Week one of Trump is in progress. Weekend one was dismal inasmuch as the focus was on “alternative facts” and the Inaugural crowd size. Since then, there has been a barrage of executive actions. As to the merits of these actions, I have little opinion and here’s why: Most of what the President does is way beyond my scope of individual attention and expertise. Sure, I have my opinions, but they should always be placed in the context of what I know. I do value the opinions and oversight of congress and others that devote full time to specific issues. The other factor I pay very close attention to is precedent. For example, when Trump signed an executive order limiting funding to NGO’s that would provide abortion services, I learned that Reagan originally instituted such a ban, Clinton rescinded it, Bush reinstated it, and Obama in turn rescinded it. It is an up or down party issue. It was not Trump inventing some new repression. As someone not steeped in the minutia of the matter, I could at least take consolation in the fact that those prior executives who were far more engaged with the issue than me had created a precedent. I am not going to bear the weight of the world on my own shoulders. It’s out of my pay grade. At a certain point, you focus on what you can do with your own mission, time, and level of exposure. What I will raise the alarm for is any action that has no apparent precedent. Beyond that, you can expect Trump will do exactly what he said he’d do in the campaign, without apology, based on his first few days in office. Like it or not, it’s his prerogative, not your’s or mine and that’s why he was elected.
So what Trump is currently up to can be summarized as trolling and blitzkrieg. As we all now know, Trump abhors the traditional press. First you throw out a rotten morsel (aka a tweet) over to the corner of the room. The press, conditioned to go into seizures of outrage over any hint deviating from their orthodoxy, will descend on that morsel, tear at it, hold it up for the world to see and encourage their contacts to expend much public facing time decrying it. Meanwhile, Trump just signed three more executive orders. I guess you have to admire this level of street smarts. The pace and scope of the executive orders are the blitzkrieg. A disheveled and out of shape left is a half mile back at the moment. They got quite fat and complacent in the Obama years having their guy in office spoon feed them and vice versa. I suspect that the first 100 days will come and go without much savvy resistance, even as there is much loud wailing. To the left, wailing = action. Obviously. It will not do in this instance.
I’m still not a Trump fan. His obsession with the crowd size at his Inauguration for example, is just disturbing. I can’t fault him for doing what he said he’d do as President but his level of personal insecurity that is so disproportionate to issues of national public interest has me very worried. If he stays on point – even his own point, I think we can survive and even make a few improvements, but if he goes off the rails, it could be swift and disastrous. But the pendulum has swung. We now have a Trump because we had an Obama. I don’t know that we’ll see anything like a moderate for a long time.
Note: A good discussion about all the executive orders
