Trump is looking like a pragmatic President, and that could be just what America needs.
It looks like Trump’s positions on a lot of things are softening. Especially some of the most controversial topics.
To me, it points to what kind of President Trump will be… and that might be just the President America needs.
Trump’s win was definitive. He won the Presidency but Republicans also won both houses.
It was a rout.
It Trump was truly the unhinged demagogue that his critics painted him to be, he’d be having the time of his life. With Democrats bent over the couch, he’d be pumping the White House full of whatever crazy, half-baked legislation came to mind.
He’s not limited by what’s politically achievable. He can do anything.
But we’re not seeing Trump gloat or announce plans for a 4th Reich. In fact, we’re seeing just the opposite. In a lot of areas, he’s throwing his opponents a bone.
For example, he’s backed away from campaign promises to prosecute Hilary Clinton and “lock her up”.
He’s also softened his position on torture as a means of getting information out of prisoners. After a chat with General Mattis, he said he now thinks there are better ways.
And on climate change – an area where much of his base are in firm denial – he has said he’s looking at it closely but “keeping an open mind.”
And for a supposed misogynist, he’s nominated a lot of women for prominent roles.
Of course for some people, none of this is good enough. This is Trump just being deceitful, and softening us up before he unleashes the full-horror of his hard-line agenda.
But to hold to that line of thinking, you’ve got to look past what Trump is actually saying and doing right now, to what you imagine his actual thoughts and intentions are.
(Just quietly, it’s probably in your head.)
For me, I think it points to two possibilities, both of which are a positive for America.
The first is that Trump is just a pragmatic deal-maker. He knows that some of the extreme opinions in his camp were never going to fly, and to get really great things done, you need to bring people together.
So this softening is about opening the door. Saying, look, I know we had some differences, but let’s work together.
That’s a good thing.
However the other options is that Trump is going to China.
Back when Nixon was elected President in the 70s, he campaigned on taking a very hard-line with China – no engagement, no concessions.
It was very popular with his base. However, when he came to power, he then went to China, and started to patch things up.
But people weren’t disappointed in him. Because he had taken such a hard line people trusted him, and supported his mission.
I think Trump may be working to a similar play-book.
Take climate change. This issue’s has become totally stuck in the US. If Clinton had won, republicans would have fought her efforts on climate change tooth and nail. Their base would have demanded it.
The only way out I can see is for someone like Trump to take up the issue – to go to China and pull the right more towards the centre.
From gun control to trade, there’s a lot of “China”-like issues in America right now.
A pragmatic President with a capacity to move his base – and Trump is nothing if not persuasive – has the potential to achieve a great deal.
Potent times for America.
Is Trump actually a ‘uniter’?
Da says
Interesting interpretation…
A business person looking out for his own business interests perhaps! – suggested as the most likely scenario
Reported – Nigel Farage introduced to help ‘eradicate’ wind farms off Scotland – near potus elect golf courses… political self interest?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/donald-trump-used-his-meeting-with-nigel-farage-to-bring-up-wind-farms-a7431336.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/donald-trump-wind-farms_uk_58385d32e4b0207d191814ec
http://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1416797/trumps-wind-power-comments-fact-checked
Flipping and flopping and flipping – a good decisive indecision
UK residents polled (remember Brexit) suggested only approximately 15% said he would be a good president and 66% said he would leave the World a more dangerous place…
Only time will tell…
Can't Decide says
Indeed, only time will reveal the answers.
Personally, I think there is more to him than that. What is the point of being super-rich, if the planet is dead?
For Don, maybe his smartest move will be to turn his golf courses into wind farms too. I mean, what’s the big deal about golfing in Scotland? Musta been the land was cheap! If it’s that windy, the courses will be extremely frustrating to play, and will likely end up losing money long term. Not that this is unfamiliar territory to him.
