Trump at the halfway mark: How will history judge our unconventional president?

Donald Trump has reached the mid-point of his presidency. How will history judge him at this point in his first term of office; bearing in mind the wisdom of Chou En Lai when Henry Kissinger asked him what he thought the impact of the 1789 French Revolution was on history, replied, “It’s too early to tell.”

The problem with journalists and media, especially today’s media, is that they magnify the sensational at the expense of the significant. The historian’s job is to do the opposite. Trump’s first two years have certainly been sensational. That’s made it hard for journalists and pundits to see what’s happening underneath.

We can say first of all there’s been no American president like him. Not Andrew Jackson, not Abraham Lincoln, not Harry Truman, who were all seen as highly unorthodox presidents and were vilified by the elite opinion of their time, can hold a candle to Trump’s breaking of every expectation of what a president is and how he should behave. No doubt Trump sees himself as a model of leadership; but it’s not leadership according to any model we’re accustomed to.

We can also note that he has deep personal flaws.  He is impatient, impulsive, self-centered, and at times irresponsible: this a serious flaw for a president who leads the world’s largest superpower and whose every off-hand remark or impulse reverberates in world capitals, whether friends or foes.

All these flaws are reflected in his tweets, which are the principal way a lazy media and commentariat have come to evaluate Trump and his presidency. They turn on their phones, read, and react. Nothing could be easier, and nothing could be more misleading. Because in the end history will judge Donald Trump not on his tweets but his deeds. And these, by and large, have reflected his undeniable virtues.