On Nov. 8, Hillary Clinton opened bottles of champagne on her campaign plane in anticipation of winning the general election. Unfortunately for her, Donald Trump shocked the world when he beat Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States.
In less than three weeks, the euphoria has faded and the reality of leading is setting in. Some people who were adamant Trump supporters are now complaining about his decisions. Now the cries abound on social media that President-elect Trump has “betrayed” his base.
Really?
President-elect Trump has about seven weeks to go before he is sworn in as the 45th president. Meanwhile, some of the things he is doing should be of great comfort to conservatives. One of the first things he did was to nominate Jeff Sessions to be the Attorney General. If anyone is going to investigate Mrs. Clinton and the corruption of the left, it will be Mr. Sessions who is a former federal prosecutor.
One of the biggest points of friction in the last two weeks has been the perception that President-elect Trump has backed away from his campaign promise to prosecute Mrs. Clinton. President-elect Trump has backed away from calls for an appointment of a special prosecutor for Mrs. Clinton. But guess what? He doesn’t need a special prosecutor.
After Jan. 20, the Justice Department will be under the control of a new Attorney General who will be interested in justice, and not simply covering up the crimes of the left. Under current Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the actions of the Justice Department have been primary designed to ensure that a future prosecution of Mrs. Clinton for the email scandal is impossible. That may be true, but there so many other Clinton scandals out there that a future Attorney General Sessions can go after.
One of the biggest problems the Trump transition is running into is the unrealistic expectations of a base that turned out the vote that put President-elect Trump over the top. Too many Trump supporters immediately expected him to go along with their exact agenda. The problem is not all Trump supporters have the same agenda.
Some supporters are fine with President-elect Trump talking with Mitt Romney about the Secretary of State job, while others are screaming heresy. Some of those same supporters expressed outrage at his choice of Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary because she allegedly supports Common Core. Ms. DeVos has been a passionate advocate for school choice and voucher programs. The institutional left and the education unions are going bat guano crazy. Washington hasn’t seen this kind of outrage from the institutional left since Ronald Reagan nominated James Watt to head the Interior Department in 1981.
In Washington, there is a saying: “Personnel is policy.” So far, from Sen. Sessions to the potential pick of retired Marine General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, President-elect Trump is making good choices. His choices are not perfect, but they are good.
President-elect Trump is just that, the president-eElect. He has not made a single policy decision yet, other than personnel. He can’t until after Jan. 20. For those who supported him and those who did not, there is one inescapable truth. Donald Trump will be the president for the next four years.
His “pre-presidency” has started off well. Instead of celebrating the terrorists of the Black Lives Matters movement, he has called the families of slain police officers. He spent his Thanksgiving working to save jobs at the Carrier Air Conditioning plant in Indianapolis. In February, the company announced the plant was moving to Mexico. Now, it might stay. When was the last time Barack Obama tried to save any American jobs?
What will the Trump presidency bring? It is too early to tell but the first steps are encouraging. Conservatives, Tea Party activists and Republicans, should all give the Trump administration a chance.
President-elect Trump said at the start of his campaign that American’s would get tired of winning when he becomes President. After 8 years of the “put Americans last” Obama administration, winning under a Trump administration feels and sounds pretty damn good.
