Donald Trump was awarded about 208 weeks of Chief Executive status due to his election victory in November of 2024. As of today, he has about 199 of them left to serve. There is no doubt that there is an internal hourglass in Trump’s mind that is obsessed with the grains of sand trickling from the top to the bottom. That persistent hourglass, along with the four years he spent out of office to contemplate his return, has combined to give him a sense of urgency that I don’t believe I have seen from a president in my lifetime. And even though he may occasionally flirt with the possibility of a third term…that is simply not going to happen. The sand is pouring and the man is feeling the pressure.
Donald
Trump was very plain about his policy platform when he was campaigning for his
current term; but he was plain in a very general sense. He spoke about fundamental principles in
broad strokes, drawing distinct lines of difference between his approach and
that of Joe Biden. Based on his election
victory, which was emphatic and yet not overwhelming, he has every right to
claim a mandate in his pursuance of those policy priorities. But the undeniable fact is that America
remains a divided nation. The majority portion
of that divide appears to settle in Trump’s favor, but that does not preclude
the rights of the minority status…no matter how stupidly they might behave.
Donald
Trump was not elected King or Emperor.
He has no mandate to ignore the laws of our nation in his pursuit of
noble causes, no matter how popular they may be. He has competed for and won the awesome power
of the presidency and he enjoys a majority of party support in both houses of
Congress. With these advantages in hand,
he is uniquely situated to implement his policy agenda. But if he continues to ignore the basic
tenets of the law and continues to repeatedly empower his political and
ideological adversaries with arrogant missteps in authority and process, he
runs the very real risk of running out of sand before he accomplishes his
overall goals.
Being
popularly and common sensibly correct on broad points of policy makes for good
public rhetoric and establishes general Constitutional justification for
Executive Orders and bold presidential initiatives. What it does not do is magically make those
orders and initiatives conform to existing law.
Donald Trump has selected some extremely intelligent people to serve
within his Administration. Even though
their chore of attempting to persuade the monstrous ego of The Donald to use effective
policy approach is no doubt terrifically challenging, it is a job they must
pursue. If Trump continues to take
presidential power and authority to new heights of application, he runs the
very real risk of having his policy priorities die from a thousand cuts.
Joe
Biden and his Democrat Party literally wrecked our nation. When Trump assumed office on January 20 of 2025,
our nation was in many ways a three-alarm fire.
And even though it may have seemed so, that catastrophic blaze did not
just occur over the four years of the Biden Administration. The genesis of its destructive reality can be
traced back to the first day of Obama’s presidency. The eight years that followed with the One’s
policy choices then led into four years of Machiavellian sabotage during
Trump’s first term through the combined efforts of the Obama Cult, the Democrat
Party, the liberal/progressive elements in our culture, and the ever-present
Deep State that resides behind the curtain of our government. That period was then followed by the
mind-bending stupidity and incompetence of the Biden Administration.
It
is not difficult to understand how Donald Trump feels desperate to unwind and
refashion this sad 16-year period of American history. Not only does common sense demand that some
order be restored, but there is the totally understandable factor of Trump
seeking recompense for the inexcusable way his first Administration was
hamstrung. But if Trump continues his
current strategy of executive authority by fiat, he runs the risk of playing
into the devious hands of his still-potent (though
clearly weakened) political opposition and allowing them to run out the
clock on his opportunity to set things right.
Trump must quickly come to terms with the fact that the weeks are
melting away and he must perhaps fight smarter and perhaps less boldly. As pathetic and disjointed as the Democrat
Party appears today, it could be a tragic mistake to underestimate its ability to
regroup and once again ascend to some degree of power in November of 2028, or even
in the 2026 mid-term elections.