Macca says
An interesting take Jon – that having no discernible principles will actually make him a pretty useful President. I’ve gotta say though, that if this is our best case scenario we are in a pretty dark place. I hope you’re right.
Simon says
No discernable madness, being reasonable isn’t exactly equal to no discernible principles.
KiwiAl says
Simon, are you referring to Hillary (madness), by any chance?
You mean the seizures? The inability to walk? The pneumonia that wasn’t? The body double?
KiwiAl says
Macca, are you looking at The Don with your blind eye? Please look at him (and the world) with your other eye. If you favour your blind one, Yes, everything will look very dark!
“no discernible principles”???
That’s a bit rich! (You’ll have to excuse the pun.) Trump is not a career politician, like all the alternatives. He just decided he wanted to do it, and used a lot of his own money. That makes him about 100 times better than all the alternatives; politicians being just one grade above absolute bottom feeding lawyers (Hillary was both!) As an alternative, she was only going to be much, much “more of the same but worse”, and we all know that things have to change. There was no real hope for America under Hillary. The (next/due/coming) Great Financial Collapse would surely have followed. Whether Trump can delay it, I don’t know, but the big thing about Trump is that he brings new hope to a demoralised nation. He has a chance of re-energising the people like Hillary NEVER could have done. Just look at what he achieved and proved through the entire Election Campaign. A Property Developer Reality TV Star, no less. With, presumably, no political training. He divided the country like (almost?) no other before him. But he divided it very carefully, very cleverly…
He Trumped the Republican Party nomination process, and went on to stir up the entire world with his “insane, crazy, lunatic” (call it whatever you like) speeches and proposals. He got massive attention, even you cannot deny that. Then, he Trumped the Election. Secured the Presidency by a significant majority (even if poor Hillary received more actual votes, Trump won the marginals, which shows he is SMART!) Then, “he” won Congress and the House. I’d call that “fairly convincing.”
The man definitely has some principles. Take a look at his (older) children, if you don’t believe that. (Ok, their mother had something to do with it, but where is she now? The kids apparently still love their Dad!) When family breakups happen in our part of the world, often dad is cast as a child-abusing, unfit nutcase – look at Brad Pitt, for example – and is alienated from his children. The children have a right to their father (and who has a right to take that away from them?), but the femi-Nazis don’t like to share. Don did better than that, obviously. The man is not ordinary, of that there can be no doubt.
Take a look at the key points of his campaign, if you don’t think he has principles. Whatever they were, he certainly stuck to them, all the way, through thick and thin, through condemnation, criticism and scandal. He never wavered, never really backed down. I’d call that having principles.
Now, he’s showing his “other side”. Showing the people who could not see that before, that he actually has one. He’s not the terrifying cardboard cut out the people with only one eye would be forced to perceive. Of course, many will not change their minds because they have formed their opinions and will not change them, no matter what. (There are none so blind…)
That makes them much less than Donald Trump, who is already showing he is more reasonable than even I thought. Give him his due, and give him a chance, a least.
Better still, give him a hand!
Of course, he is multifaceted. One only needs to study the many faces
(facial expressions) he showed during the campaign to know that. There is definitely something behind those faces. Adolf
Hitler, OTOH, was extremely wooden, rigid and fixed. (Hillary was the “Buffoon face,” with her “wide eyed, open mouth, turning clown head” – see if you can get the ball in her mouth at the local fair ground – act.)
As for “best case scenario”, that’s a completely different question. In this stuffed up modern world, maybe it is. In the US Presidential Election, there were only *two* choices. I thought “Bad” and “Worse” but maybe I was wrong.
