Who are these flyover state people?

A couple of days ago, Ann Althouse issued an invitation to her readers: I invite Trump supporters to make the argument for his reelection based on his actual achievements.  She requested:

For the purposes of this post, please refrain from making any arguments about Trump's rhetoric, personality, behavior, or how he makes you feel.

Help me make a list of Trump's achievements — stated in a neutral, factual way. These should be real-world achievements of the sort that a more normal-seeming President could have made. No bullshit (or "malarky").

Althouse herself brags about her cruel neutrality.  I would guess broadly a centrist.  She has mentioned in the past, I believe, having voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012.  I don't recall whom she voted for in 2016.  She is a retired academic.  Her readers on the other hand are a bit eclectic.  I would guess centrist with a good chunk of traditionalists and a strong dose of libertarians.  They tend to be rambunctious, though in this instance, they stayed somewhat on-topic.

There are currently 296 comments.  Not all of them are conforming identifications of accomplishments.  There are some trolls wanting to know what Biden's list might look like.  There are other trolls wanting to focus on Trump's failures.  There are plenty of comments which reflect spats between commenters.

I would guess in total about 175 contributors with roughly conforming suggestions.

Some have loose definitions of accomplishment.  Some endorse outcomes which have not eventuated (as when legislation is passed but the impact is not yet clear).  Some are more focused on actions than outcomes.  It is subject to recency bias.

The sample cannot be taken as either random or representative but interesting since it is self-revelatory.  The right end of the spectrum is a wonderfully big tent with religious conservatives, economic conservatives, foreign policy conservatives, civil rights conservatives (1st and 2nd amendments in particular), social conservatives, traditionalists, libertarians, etc.  

Combine the big tent nature with the fact that the mainstream media routinely misunderstands or misrepresents anything to the right of socialist, and it becomes very difficult to get a read on what people on the right are really interested in or focused on.  Well here is a limited chance.

I downloaded all the comments, identified those which were erroneous comment duplicates, omitted trolls and spats.  I make no judgment whether the claimed accomplishment is either good or real.  I then aligned comments by theme and consolidated those which were making the same claim but using different words.  For example, I consolidated "booming economy", "best economy ever", "hot economy" as three votes for Economic Growth as an achievement.

Listed below are the 162 distinct accomplishments (though some are actually more specific subsets of a larger accomplishment).   For example, many people listed low unemployment as a marked achievement while others very specifically celebrated historically low minority unemployment.  

I found it striking what remains top of mind in this list versus what the mainstream media focuses on.  The number one claimed accomplishment is the massive effort to simplify and reduce unnecessary regulation.  It is very popular even though it is not all that frequently fore-fronted in the news.  Similarly with the renegotiation of NAFTA.  I am assuming that the topicality of these probably reflects a disproportionate number of business owners among Althouse's commenters.  

For all that the mainstream media portrays non-Democrats as heartless war hawks indifferent to minorities or the lower class, the popularity of peace treaties, no new wars, sentencing reform, concern for minority unemployment, etc. makes for strong counter-evidence of the media stereotypes.

Worth a gander and speculation about interpretation, for all the limitations of the data.  

Claimed Accomplishment Mentions

Massive deregulation 39

Middle East peace process 36

Economic growth 29

NAFTA replaced by USMCA 28

Circuit Court confirmations/Judges 28

ISIS defeated/GWOT 27

No New Wars 23

He brokered a step toward peace in the Balkans. 22

Increase in Nato participation (New Members and Increasing Other Member Financial Support) 22

