What Counts More: Words or Deeds?

Just on Twitchy and saw this:

 

 

This is the problem with Never Trumpers: they have forgotten the Obama Presidency and their objections to it.  Ignore the blather and just look at the results.  Is the economy better or worse?  Has Rule of Law improved or not?  Employment numbers improving?  Better foreign policy or worse?  More federal regulations or fewer?  Better judicial nominees or worse?  One does not have to like Trump to see that - from the conservative/libertarian perspective - the country is better off with Trump than Obama.

 

However, if one pays attention to the blather and ignores the results, Trump is a catastrophe.  Obama has a mellifluous voice, a professorial demeanor, an aloofness that isn't standoffish, and a calm self-control that was just magnificent to behold.  The man has presence.  By contrast, Trump sounds like a goon from a mafia film, say 'yuge' and 'believe me' and other catch phrases ad nausea, and uses constant hyperbole for both praise and criticism.  So much hyperbole.  And demeaning insults.  Ugh.  He's a used car salesman compared to Obama's professor.  Based on these optics, the US is in a Dark Age.

 

Did the Helsinki Summit - especially the joint press conference where Trump was outwardly friendly to Putin - demonstrate that the president is a Russian puppet?  Looking only at blather, maybe.  What about actions?  Trump sent cruise missiles into Rusia's ally Syria, holding Assad to the red line that Obama ignored.  Also, Russian mercenaries in Syria were killed in American airstrikes.  Probably not something Putin wanted.  Trump has approved selling arms to Ukraine.  Oh, Putin can't want that.  US pipelines have been approved, putting more oil on the world market and thus eating into Russia's profits.  Russia needs its oil revenue.  Trump blasted Merkel for buying oil from Russia, suggesting she shouldn't be funding NATO's putative adversary.  Hmm, don't think Putin is keen on that.  Trump also approved drilling in ANWR, putting even more oil in the market.  Trump opened up fracking on federal lands.  Oil and natural gas are the cash cows of Russia and Trump is lifting all the roadblocks so that Americans will dominate that industry.

 

Let's take this words vs. deeds theme and test it.  Politifact ruled that Trump's claim of being tougher on Russia than Obama was Mostly False.  Here's the money quote from their ruling:

 

On a broader geopolitical level, there has been a significant degree of consistency between the Obama and Trump administrations in actual U.S. policy, and even a few examples where Trump has gone further than Obama did. That said, Trump’s own record of Russia- and Putin-friendly comments have sent contrary messages about U.S. policy toward Russia.

 

First sentence says that Trump has basically stuck with Obama's policies (DEEDS) and gone further in some cases (translation: tougher).  However, Politifact has ruled that his comments (WORDS) undermine his claim.  I long ago learned to ignore what politicians say (they lie) and judge them on what they do.  On that basis, Trump's claim is Mostly True.