Yes, this is the Better Alternative.
ron goddard says
hi jonno… a sprat to catch a mackerel . he sees what is coming and is trying to soften the impact.
now read very carefully : many commentators in america(outside the m.s.m. which is in fits at the moment) are wondering why their new fantastic destroyer USS zumwalt (cost US$4.4bn.) is dead in the water and the brits the same with their hms duncan (cost US$1.2bn). now that is a big worry for pres. trump because the US military have ‘imported’, bought hundreds of thousands of nasty ‘chinese chip destroyers’ and is STILL buying them under instruction from obama (still military dictator) and have fitted them to almost every military weapon and machinery in both USA and britain. these chips, manufactured by the peoples republic of china and sold to the obama admin. asap after he took office. strange? yes indeed. the USA military and brits military have been forced by obama to buy these things, which are now in every conceivable communications system in brtitain and USA..(australia too?) plus the aforesaid military weaponry etc. etc. both USS zumwalt and hms duncan. are ‘dead in the water’
after both experiencing catastrophic propulsion failure, which means that they cannot move one inch.
now what are the consequences of this situation? well, at any time thousands of weaponry and communications systems will suffer the same fate. imagine being in a submarine at 100 metres below the waterline and things go kaput! no lights, no engine and who is a gonna rescue them? similarly if communications go out who is gonna give orders.? now these same very intelligent commentators also are aware that china and russia are quite ready to use their emp s to destroy the powers systems of both america and britain but also any of their allies that they consider dangerous.
this isn’t stuff somebody made up jonno. i hope that most australians will get with it and tell their politicians to bring the army, navy and airforce away from any war zones like syria and afghanistan and say to both russia and china..ok guys we have had enough b.s. from USA and we wanna be friends. and stuff the m.s puppet press in oz. if we are without power(electricity), for any length of time. well you go figure what would/will happen.
and that is why trump is very friendly with putin and will be so with chinese pres. soon, and they know that. BUT if h.r.c. and the moguls(rothschild and co.) get nasty and cause a civil war in USA well emp s will arrive in schedule. end of story.
KiwiAl says
Hi Ron,
Ever thought about starting your own site? You have a lot of good info for us!
Sounds like the Zumwalt’s problems don’t end at propulsion:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a23738/uss-zumwalt-ammo-too-expensive/
I thought it was so good, I pinched this quote from someone else:
Stealth technology – It is literally impossible to see this ship out in open waters!
……since it’s never there.
Actually, those sides being raked like that should help incoming rounds bounce off. But I’m quite sure that this supposed “Stealth” Technology is completely out of date. Satellites will pick up the deflected radar echoes and triangulate exactly where it is, maybe to within 1 metre. Inmarsat clued us in to that with MH370, from a very infrequent engine transponder ping.
The whole story epitomises what’s wrong with America. Too many people only interested in sucking the public tit. The design was out-of-date before the first hull plate was dug out of the Aussie desert.
peter says
On climate change (whatever happened to global warming?) it is probable that Trump will only act if there is good solid scientific evidence and in doing so, it won’t damage the economy. On that basis, all action on climate will probably end overnight! Lol
Your mindless! says
Climate change is a complete fraud. An email survey went out to a select few “scientists” and the response of that damn BS survey is where they derived the 97% of scientists agree on climate change. You’ve all been completely brainwashed. Don’t tell me you’re intelligent cause you went to University. You’re entire life and beliefs are not your own.
Read the proof of climate BS here. It’s this kind of BS that got Trump voted cause he understands this deception:
http://www.naturalnews.com/056116_fake_news_climate_change_science_hoax.html
Your mindless! says
Oh additionally, why don’t all you University so-called intellects ever consider weather as a weapon causing the weather change? Weather has been used as a weapon for over 60 years but no one ever questions it. Do some research on military weather manipulation, just search HAARP, it’s all on record you intellectual brain-dead.
Party Time says
Good Point! What did happen to Global Warming? Quietly slipped in a new PC label. Like happened to Rape Seed Oil – I mean “LEAR Oil” – Wait! No I don’t, I mean “Canola”… Absolutely the worst oil you can eat, touted as “healthy” – once they got the name problem eventually sorted out.
