Today Marks Three Years of the Trump Presidency [OPINION]

President Donald Trump was inaugurated three years ago today outside the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Half the nation watched in disbelief and the other half thought, "We better hope we're right on this one."

These three years later, the divide has grown between Trump's detractors and his supporters. The mainstream media has pretty much abandoned their feigned neutrality. The geopolitical landscape has changed dramatically and, as of December 18, 2019, President Trump finds himself waking each day as the third impeached President of the United States.

On January 20, 2017, Barack Obama stepped down as president and Donald Trump stepped in.

The stock market was at 19,804.72. Today it stands at 29,348.10.

As President Trump entered the White House in January of 2017, the Islamic State of Iraq & Syria (ISIS) controlled various territories ranging from east of Baghdad, Iraq to Nawa, a town on the Syrian border with Israel to the west – a range of 350 miles from east to west and some 130 miles from north to south, with over 14,000,000 people living inside the territory.

By January 2018, ISIS was reduced to scattered pockets of the area between the Iraq-Syrian border in the east to an area some 50 miles west of Palmyra, Syria. Separated, surrounded and all but defeated, ISIS controlled three percent of the territory since its rise.

See this graph from U.S. Central Command via the BBC to see the statistical proof.

Clearly the Trump administration's strategy to focus on Syrian ISIS targets and a large increase of military action against them brought about a much swifter end to ISIS power.

The unemployment rate on January 20, 2017, was 4.7 percent. The unemployment rate on January 20, 2020, is 3.5 percent.

U.S. manufacturing from January of 2017 through January 2020 saw an increase of over 400,000 jobs.

Trump tore up NAFTA and China trade deals with the U.S. and renegotiated each of them, making them far more favorable for Americans than the preceding contracts. Both successful renegotiations were said to be "impossible" by establishment politicians on both sides of the aisle.

President Trump now enjoys a whopping 83 percent favorability rating among farmers and ranchers as a result of his trade deal with China. This despite liberal opposition to Trump's tactics warning that he was ruining the farms of America with his strong language toward China regarding trade.

However, since the president has had the audacity to try to find out exactly who was behind the government's illegal surveillance on his campaign and their attempt to frame him as being an "agent for Russia", he has been impeached by the Democrats.

Ken Pittman is the host of The Ken Pittman Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon. Contact him at ken.pittman@townsquaremedia.com. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.