges are blocking Trump's executive orders. States like California are ignoring constitutional protections. The deep state is resisting. Trump's defending the constitution, but he hasn't fully restored it yet. So that's a solid B. Promise number eight. Prevent World War III, restore peace in Europe and in the Middle East, and build a great Iron Dome missile defense shield over our entire country, all made in America.

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Patriots, Trump promised to prevent World War III and restore peace. Has he delivered? Mostly yes. Middle East peace, historic. In March 2025, Trump brokered one of the most significant peace deals in modern history. All 20 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas for 738 days were released. Trump personally negotiated the deal in Egypt. He spoke to the Israeli Knesset. He...

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brought together parties that refused to talk under Biden. Even Democrats praised him. Bill Clinton and Susan Rice gave Trump credit. Palestinian prisoners were also released as part of the agreement. It wasn't perfect, but it was progress that Biden couldn't achieve in two years. Ukraine is ongoing. Trump didn't end the Ukraine war in his first year, but he changed the dynamics. He pressured both Russia and Ukraine to negotiate. He cut back.

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The blank check Biden was writing to Zelensky. He demanded Europe step up and pay for their own defense. Is the war over? No. But are we closer to peace than under Biden? Yes. And most importantly, Trump kept us out of direct conflict with Russia. World War III, avoided. This is the most important metric. Under Biden, we were on the brink. Tensions with China over Taiwan.

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Proxy war with Russia and Ukraine. Iran escalating in the Middle East. Trump defused those tensions. He opened dialogue with Jinping. He struck a trade deal with China that reduced conflict. He showed strength that deterred aggression. No American troops died in combat in Trump's first year. We are not in a new war. World War III is prevented. Iron Dome in progress.

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Trump ordered the Pentagon to develop a comprehensive missile defense system for the entire United States. Contracts were awarded, development started, but it's not operational yet. Building an Iron Dome takes years. Trump started the process, but likely we won't see any results until after he's left office. So I am giving this an A- instead of an A, because Ukraine's still at war and the Iron Dome isn't built.

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But Trump delivered on the main promise, preventing World War III and achieving Middle East peace. That's huge. A minus. number nine, end the weaponization of government against the American people. This promise strikes at the heart of what drove Trump's 2024 victory. Americans watched the FBI raid Mar-a-Lago. They watched the DOJ indict Trump four times. They watched January 6th defendants rot in jail for years without trial.

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Trump promised to end the weaponization. Has he? January 6th pardons. On day one, Trump pardoned or commuted sentences for over 1,400 January 6th defendants. Grandmothers who walked through the Capitol. Veterans who committed no violence. People whose only crime was supporting Trump. The media screamed. Democrats called it an insurrection amnesty. But Trump kept his promise.

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Those political prisoners are free. DOJ and FBI reforms. Trump fired FBI director Christopher Wray and replaced him with Cash Patel, a fighter who's committed to cleaning house. He purged corrupt DOJ officials who weaponized the justice system against conservatives. He ended political prosecutions. No more targeting parents at school board meetings. No more labeling Catholics as extremists.

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No more raiding pro-life activists' homes at dawn. The deep state fights back. Here's the problem. The bureaucracy is massive. Trump can fire political appointees, but career bureaucrats are protected by civil service rules, and they are resisting. Left-wing judges, many appointed by Obama and Biden, are blocking Trump's reforms. They are issuing nationwide injunctions against his executive orders.

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They are slow walking his agenda. Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency, DOJ, under Elon Musk to cut waste and root out of court eruption. But it's early. Results take time. Durham and the special councils. Trump's attorney general appointed special councils to investigate FBI abuses during Russiagate. But we haven't seen prosecutions yet. We have reports. We have admissions of wrongdoing.

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But where are the handcuffs? That's frustrating, Patriots. Justice delayed is justice denied. So, I am giving Trump a B minus. Why a B minus? Because Trump's trying, but the deep state is entrenched. He's won some battles, like the January 6 pardons, but the war isn't over. He needs to do more. Promise number 10. Stop the migrant crime epidemic.

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demolish the foreign drug cartels, crush gang violence, and lock up violent offenders. Patriots, this promise is directly connected to promise number one and number two on border security and deportations. But it goes further. It's about destroying the criminal networks that Biden allowed to flourish. Under Biden, fentanyl poured across the border and killed over 100,000 Americans per year.

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It was the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45. Trump's crackdown? Ventanol trafficking at the southern border was cut in half in his first year. The U.S. Coast Guard alone seized enough cocaine to kill 177 million Americans. How'd do it? Pressure on Mexico and China. Tariffs. Designation of cartels as terrorist organizations. And cooperation from Mexico's president after Trump threatened consequences.

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ICE arrested over 600 members of Tren de Agua, the Venezuelan gang that terrorized American cities under Biden. They are the ones who took over apartment complexes in Aurora, Colorado, the ones who committed murders, rapes, and robberies. Trump deported nearly 300 MS-13 and m Tren de Agua gang members to El Salvador's CECOT prison. If you don't know what CECOT is, look it up.

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It's a maximum security prison where gang members are locked in cells 23 hours a day with no possibility of release. They will never hurt another American. Trump designated Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. That means the US military can target them. It means their assets can be seized. It means anyone who does business with them faces prosecution.

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This was a massive escalation that Biden refused to do. Trump did it in his first month. Crime rates in border states are falling. Why? Because Trump deported the criminals. 75 % of ICE arrests in 2025 were criminal aliens with convictions or pending charges. Murderers, rapists, child predators, gang members, drug traffickers. They are gone.

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Why am I not giving Trump an A? Well, because cartels still exist. They are weakened, but not destroyed. Fentanyl deaths are down, but Americans are still dying. And some sanctuary cities are still releasing criminal aliens instead of turning them over to ICE. Trump's made incredible progress, but the job's not done. That's an A-. Alright, Patriots, I need to hit pause here for a minute.

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When I started recording this episode, I realized something. This report card is long, like over an hour long. And while I love diving deep into policy and holding Trump accountable on every promise, I also know that's a lot to digest in one sitting. So here's what we're going to do. I'm breaking this into two parts. Part one, which you just listened to, covered Trump's first 10 promises. Border security, deportations, inflation, energy dominance, manufacturing.

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tax cuts, constitutional freedoms, world peace, ending weaponization, and crime and cartels. Part 2, which drops in about 30 minutes, will cover the final 10 promises. Rebuilding cities, military modernization, dollar reserve currency, social security and Medicare, EV mandate and regulations, critical race theory, women's sports, campus radicals, election security, and unity.

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we will calculate Trump's final GPA and give you the big picture analysis. So don't go anywhere, Patriots. Part two is coming right behind this one. About 30 minutes from now, you'll get the rest of the report card. Hit that subscribe button so you don't miss it. Check out O'Connor's Quick Strike on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays for rapid fire news and find me on X at O'Connor Podcasts. Part two drops soon, stay tuned. Until then, hold the line unapologetically. This is John O'Connor and I'll be right back.