But don’t worry peter. It’s probably already, long ago, completely out of our hands. Guy McPherson says we have 10 years left for life on this planet. He may not be strictly correct and fully scientifically informed, but he’s probably close. The Earth will flick us off, even if thousands of species go extinct in the process. Just look at the way Earthquakes and Volcanic Activity are ramping up, around the various tectonic plate faults. Over here in NZ, we’re having to pull down 5 or 6 year old, “EQ Safe” buildings that were 100 miles from the recent M7.8 shake. And the quakes are ongoing at present. Even activated a dormant geyser in Lake Rotorua a couple of nights ago. Things are warming up “down there” as well. But the “sci-n-tists” say it’s “probably not related”. Yeah… Right!
Of course, it makes perfect sense. Even if the scientists keep on denying it (as they have been doing) until the cows go extinct. Increase the temperature at the surface and the rate of Core Heat Loss will decrease. It’s basic thermodynamics. The Core-to-Surface temperature gradient will change, so the crust will get warmer – just a bit, but enough – and therefore expand… We can all guess what that means.
Crack-crack-crack… The egg is gonna hatch!
Jon, your Space Lizard babies are about to be born!
georgina says
Trump is a Fascist Salesman…could not trust one word that he says….so how could you trust to invest in a country with him and his right wing congress in control?….they are and will be to unpredictable! …….like the 3rd Riech a War would not suprise so they can welch on their huge debts….i would not put one cent in USA and i have a son living their with dual aussie US passports
All i can see is greater poverty and hardship for their poor citizens
alistsir says
Trump is a disgrace as an individual and a sociopath. He cares for no one but himself.
Not only for his nonsense pre election but now POST election, the US may well have a constitutional crisis as the President has serious conflicts of interest issues. As for his stance on matters of a geo political nature, he is clueless. The Russians describe him as a “useful fool”
His appointees to his cabinet are among the most hard right wing lunatics the US has ever had. The consequences of this sees questionable outcomes not only for the US but the globe. On trade with China, the country he has accused on manipulation of its currency, the second largest economy in the world, could see severe outcomes for the US and Australia. The axing of the TPP is an example of nonsense with the impacts on global growth of concern. He has accused the head of the federal reserve in the US, largely of ineptitude. Another serious concern.
His only understanding of dealing with foreign matters is handling a Miss Universe Contest and dealing with its contestants. Including taking to twitter rants like some infant child. A giant man baby.
His plans for the US reveal incompetence. Take on board the bounce in the DOW to record highs. Note the market movers were, financial services, where he seeks to UNDO the Dodd Frank Act on regulation, healthcare, where he vows to repeal and replace the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) the result of which will effect millions of Americans including his voter base, defense stocks, where he vows to build the military at great taxpayer expense, a tradition for Republicans and of course construction ( build a wall etc ). Where is the money coming from ?
Taxpayers – but wait he wants to LOWER taxes or is it Public Private partnerships – still at a cost to the taxpayer. America looks like being a wasteland and a second rate nation under this fool.
Lets face it, anyone that runs 4 casinos into bankruptcy – cannot be good for shareholders of the casino let alone a nation. Trump is only important to Trump.
Potent times not only for America but the Globe !
Simon says
Good on you, I totally agree, and he’s just what america needs right now,
Go Trump says
About time all the Globalist BS came down. Trump’s the man and you sound like a friggin Globalist troll. Globalisation is history! Just wait til they track down Soros. In a land of law and order by constitution, he needs to go to prison too.
