Posted by I heard an interesting quote the other day,
Donald Trump’s supporters took the man seriously but didn’t take his words seriously. Trump’s opponents took his words seriously but didn’t take the man seriously.
I have been assured by friends who voted for Donald Trump that they don’t agree some of his more divisive rhetoric. That, yes, they realize he is an “ass”, to use one friend’s term. (Seriously, being a fanboy of Trump or any other politician is naive). Okay, I take that to heart. I’ve known some of these people since elementary or middle school. I believe they have good intentions. But now that he has become our President-elect, what promises and policies of Mr. Trump’s should be taken seriously? The following is his 100-Day Plan, taken directly from his website.
Six measures to clean up the corruption and special interest collusion in Washington, DC
- Propose a constitutional amendment to impose term limits on all members of Congress.
- A hiring freeze on all federal employees to reduce the federal workforce through attrition (exempting military, public safety, and public health).
- A requirement that for every new federal regulation, two existing regulations must be eliminated.
- A five-year ban on White House and Congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service.
- A lifetime ban on White House officials lobbying on behalf of a foreign government.
- A complete ban on foreign lobbyists raising money for American elections.
Seven actions to protect American workers
- I will announce my intention to renegotiate NAFTA or withdraw from the deal under Article 2205.
- I will announce our withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
- I will direct the Secretary of the Treasury to label China a currency manipulator.
- I will direct the Secretary of Commerce and U.S. Trade Representative to identify all foreign trading abuses that unfairly impact American workers and direct them to use every tool under American and international law to end those abuses immediately.
- I will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars’ worth of job-producing American energy reserves,including shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal.
- Lift the Obama-Clinton roadblocks and allow vital energy infrastructure projects, like the Keystone Pipeline, to move forward.
- Cancel billions in payments to U.N. climate change programs and use the money to fix America’s water and environmental infrastructure.
Five actions to restore security and the constitutional rule of law
- Cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama.
- Begin the process of selecting a replacement for Justice Scalia from one of the 20 judges on my list, who will uphold and defend the U.S. Constitution.
- Cancel all federal funding to sanctuary cities.
- Begin removing the more than two million criminal illegal immigrants from the country and cancel visas to foreign countries that won’t take them back.
- Suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur. All vetting of people coming into our country will be considered “extreme vetting.”
Click here to get the full PDF.
Personally, I would like to see implementation of term limits for Congress as well as the other five measures to clean up corruption. But I honestly do not know which issues to take him seriously. We have already seen President-elect Trump modify his position on the border wall and Mexico keeps saying they won’t pay for it. We have heard some people in his circles talk about making Muslims register SS-style (plus citing WWII Japanese internment camps as precedent) and other downplaying it. We have heard Mr. Trump decry the political power of Wall Street even as he builds a would-be cabinet full of Wall Street tycoons and the ultra-wealthy.
It’s not enough now to take Mr Trump seriously but not his words, nor take his words seriously but not the man. He’s my President. Even if I didn’t vote for him. Both the man and his words count. But which of them?
