They were pretty hostile responding, but I got to make some points that I think they took seriously:
Trump is helping the economy. Lower regulations, better trade deals, and lower taxes are lifting the poorest Americans up, growing the labor force, and making the economy no longer people's biggest worry.
Trump is the first president in decades not to start wars.
None of the Democrat front runners has the right answers. Bernie is naive about taxes and their costs. Warren is dishonest. Buttigeig is inexperienced. Biden is falling apart, and the people keeping him in the race are engaged in elder abuse.
I also defended some things they attacked with:
Congress is responsible for the children in cages, not Trump. They made the rules, they under funded the courts, they didn't build a wall, and they didn't respond when CBP officials asked for money or rule changes to allow the situation to improve.
Congress is responsible for the deficit, not Trump. They write and pass the budget. Of course, growing the economy will help.
Trump really does have an impact on the economy. Continuing the theme, Congress has given the executive the power to write regulations, negotiate trade, modify tariffs, and other things. Using these powers has serious economic impacts, and Trump is responsible.
I fully conceded some points:
Trump is an asshole to some people on Twitter.
Trump has done scummy New York businessman things in the past.
This still remains contentious:
I think Trump is ignoring the media because the media lies about him constantly. They think this sets a bad precedent, and is bad for transparency.
They think he lies constantly. I think it's mostly exaggeration, and differentiating is important.
Overall, went better than I expected, and I'm glad I spoke up.
Edit: added line breaks
The kids in cages thing is the one thing my ex-friends keep saying. I keep telling them that it's not like they are being treated like monkey's and second that has been a rule since Obama. The cages thing wouldn't exist if we had better protection for the border, stop giving non-citizens welfare and benefits, and had better facilities. Plus a lot of those kids are better off since their parents or people pretending to be their parents had them cross five hundred miles in riskey rape and death infested travel. I don't blame the president, I blame government of congress
Don't forget - those kids aren't in cages anymore. Every picture that shows them in chain link (except maybe a few, I'm not certain - Oh! There was one of a processing station where people stayed for a few hours waiting for a bus to the actual facility) is from the Obama administration.
There are videos on YouTube of recent tours of the facilities where they stay and they are very nice. They are much better than military barracks where I was housed during my career.
And you are right to blame Congress. They could pass a bill in a second to change things but they don't want to hand Trump yet another win.
The biggest change has been that NGOs sent lawyers to help everyone claim asylum whether there's any merit to it or not. There weren't enough judges to keep up with hearing out the cases, so there were longer and longer delays, which means more and more time locked up pending hearings.
Congress could assign more judges, or change the rules to make the hearings faster, or build better holding facilities, or build a wall to keep people out in the first place. Trump can only do those things to the extent Congress has handed that power over to him, and that's what he did.