A mere fortnight since our country chose Donald Trump, and
about everything’s been happening, showing that if he were a Dungeons & Dragons
monster he’d have a classic “chaotic” alignment. Here are some observations, which should be
good for at least a few hours after this post comes out.
First, almost day by day Trump has been walking back his
campaign blather, moving him ever closer to what might be his only solid
convictions, against immigration, especially if illegal, and for
protectionism. The New York Times was actually critical
of his changing his mind about things like prosecuting his unsuccessful
opponent Hillary Clinton and advocating less torture in suspected terrorists’
interrogations, but we need less of this garbage, not more.
Second, it’s become clear that the modern partisanship split
is not conservative against liberal, but Democrat versus Republican. If you’re not sure, notice how few bad things
conservative politicians and commentators say about him, even when he advocates
ideas to the left of the Democratic platform.
That will cause problems if Trump becomes more worthy of impeachment than
Bill Clinton was for lying under oath about his sexual affairs, since with both
the House and Senate controlled by his party, they probably won’t.
Third, he is on track, if that expression has any meaning
when talking about him, to do some good things.
We can certainly use what his strategist Steve Bannon called a
“trillion-dollar infrastructure plan,” if, counter to what Times columnist Paul Krugman claimed in his recent “Build He
Won’t,” it will materialize. Arranging
for large companies’ money supplies to be held here instead of overseas would
be positive, as would tax-code changes favoring American jobs. We can also stand to take some edge off
political correctness in general. There
is more, but I’m too cautious about him overall to sing his praises, since,
after all, Adolf Hitler built hospitals.
Fourth, I’m not looking forward to seeing constant criticism
of everything Trump does. Those
attacking him should pick their battles, and cut back on snide comments when he
only acts the same way he did during his ultimately successful campaign. We have enough to worry about with our
constitutional rights, his finger on the button, and his capability for other
extreme destruction to fuss about what he said about a Broadway musical. Even if the BBC, which asserted this morning
that his early-morning tweets represent “the real Trump,” is correct, that’s
not how his presidency will be measured.
Fifth, protectionism, now fashionable for little reason beyond
faulty evaluation of solutions for the permanent jobs crisis, will prove
objectively destructive. Vastly more
Americans are helped by lower-priced foreign products than could ever get jobs
making them here, and the amounts of money involved are also enormously
greater. If such nutty ideas as 45%
tariffs for Chinese and Mexican products came to pass, we would have a
recession or worse along with the slashed prosperity, which would more than
offset any employment improvement.
Sixth, with that said Trump will come under pressure, to the
extent that his own party is willing to apply it, to create jobs. That could take any number of good forms, and
we have plenty of reason to be hopeful, even if we’re short of sufficient
justification.
Seventh, we will probably see the left-leaning major media,
headed by the Times and the Washington Post, become the coordination
center for anti-Trump civil disobedience.
That has already started, with articles suggesting ways of resisting and
protesting.
That’s all for today.
I wish I could say more about what Trump will mean for jobs, but about
him I feel like the policeman who said he didn’t believe anything he heard and
only half of what he saw. He may not
even last long in the office, ending up, as columnist David Brooks predicted,
gone within a year through impeachment or truly voluntary resignation. In the meantime, the Chinese curse has hit
all of us: we are living in interesting
times.