According to a very unscientific poll on BillOReilly.com, 90% of you are totally unsurprised by President Donald Trump's flurry of executive actions. Well, either you're fibbing or you are unusually prescient and astute. We'll guess it's the latter.
Truth is, almost no one else expected Donald Trump to spend the first week of his presidency signing orders, visiting agencies, and meeting with CEOs and union bigwigs. This is a time when most incoming presidents are still finding their way around the West Wing and striving not to bump into the furniture.
But Donald J. Trump was a most unconventional candidate, a man who followed his instinct and totally befuddled the media and other politicians. If this first week is any indication, he will be an equally unconventional president.
Some old Washington hands find this distressing, but many Americans consider it a tremendously refreshing change. Some examples of President Trump's unorthodoxy were evident during this week's much-hyped interview with ABC News anchor David Muir.
When Muir pressed him about last weekend's anti-Trump Women's March in Washington, the president turned the tables and asked whether the media will give similar coverage to this week's massive March for Life. The networks have essentially ignored that event for four decades because it does not fit their worldview and narrative.
In that same interview, the president accused Muir and his mainstream colleagues of blatant bias in their coverage of his talk at the CIA. 'You and other networks,' President Trump scolded, 'covered it very inaccurately.' Mr. Trump then gave Muir some very pithy and perspicacious advice: 'Turn on Fox and see how it was covered.' Wow! We've gone from a president who openly loathed Fox News to a commander-in-chief who respects the network's commitment to fairness. It's enough to induce a severe case of whiplash.
While the media spent this first week focusing on President Trump's sometimes-over-the-top obsession with crowd size and voter fraud, it's worth remembering the substance of what he did. The actions on immigration and trade were simply a matter of keeping promises made during the campaign, so why should anyone be shocked? Donald Trump has long vowed that his primary concerns will be the safety of American people and the prosperity of American workers.
Ending the reckless Obama policy of 'catch and release,' which endangered our citizens, will make this a safer nation. Punishing sanctuary cities will make those self-righteous enclaves think twice about harboring illegal aliens. Building a fence, dismissed by so many as campaign noise, truly seems to be high on the Trump agenda. If you caught The Factor this week, you may have noticed that even Geraldo Rivera has thrown in the towel and will no longer oppose the wall. Call it Geraldo's 'Road to Damascus' moment. Perhaps, in this case, 'Road to Brownsville' is more accurate.
President Trump vowed again that construction will begin 'as soon as we can' and reaffirmed that, yes, Mexico will eventually reimburse the USA in one form or another. In the meantime, the Border Patrol, handcuffed by the Obama administration, will finally be able to put those cuffs on illegal immigrants.
Of course, a president does not govern by executive actions alone. Mr. Trump will have to work with Congress on the really big-ticket items. Things like massive infrastructure spending and that pesky 'replacement' part of 'repeal and replace.' It will not be easy, he will face unrelenting opposition from Democrats, some Republicans, and almost the entire media establishment.
But this week we got a first glance of President Trump in action, 'action' being the operative word. The president known as 'No Drama Obama' has been replaced by 'Perpetually Pumped Trump,' and many Americans seem to approve of the dramatic change.
Now, we all know that Donald Trump will say and tweet some outrageous things that will be mocked by the cognoscenti and chattering classes. As the commercial says, 'It's what he does.' And it now seems equally predictable that he will take concrete steps to improve the lives of those forgotten Americans who helped put him in office. They are Donald Trump's constituency, the people about whom he seems to care most.
And what's next? Well, there are those trifling issues of stopping the bloodshed in Chicago, stomping out ISIS by all means necessary, rebuilding the military, and improving education. It's a daunting agenda with nary a day off on the horizon.
But, hey, even God needed a break. As it says in Genesis 2:2, 'He rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.' The newly-minted president has four years, maybe eight, to help create a safer and more prosperous America. It's not quite as tough as creating the Earth, the seas, the heavens, and the stars, but it's still a pretty heavy lift.
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