Sunday Thoughts

The honeymoon is officially over. Every president gets a honeymoon period, except for Trump in his first term. No president gets a second honeymoon after winning reelection, except for Trump in his second try at running the White House, but the honeymoon is now over. The bad guys have regained their balance, and they are once again seeking to drag Trump into the tarpit of established narratives with various coordinated attacks.

The other sign that the honeymoon is over is the vinegar drinkers who reluctantly joined in on the celebration of the election are now back to Trump-bashing. Whether it is his foreign policy or his lack of success on domestic issues, they have something to criticize. There is always a faction that predicts failure, and then actively looks for evidence of it. This is true in everything. I have seen it many times in the business world. Only enthusiastic success silences them.

In politics there is little enthusiastic success, so this type always has a place. In fairness, they are not always wrong about these things. There is growing evidence that it is too late to fix the problems of America within the rules, or even by creative interpretation of the rules. For example, there may be no fixing the court problem. Unless Trump is willing to become the dictator his enemies have claimed, his reform efforts may die at the hands of district court judges.

That aside, politics is always a grind, and we have now officially entered the grind phase. This is where we see if the Trump team is as prepared as they seemed during the honeymoon period. The test will be the new budget that is working through both houses of congress. This is supposed to include the cuts made by executive order, as well as a basket of new cuts, including military cuts. This means we are entering a summer of practical politics where the winner is the one who grinds hardest.

Topics

• Phony Trump Effect (Link)
• Managerial Art
• Mike Waltz Fired (Link)
• Outlaw Courts (Link)
• Post-Nationalism (Link)