28 days later — is the Trump Train running like a fine-tuned machine?
The good: It’s been a whole month since President Trump was sworn in and so far he hasn’t been impeached, the stock market is on a sugar high, and his loyal fans are still in the honeymoon phase of the relationship. Trump insists that his administration is making incredible progress and is running like a fine-tuned machine, but don’t just take his word for it; here are the bigly numbers to back it up: 12 executive orders, 12 presidential memorandums and 3 bills have been signed; 14 out of 24 cabinet members have been approved, 1 Supreme Court justice has been nominated; 4 visits from foreign leaders (Britain, Japan, Canada, Israel) complete with awkward handshakes have been held, 6 tweets per day on average have been sent out by Trump, and 6 trips to the golf course and 3 visits to Mar-a-Lago costing over $12M have been billed to taxpayers. Active it may be, fine-tuned is still up for debate.
The bad: criticisms, controversies and chaos dominate all the stories surrounding the White House. The president has managed to clash with Mexico’s president, Australia’s prime minister, so-called judges, his Celebrity Apprentice successor, Democratic leaders, Nordstom, his own party, his own staff, and of course the evil media. He fired at least two staff who disagreed with him or said mean thing about him. He was dealt a bruising legal blow to his signature travel ban. He lost his national security adviser and his pick for labor secretary to scandal. He’s constantly defending against rumors of internal power struggles between the Bannon faction and the Pence-Priebus establishment. He’s battling against a torrent of intelligence-related leaks from within his own departments. And he’s in the middle of an FBI investigation into his campaign’s contacts with Russian intelligence officials. So far, his record does not inspire confidence in his detractors.
The ugly: Trump still has 47 more months to put his stamp on America and the world. Of course many liberals are predicting Trump’s eventual impeachment, but the only way that’ll happen is if the Democrats take back congress (improbable), Trump commits a yuuuge crime like treason or murder (unlikely) AND his rabid supporters turn their backs on him (impossible). So, for better or worse, he’s here to stay. So what does the future hold, you ask? Well, President Trump promised to drain the swamp, hire only the best people, run the country as successfully as he ran his business empire, and keep his bigly campaign promises — and there has been plenty of activity to suggest that he is doing exactly this. But don’t mistake activity for achievement. Instead keep calm and constant vigilance. Happy Presidents Day.
Feel that dissent is healthy in every form of society? Movie for your disruptive mood: The Edukators
