Those who voted for Donald Trump think there’s a lot to be thankful for ahead. Polls show a majority of Americans expect him to make good on his promises. Those who regard Trump as the antichrist are therefore hopeless.
But it begins to look as if both are wrong. The evidence this week is that the Donald-in-Chief is going to behave a lot like the sort of untrustworthy politicians he ran against — albeit with the usual Trump admixture of delusion, egotism, bombast, id and ADHD impulsivity and limited attention span.
He promised to request a special prosecutor to lock up Hillary, but now he says “never mind,” she’s suffered enough having been beaten by him.
He promised to build a huge, beautiful wall. It now sounds as if he’s going to be giving us part wall, part fence or something. And as to rounding up and deporting eleven million illegal aliens, no wait, two million known criminals, well perhaps — on a case by case basis — those who deserve it. “Trust me.”
The good news is he’s sticking to his pledge to drain the Washington swamp. No more lobbyists and pols and crony capitalists. Unless the the lobbyists and pols and cronies are his friends. So, his first act of foreign policy was lobbying the Brits to have unsightly wind turbines banished from the vicinity of his Scottish golf course. And he is overlooking the fact that his NSC chief Gen. Michael Flynn’s company is a registered lobbying firm.
But other than that, the usual Washington suspects will have no place in a Trump administration. Unless you count people like his chief of staff and head of the Republican Party Reince Priebus, or — as Attorney General — a 20-year veteran of the Senate, or — as UN ambassador– a Republican governor or — as head of the CIA — the personal congressman of the Koch Brothers whose headquarters is in his district and who are his biggest donors. In other words, Trump, the outsider, is rounding up the usual insiders.
Should we be surprised, appalled, disappointed, relieved? He’s not going to be as crazy (or as wonderful depending on your taste) as he promised to be on the stump. Instead, he’s already trimming, adapting, modifying the big promises he made. In short, he’s being co-opted by Washington, as is usual. The candidates bark, but the permanent government carries on.
In fact, Trump may prove to be especially malleable. Since he arrives with a few prejudices but little in the way of a consistent ideology or set of deeply held policy convictions he appears easily swayed by anyone who gets his ear. He may actually turn into the retweet president. Merely passing on approvingly what others feed him.
Case in point, after a brief chat with Gen. James “Mad Dog” Mattis, Trump renounced his enthusiasm for torturing our enemies. The general is said to have changed his mind with one sentence, though that ‘mad dog’ thing might have played a part too.
There are also many reports that Trump’s staff is in the habit of managing him. They have lied to him to keep him from going off unprepared and halfcocked to meetings, connived to keep his fingers off the twitter keyboard, and put ideas into his head by claiming he thought of them first. Thus, Trump’s regime may not be quite as horrific as his campaign suggested, assuming his keepers can get him in the room with sane people as often as possible and keep him away from his constituents.
In short,this Thanksgiving, give conditional, modified, limited, temporary thanks. And pass the cranberry sauce.