“Balls and Strikes: Assessing the First Month of Trump 2.0”
A consistent theme of mine in the Trump era of American politics has been a cry for people of good faith to do something that has seemingly become very, very difficult for most – call the good, good, and call the bad, bad. I have rejected the label “never Trump” because I am, well, not “never” Trump – especially if that means pretending I am “never” supportive of policy decisions that I am very often quite supportive of. I also have rejected the “MAGA” affiliation where one of the requirements for membership appears to be a sycophantic posture for the President that I find not only unprincipled, but really sad and embarrassing for those who have gone there. I won’t re-litigate it all here, but I have believed for some time that not only the best option, but basically the only option for people who love the republic and also value their own self-respect, is to call balls and strikes when it comes to the President, his behavior, his policies, his personnel, and his decisions. I confess that the inability of more to adopt this rejection of “never” Trump and “always” Trump is all at once confusing to me, and often disappointing.
But I also am exhausted by a perpetual assessment of past policies, decisions, and activities. For one thing, I have said as much as I can about most of those things, and for another, we had a primary and then had a general election, and as was the case in 2020, the people made their decision. This all at once created some challenges (what would Trump 47 do that may be concerning for a traditional conservative like myself) and some opportunities (what would Trump 47 do that would be positive in reversing much of the abysmal policies of the prior administration). The commitment was (and is) the same – objective analysis rooted in principles. I am blessed to be in a position where my career, well-being, financial stability, and reputation are not impacted by what others think of what I think regarding Donald Trump. If those things were not as grounded as they are, I would like to think I still would hold my ground as a man of principle and truth. Whether I am operating from the principles I think I am or just from the freedom I am blessed to have, I am spending the next four years with that same commitment – being a truth-teller who calls balls and strikes, devoid of wild prejudices, biases, hyperbole, and mania.
And this brings me to the first month of Trump 2.0. It seems reasonable to me to address the two responses I most frequently hear – responses that you will not be surprised to hear I find rather disingenuous. One is the familiar cry that he is Hitler, or an authoritarian, or determined to ruin democracy, or other such tripe that has done more to advance Trump by numbing those otherwise likely to disagree with him than anything imaginable. For this camp, he has spent the month causing them to panic, setting the country on a sure path to destruction, and their rhetoric around this concern has been utterly hysterical. But on the other extreme has been a group that has responded to the first month of the new administration by saying Obama-like things around the oceans parting and the seas rising and the arrival of new heavens and new earth. It has been, shall we say, uncomfortable to watch. I think a fair assessment is easy to do, and I want to offer mine here.
I will start with the negatives because I think they are easy to itemize, they are mostly incontestable for fair-minded people (there is room for some honest disagreement in some, but not much), and they should not be a surprise to appear on my list.
The Bad of Month #1 from Trump 47:
The universal pardons of Jan 6 offenders. Please note what I did not say: I did not say that it is a negative that any pardons took place or that where there was an honest determination of prosecutorial abuse or injustice, it would be wrong for any Jan 6 pardons to occur. Rather, I took the position of Vice President JD Vance about five days earlier than the pardons took place. The sweeping universality of the pardons undermined the rule of law just days after the right was justifiably incensed at the outrageous corruption of President Biden’s pardons. Some felt that our principles need to be abandoned because the country has changed. Sorry, principles are what we bring to tough situations, and we should not abandon them when we consider times tough.
The nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer to Labor Secretary. The former Planned Parenthood employee, the vocal opponent of right-to-work laws, the supporter of AB5 in California, and the handpicked choice of Randi Weingarten and a variety of other public employee unions might have had the most job security coming into this election – I am pretty sure Kamala Harris would have selected her, as well. I have heard some devout Trump-Republicans speak out against this one, which has been encouraging. If somehow ten GOP Senators developed the backbone necessary to block her, it, sadly, would not matter – she has plenty of Democrat votes coming her way. Unforgivable choice.