Slowed illegal immigration 22

Lowest unemployment 20

Sentencing reform - First Step Act 19

Lowered taxes/Tax Reform 19

Killing General Sulemani 18

Defeated Intelligence Community effort to unseat him/Deep State Resistance 18

China diplomatic engagement/Standing up to them 18

MSM credibility destroyed 18

CRT training abolition 18

Low minority unemployment records 17

North Korea diplomatic engagement 17

Energy independence through fracking 17

Gorsuch and Kavanaugh 16

Taking on China With Tariffs 15

Moved U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. 15

Wall building 15

Cancelling Iran Nuclear Deal 14

Exiting Paris Climate Accord 14

Winding down Afghanistan 14

Winding down Iraq 14

Respect for Federalism/Constitution 14

Generic drugs initiative/Pharma 12

Manufacturing 11

Human trafficking policies 11

Decoupling from China 11

Tax Cuts 10

Increase in median household income 10

Secured record $700 billion in military funding; $716 billion next year. 10

Reduced international obligations, particularly military 10

Stopping travel from China early in Covid-19 9

Space Force/Space policy 9

Slowing Statism 9

Confronting Iran 8

Stock Market 8

Due Process Protection - Title IX Repeal 7

Fair trade deals 7

Cancelled TPP 7

He beat Hillary Clinton 6

Medical Facilities Covid Response 6

Improved treatment of Veterans (VA Choice Act) 6

Cut corporate taxes from 35% to 21% 6

Sanctions on Iran 6

Shoring Up Asian Alliances 6

Opposes Antifa and BLM 6

Balancing between Covid public health and economic damage 6

Taking a step toward sanity in Title IX. 5

Taking on the Deep State 5

Obamacare individual mandate penalty GONE. 5

Travel Ban 5

Commitment to Middle Class Americans 5

He fights 5

Lowest female unemployment 4

China tariffs re technology transfer 4

Alliance building 4

Stopped the caravans from Central America 4

Sanctions on Russia 4

Opportunity Zones 4

Decouplng from Deep State "Experts" 4

Protecting Religious Freedom 4

Clarification of those who oppose American ideals 4

Medical Cost Transparency 4

Banning products from China made by slave labor 4

Not getting involved in Syria no-fly zone 3

Protecting the 2nd Amendment 3

Job Growth 3

He has beefed up Polish defense at Putin’s displeasure. 3

Revitalizing manufacturing 3

Opened ANWR and approved Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. 3

Signed Right-To-Try legislation. 3

United States is a net natural gas exporter for the first time since 1957. 3

Actions on China IP 3

Refugee vetting improvements 3

SALT elimination 3

Greenhouse gas reduction (CO2) 3

Took out al-Baghdadi. 3

Repealed Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule 3

Strengthening ties with India 3

Supporting HBCUs 3

School choice 3

Pro-life 3

Containing Cuba and Venezuela 3

Kept campaign promises 3

Appointment of Barr 3

Ending the H1-B foreign visa abuses. 3

Support for Police 3

Hostage releases 3

Stopped apologizing for America 3

Eliminated Clean Waters ACT which was on of the biggest power grabs by the Federal Bureaucracy. 3

Draining the Swamp 3

He kept Guantanamo Bay open 2

Revoking net neutrality 2

Taking on Pharmaceutical Companies 2

Increase in vocational training 2

Lowering small business top tax rate 2

US Mexico Trade Agreement 2

Canadian Trade negotiations 2

Bombed Russian airbase in Syria 2

Welfare reform 2

Improving alliance agreements 2

Fired Jim Comey 2

Withdrawal from WHO 2

No nation building 2

Support for Global Decriminalization of Homosexuality 2

Stepped across 38 Parallel 1

Survived a coup (Russia Hoax) 1

Taking on the Press 1

Lowest youth unemployment 1

Lowest unemployment for low education 1

Lowest Veteran unemployment 1

Food stamp usage down 1

2028 LA Olympics win 1

U.S.-Mexico-Canada’s united bid for 2026 World Cup. 1

Increased funding for Opiod epidemic 1

Signed VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act 1

Increased our coal exports by 60 percent 1

U.S. oil production recently reached all-time high. 1

Cancelled Clean Power Plan 1

Obamacare reforms 1

EU agreement on US exports 1

Steel and Aluminum tariffs 1

Increase in exports 1

Huawei 5G policy 1

Troops to Lithuania 1

Defunding Planned Parenthood 1

Restored relationship with Israel 1

Addressing global Christian persecution 1

Lower gas prices 1

Selling AT weapons to Ukraine 1

Korea Trade Deal 1

Deportations of illegal aliens 1

Patent Trial and Appeal Board 1

Focus on recruiting among minorities 1

Cancelled Common Core 1

Jobs Act 1

Reforming FDA 1

Reforming Medicare 1

Appointment of DeVos 1

Defeated Impeachment Hoax 1

Got huge numbers of ventilators and PPE built. 1

Puerto Rico Hurricane response 1

FEMA Effectiveness improved 1

Refocusing away from externally imposed regime change 1

Operation Warp Speed (Vaccine) 1

Example of succesful non-politican leader 1

Accelerated Telehealth 1

Nominated twice for Nobel Peace Prize 1

Music Modernization Act 1

Clean up of superfund sites 1

Improving administration of federally funded public housing 1

84% reduction in frequency of incidents of unarmed African Americans killed by police. ( First 41 months of Trump administration compared to last 31 months Of Obama’s administration) 1

Firing of Deep State actors (Sally Yates, James Comey, Alexander Vindman 1

Ended the Mexico City Policy which funded abortion overseas. 1

Deescalation of trans wars 1