Even
though he undoubtedly feels pressure to do so, the four years of Trump’s first
Administration cannot be recovered; they are gone. An effort to address the wrongs of a 16-year
misadventure with a 4-year term is simply not doable. A lot can be done…and I hope and pray that
it WILL be done to restore the health and well-being of these United States
from the catastrophic rule of Democrat/Progressive policy and dirty tricks. But in my humble opinion, that huge and
significant correction in our nation’s direction is being put in jeopardy by
Trump’s overly-ambitious grab for the whole enchilada. A far better plan would be to make significant,
incremental, sustainable progress towards restoring our government to
responsible and competent operation and, at the same time, laying down the
foundation for several more years of Republican Party control in Washington,
DC. The way to get to that point is a
clear restoration of proper and competent government function coupled with
sound legislation achievement. Now...let’s
move on to some news of the day.
The
state of our national education establishment is undergoing a dramatic
evolution and hopefully a return to rediscovered purpose and priority.
https://amgreatness.com/2025/03/26/setting-the-record-straight-on-three-education-issues/
https://americanmind.org/salvo/a-reckoning-for-higher-ed/
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/sound-advice-for-college-presidents/
You know…being forced to step up
and meet your ethical and legal fiscal obligations can be a bitch:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/economy/student-loan-debt-ny-fed/index.html
This
ongoing power struggle between the federal judges of our Judicial Branch and
the Chief Executive of our Executive Branch needs to be resolved…quickly. Even though the Trump Administration can be
credibly blamed for a good deal of self-harming in this situation, it is
becoming more apparent every passing day that the Supreme Court of the United
States, with the complementary support of Congressional action, needs to take
clear and definitive action to resolve this issue that threatens to bring
proper and Constitutional government function to a standstill.
https://reason.com/volokh/2025/03/24/guest-post-reconsidering-the-non-appealability-of-tros/
https://www.uscourts.gov/about-federal-courts/types-federal-judges
If
you are going to dish it out, you best be prepared to receive it. The “Signal” controversy was a bad mistake
and the Trump Administration’s efforts to minimize its relevance and bury it
with misdirection are lame at best.
This type of screw-up should be unacceptable in the realm of national
security and somebody should be publicly held accountable with proportionate (firing/termination) consequences. Some
have said that mistakes are acceptable as long as they are not repeated. I’m not comfortable with that standard being
applied when global conflict is the context.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/03/on-signal-leak-take-the-l/
https://reason.com/2025/03/27/pete-hegseths-carelessness-and-dishonesty-mirror-hillary-clintons/
I
have repeatedly written that I believe one of the fundamental steps towards
making our government more effective and efficient is the simple act of
determining exactly “what” it should do and “how” it should to it. Quite simply, our government is too big and
it has its fingers in areas where it has no business being.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/03/doge-goes-after-npr-pbs.php
https://thefederalist.com/2025/03/27/10-times-npr-proved-it-doesnt-deserve-another-taxpayer-cent/
Things
that make you go “Hmnnn”.
Our government is now moving in the
right direction; how can this momentum be sustained?
https://americanmind.org/salvo/common-sense-revolution/
https://americanmind.org/salvo/an-easy-choice/
President Trump’s application of
tariffs is certainly creating a storm of controversy. Both sides of the issue, pro and con, are
populated with intelligent and thoughtful opinions. At the end of the day, I believe we are
simply going to have to take a “wait and see” approach and let it all play
out. It will either work…or it
won’t. The credit…or blame…will fall
accordingly. Meanwhile, there are certainly
good things to build on when trying to improve our national economy.
http://jewishworldreview.com/0425/harsanyi040425.php
https://mrctv.org/blog/craig-bannister/job-growth-dwarfs-expectations-march
There’s a lot of truth in this
article. America must come to terms with
the fact that we MUST have sufficient energy to remain independent, be
productive, remain secure, and lay the groundwork for future economic
growth. If there is one area where Trump
has his priorities right, I believe that our energy sector is that one.
https://reason.com/2025/03/27/were-not-short-on-power-were-just-too-sanctimonious-to-generate-it/
Has technology, need, and public
will combined to make a sweeping proposal such as this feasible? Perhaps we will find out. It has worked out pretty well for Israel.
As impossible as it may seem, our
government must find some way to cut through the turmoil and noise and agree
upon some meaningful national immigration reform. The time for this is well past.