I have said enough about the nomination of Robert Kennedy to Health & Human Services. It was a litmus test for where we stand on a lot of things. That RFK wisely opposed COVID-era vaccine mandates puts him in company with 75 million other Americans who are not partial-birth abortion advocates, conspiracy theorists, hopelessly confused about polio vaccine science, and clueless about the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. The current MAGA position on Big Pharma will not last (and already doesn’t exist when one’s own kids or one’s self is in medical need), but this little phase will need more time to play out. This was a disastrous pick, and I say that with full recognition of the political benefit RFK provided the President’s campaign.
The Justice Department’s decision, and way of handling its decision, about Mayor Eric Adams. It is corrupt, it is gross, and to call its handling amateurish is unfair to amateurs everywhere.
President Trump’s decision to blame the January 29 airline crash above the Potomac River on DEI just hours after the fatal tragedy. As someone who feels no competition in their disdain for DEI, I still just have to say that it was unpresidential, unwise, uncompassionate, and lacking any prudence or wisdom for the President to respond how he did.
Kicking the AP out of press conferences for not using the White House’s preferred language.
That wasn’t so bad, was it? Note what I did not have on my list … His threats of tariffs, which have almost entirely been the empty threats or negotiating tools I suspected they would be, so far … His broad portfolio to Elon Musk around DOGE, which has mostly been covered with the same integrity and vigor that the press corps covered the mental well-being of Joe Biden the last four years … His angling for an end to the Russian war in Ukraine, which I fully intend to let play out further before casting judgment (knowing I will never join the morally bankrupt Putin apologists as this matter plays out). I think POTUS will play a role in a modestly acceptable completion to a situation that has no perfectly acceptable solutions on the table. He has plenty of time and opportunity to screw all of the above up, but he also has plenty of opportunity to do some things right in these three categories, so I am keeping them off my lists for now in the interest of optimism and good faith.
The Good of Month #1 from Trump 47:
I am not going to pretend all 61 executive orders signed by President Trump excite me because many do not. And as a general rule, I find excessive use of executive orders indicative of an imperial Presidency that is outside the Constitutional framework I believe in.
But that said, many undoing abuses of former President Biden have been choice, and others have been necessary and prudent. And at the top of this list are the executive orders to protect women in sports, undo the cultural insanity of gender confusion, and re-align political and cultural priorities in the crucial matter of workplace DEI discrimination. These steps have been the highlight of month one in many ways, and conservatives celebrating them celebrate for good reason.
An economic team that both understands and values markets. From Treasury Secretary Bessent to NEC chair Hassett to CEA chair Miran, we have a top-shelf team of people in the economic policymaking division of the federal government who actually know what markets are. They are competent, they are experienced, and they are busy staffing their departments with other qualified people who will do good work. Personnel is Policy, and this is going to be a bright light in the administration.
Undoing extreme Biden initiatives around transgender issues, oil and gas leases, and immigration. A valid argument Trump supporters made in the campaign is that he was not Joe Biden and actions like this have validated that argument.
Undoing environmentally and economically ignorant EV mandates and reiterating consumer choice in household appliances and other matters of energy production.
Early DOGE efforts to purge USAID of its vast corruption are a net positive, even though I am well aware that they will be clumsy and blunt in too much of the implementation. And the ability of OMB to de-fang the highly corrupt CFPB in less than a month has been a work of art.
Restoring the Hyde Amendment that President Biden outrageously used the executive pen to get rid of
I am optimistic that there will be immigration accolades to add to this list in another month or two, and I am happy to include in the list, now, his intent here. Deporting those who have committed crimes here in the U.S. and putting an end to continued border crossings are noble priorities, and I very much believe he will make an impact in these endeavors. I only delay more elaboration because more time is needed for implementation and empirical measurement.
I am certain that it is true that both lists could see more added to them in short order. I believe these cover the main things as I see them, and I will happily add or subtract as circumstances warrant in the months ahead. I also do not mind saying that, despite all of the components in the first list (the bad ones), I see the first month as mostly a net positive. That I refuse to join the chorus of people who use messianic language to describe it is merely a reflection of my own need to look myself in the mirror and not at all a failure to recognize that many bad things have been avoided and many good things done. My prayer is for list one to stop growing, and list two to grow more. And my prayer is for more true conservatives capable of keeping two lists.