Simon says
Once the left have labelled him, he could turn water into wine, and shit gold bricks for the poor and they’d still hate him.
ron goddard says
alistair..i wonder what you have been taking lately? the stuff you write is so ..well its just garbage. you have no idea what is happening in usa or in your own backyard. but like all of us you will find out soon enough. but wait..has normalcy bias set in? you know..nothing is allowed to change. change is bad..lets keep borrowing money and enjoy life while those silly buggers in syria, libya and other unmentionable places have wars ..we don’t have wars in oz no way..we go overseas and make war. we in oz have never experienced war. its really quite wonderful getting bombed and blasted. maybe we should try it here. if h.r.c had got in she would have had oz troops and every other troops invading russia and getting massacred. trump is trying to make friends etc. with putin and ping. free trade? great idea. lets us oz s stand on our own two feet, make cars and tv sets, mobile phones etc.here in oz. BUT WE CANNOT!!
because our wages structure is so b. high the rest of the world would laugh at us for being so overpriced. and thats our problem, being a service industry country where ‘house swapping’ for gain is the main industry. and guess who pays? the poor suckers at the end of the line. (first home buyers) who mortgage themselves to the eyeballs for a roof over their heads. what a nice place is oz. never had overhead bombing (like mainland USA, but they bomb everybody else and b.s. to rest of the world that they had it coming cos we’re the ‘good guys’ and the rest are the baddies.
the other little unmentionable is the derivative debt created by banksters everywhere. its now over 1000tn dollars (US) and going north lol. the five major banks in US are screwed to the eyeballs with d.d. each one of them has a ration of 5:1 d.d. to assets. bankrupt? of course they are. and guess what alistair the b. fed.reserve bank is the fundamental problem, and has been since 1913.. hmm i don’t expect many people in oz understands any of this. but i like to write about things. credit is NOT money! the flip side is debt. fiat money has enslaved the entire planet. and alistair its all due to the
fed. they poured money into the system and guess who got it all? the banks and corporations. trillions of dollars. and guess who is paying it back? citizen USA. another thing. don’t count on the oz govt. or oz banks to help you in crises. (that is plural of course) you’d have to be really stupid to trust them. look out for your self..cos nobody else will. its still dog eat dog out there.
alistsir says
Perhaps I have touched a raw nerve of the right wing. The same blind fools that believe in self interest above all else. The same fools that will preach one nation united as they hurt the most vulnerable in society. These are the fools who are followers of Trump. A basket of deplorable fools. If this is you then rejoice in ignorance. The reality of this nonsense occurred in history also where fools like Trump played with the public, created havoc and a disaster. Lessons of history it would appear that Trump and his followers are wanting to repeat. As for understanding the US, having lived their via their system for over 2 decades, I feel sad for the US going forward. Lets see who will be right on this one eh….
David says
You can’t Stump the Trump.
Alistsir you lose this round your fired.
Ron Goddard I find your articles to be an interesting read.
ron goddard says
hi kiwi al, ta for your comments, although i have not an astute mechanical mind:-)
that article was written on 07/11/2016 so the problem of propulsion arose after the article was written.
makes one wonder what the US navy is doing(NOT doing?) to have these matters occurring. so i guess its got the obama stamp on it. he is very determined to have america implode with the help of george soros and his puppet h.r.c.
a civil war is inevitable i think. december 13th is the final day for electors to be certified so that they can vote on december 19th. what h.r.c. is a gonna do is get high court orders to delay/short circuit any voting and persist with innumerable interruptions to any orderly voting, aided and abetted by the american m.s.m. which is actually blackbanning 200 alternate news sites in USA. thus giving the mainstream complete control of media output. h.r.c. is actively campaigning for funds to set things in motion. i find it refreshing that our oz govt. has ceased funding her.(did they really fund her campaign?) one wonders about this: funding the campaign of another country’s candidate? i hope that malcolm can come up with the amount of OUR TAX funds that went to her. amazing.
the big problem for the people of america is that if things go completely haywire and war erupts, food shortages will occur on a massive scale, which will in turn mean the activation of the dreaded fema camps of which there over 800, with their associated crematoriums and guilitines. sound familiar?
are we lucky in oz? we read about it. we debate it. we canonise it., but will we ever feel it?
remember december 13th. it may well be an interesting day (14th here in oz) and please watch your bank account..its only credit in there you know lol and could be subject to a haircut.