It has been Prudent to wait for some of the dust to clear before applying a little Prudence to the new political, economic and governmental landscape dumped so unceremoniously upon the World, U.S. included. Trump, a bit quieter but no more polished than in 2017, has returned. If he generated a big wake, rocking many boats, rafts and canoes, it has had no moderating influence on his march to and through the sea. A lot of the upset is good and long overdue. The proto-communists and outright Islamists were in power somewhat, leading up to the Biden Carbuncle on the flow of culture. Wiser heads – and hearts – have prevailed.
But, not perfectly.
Within the ranks of Trump’s new friends and fawns there are many who act and speak as though the landscape has changed so much that they expect to be able to try any manner of different ways to govern. Indeed, many seem to think that careful reflection upon new ideas is no longer needed in the presence of a “mandate” that is as ephemeral as any of Hamas’ agreements with the Israelis. Not many minds have changed about any individual’s relationship to his or her national, federal government. Allegiances that shifted for very personal, economic or victimization reasons, can shift away just as quickly. Those of us who see the transition as transformation, should step back emotionally and politically and recognize our limitations… something Trump and those closest to him, have yet to do.
We think we are at the beginning of a revolution in America’s attitudes, but, reaching the next milestone – or millstone – will compare not to ploughing ahead through molasses, but more to moving step by torturous step through taffy, as courts have already demonstrated.
Trump’s rapid and brash actions, basically telling even mild opponents that his, Trump’s, recommendation / threat is the only way to go, may make for some great “MAGA” but at some point – soon – it’s going to meet an immovable object / opponent. One can almost feel potential opponents calculating when each will show the world, before someone else does, how to buck Trump’s steamroller. It would be Prudent to win these small battles fairly quietly, perhaps with a back-channel “thank-you” to those who acquiesce. The path will be much smoother for future cooperation.
Donald… Mr. President, you have made your point… don’t get hung up on it.
“Cabinet” nominees are gaining confirmation at the rate of one or two per day, and the Senate has even worked the first weekend, something its members are barely familiar with. They should work in a restaurant. Trump has curated an eclectic group comprised of several “automatics” who have no vulnerabilities, and a number of “threats” who promise to change how business is done, both in hiring and firing and in mission and purpose, if “both” can apply to 4 promises. With Trump setting the path and pace of change, all of his nominees appear to be ready to effect change according to the Trump vision. We’ll have to see if such is the case 6 months from now.
Biden and his controllers – scoundrels nearly all – have left administrative and quasi-legal messes behind themselves as they scoot into obscurity, not least of which are military weakness and financial infirmity. Ebullience like Trump’s will crash, more than bump, into fiscal reality. In short, if two TRILLION in spending cuts are not found quickly, our economy may not have the resilience to drag Biden’s ball-and-chain across the starting line of the race to a Golden Age. Elon Musk may admit that rocketry is more certain, and rewarding, than dueling with the deep administrative state and perpetual debt. Let’s hope that every billion counts.
Our military weakness is going to hamper Trump’s dominance on the world stage. Joe Biden’s allowing of every small (and large) nation to modify our foreign policies over the past four years, leaves the U. S. and Trump, specifically, in an odd, never-before-experienced position. The bar on border control / security, and on law-enforcement generally, was pushed so low that just the act of replacing Biden and the other anal openings in his “administration” has made it seem that Trump has changed the world for the better and, worse, that he is right about everything. This is dangerous.
Suppose, God forbid, that Harris-Walz had won. The whole leftist movement would have been convinced that it was RIGHT about everything! They/It would then have doubled down on everything Americans feared. There’s an element of this reaction as Trump and Company takes over: everything that is the opposite of what Biden did is “good,” and more of it will be better. But, we really don’t have the power that attitude implies and great international damage can be done if DJT doesn’t admit to his, and the U. S.’s limitations. If he plays things carefully and somewhat… ummm, kindly, we might say, we could be approaching the position he thinks he has, now, by the end of his term. Meanwhile, we’re in a tenuous position, able to bully Colombia, and perhaps Panama and even Iran, let’s hope, but without a much more formidable military stick, few others.
Trump has a view of who, or what, the United States ought to be relative to the rest of the world. Putting him in the Whaite House affirms to him and his closest allies, that his view of the rest of American history is the right one. While far, far better than the Obama-Biden relay-race toward darkness and communism, the rightness of Trump’s view is far from confirmed. Some countries – and economies – may be malleable as the sleeping giant awakens… others, not so much. One way or another, the new space demanded by Trump’s desires will have to accommodate to the wills of 200 other nations.
Will Trump end the war in Ukraine?… or in Israel? Can he strike a deal with Denmark and Greenland to protect North America from encroachments across the Arctic by Russia and China? We’ll see as he dispatches his bright minds to the hot-spots we’ve inherited. What is likely useless and needlessly irritating is poking fun at Canada.
There is a “new sheriff” in town, but the miscreants will adapt. God save us.