Donald Trump has done what Ronald Reagan did. He beat back a hostile press, smears by his opponent, outrage by foreign leaders, vast campaign spending by Wall Street and the wealthy one percent, and vows by actors and rock stars to leave the country if he was elected president.
Trump falls short of Reagan in many ways. He’s unlikely to be as consequential a president. But he has an opportunity in his first 100 days in the White House to put Washington on a new and entirely unexpected course. And harness an out-of-control federal bureaucracy—the so-called administrative state.
He has promised to repeal ObamaCare, nullify all of President Obama's executive orders and memoranda, begin a wall along the border with Mexico and begin deporting illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, cut individual and corporate tax rates, kill the Iran nuclear deal, deregulate energy production, and start negotiations to rewrite trade treaties.
Last but not least, there's a vacancy to fill on the Supreme Court after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Trump has a list of 20 conservative jurists from which he said he will chose Scalia's successor. Had Clinton won the presidency, she would surely picked someone to create a five-justice liberal majority.
Trump's victory has many dimensions. Not the least of them is his election was part of a broad Republican triumph. Republicans kept control of the Senate, a feat that once had seemed impossible since they had 24 seats at stake and Democrats only ten. Trump didn't split the party. He strengthened it.
Get the Exclusive
05.06.2024