Honey, Trump Ain't The One
But, He IS The One for Now
I never thought of Trump as a deep analytical thinker about politics.
About business, yes. He is the kind of intellect that is VERY good about reading the other guys in negotiations. He understands the cost of operating a business, and can both price a construction job and keep his liabilities from overwhelming his assets.
Have you ever noticed that he is generally NOT the best-dressed guy in the room? His trademark blue suits might seem the choice of someone who doesn’t understand either style, or perhaps just doesn’t understand that MOST men dress up to the level of those who they will be interacting with.
It’s not a gauche error of judgement; he is UNDER-dressing deliberately. Rather than try to “put on a front” and attempt to be the guy everyone looks at and envies (as have many Presidents, particularly Obama, for one), Trump dresses the way he does to put people at ease. Maybe, with any luck, that and a seemingly clumsy, inept way of expressing himself will lead them to relax their guard.
That’s when Trump starts putting down his cards and taking the pot.
You’ll notice the poker reference there. The reason is, I used to see my dad do that in poker games, just before he walked away with the hand.
Over and over again.
He made a bundle playing poker in WWII. His strong WV accent, his seeming wide-eyed innocence, and terrific math skills coupled with excellent memory of cards played, made him a Hillbilly Shark at the game. They just could not believe that this, this, RUBE was not just unbelievably lucky.
Well, a lot of Rednecks do that - not just Vance, and Foxworthy, but, earlier, Andy Griffith - all enjoyed the advantage of their opponents seeing their folksy mannerisms, and allowing their biases to tell them that such an uneducated hick couldn’t POSSIBLY beat them in a contest involving brainpower.
But, back to Trump.
He’s not the Guy.
In the movie Live Free or Die Hard, Willis teaches Justin Long, by example, how to be a man - “That’s what makes you That Guy”.
Willis is old, tired, and completely out of touch with modern technology. But he’s willing to risk everything, including his life, to beat the bad guys.
Well, for that matter, Trump is old. On June 14 (Flag Day!), Trump turned 79. He isn’t all that much younger than many other people in Washington that have just about checked out politically.
Politics is relatively new to Trump. In some ways, it’s probably familiar to him. After all, he negotiated with the NYC unions, the politicians, and the banks. He has more energy than me, and probably more than 1/2 the American population. That helps. He can literally use that advantage to outwork the competition.
He also knows how to delegate. Some guys can’t do that. But, Trump is comfortable with putting tasks in his people’s hands, and letting them go. He checks in, and has no hesitation in critiquing their performance, if lacking. But he doesn’t worry once he has handed it off.
Now, he may not untangle the Epstein mess. Some of it is likely shredded, deliberately misfiled, hidden from oversight, or put into a warehouse like Indiana Jones’ Ark of the Covenant.
He will be focusing on other things:
The economy
Getting inflation down
Getting rid of expenses of government - attrition, elimination, and uncovering waste, fraud, and abuse (did you notice that, although Elon is gone, his DOGE team is still on the job?).
Using tariffs to encourage businesses to bring manufacture home to the United States.
Providing some incentives for essential minerals to return to the USA.
Clearing the judicial obstacles to removing aliens from the USA.
Clearing out a lot of the embedded rules and regulations in agencies and departments.
Conveying “Don’t you DARE” to other countries.
Getting the military arms and supplies replaced, along with the hardware necessary to keep attacks at bay.
And, that’s another way Trump is better than his predecessors - he knows what things SHOULD cost, and he is sensitive to the price of one piece of hardware vs. another. No point spending too much on one type of equipment, when he could buy multiples for a lot less.
But, most importantly, keeping the balance of power on the GOP side in Congress and the Senate. He cannot afford to be overly moral about imperfect or even possibly criminal people, if that means the Dems get ahead in the count.
For 2026, Trump HAS to improve the reliable GOP numbers - and that means persuading a few to retire or find other employment. And, frankly, I really don’t care whether that means Epstein’s blackmail victims get away without prosecution. It’s better to get them out of Washington.
With that majority, Trump can push cleaning the voting roles, and mandating running them against ineligible alien lists. That should be helped along with deporting as many as possible.
And, once the 2026 election is over, that means that Congress and the Senate can MANDATE identification of aliens on the Census in 2030, as a way of allotting Congressional seats to the states. If properly managed (and Trump is a reasonably good manager), this could be the end of Democratic Machine voter fraud. And, as a result of less Federal money coming their way, a BIG incentive for the states to kick out the illegals. Or not. Their choice, but THEY will have to pay for it.
Whoever follows Trump will still have a LOT to clean up in government, including limiting by Congressional action any further growth in agencies, and GETTING RID OF THE FED. I honestly don’t know if Vance has the chops for that. Rubio has looked good lately, but 2028 is a long way off.
Much of this will be in our hands. But it won’t hurt to pray as well.
