Trump has turned the capital upside down. Pictured: President Donald Trump. Photo Credit: Donald Trump/X.
The triumphalism MAGA members and the GOP are experiencing during the early days of Trump 2.0 comes with a caveat. Whatever success he presently enjoys could prove foolhardy and ephemeral as the weeks turn to months and the months to years. Regardless, President Donald Trump’s impressive start and unprecedented return deserve further examination. As Mark Halperin (2 Way) asked, why has Trump been like Travis Kelce catching a ball on his own 35, looking around and seeing no one near him? He barrels down the field and the Democrats are nowhere to be seen. Liberal interest groups are absent. Baffled on the sidelines, the press looks on confused. His opponents cannot stop him, they are not even slowing him down.
The surprising and revolutionary sense of what he has accomplished has left his enemies dizzied, off-kilter, and scrambling for a response. In shutting down agencies like USAID he has answered the wishes and demands of the conservative movement that for 25 years has wanted to gut these boondoggles and create some accountability. When Ronald Reagan took office in 1980 his administration wanted to eliminate the Department of Education. Republican administrations since Reagan have voiced a desire to reduce the federal workforce in half. But proposals to do so and enactment have never coincided. It was always thought too hard to confront an entrenched civil service and too complicated to overcome the status quo. But this has not impeded Trump. The power of his will supersedes the resolve of the militant and unelected bureaucracy. With alacrity never seen in Washington, Trump has turned the capital upside down and shaken out the waste, duplication, and hokum that has passed as budgetary discretion.
He has been able to match intention with action because the press and most liberal observers are still making the same mistakes they have been making since 2015. Many of his policies are popular and average Americans experience these issues as he articulates them. The reporters who hear it may not agree or like what he says, but millions know what he refers to because he has listened to them. The core measures they are taking – cutting the size of government and shutting down the border are popular. Identifying two genders and returning women’s sports to women are popular. Using America’s leverage to force other countries into better agreements, beneficial treaties, or accords that help US workers are very popular. And not with the MAGA base only.
As Halperin says on Commentary’s Magazine Podcast (Feb 7, 2025): “They’re very popular with probably 70 percent of the country. And so it would be one thing if this revolution were for the extreme megabase only. It’s not very popular in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It’s not very popular with the New York Times. And again, the press must be vigilant in scrutinizing this because they’re real dangers here at home and abroad to what they’re doing potentially. But it’s a popular agenda for the most part and not just populist.”
The argument from the Left precludes Trump from being bright or his policies having consensus. The unusual thing about Trump begins with his prism or understanding of politics. While the progressive Left calls him a moron or an idiot, he has interpreted the most basic aspect of politics better than anyone in recent memory. Rather than speaking above the media to the public in general, something Reagan did with great effectiveness, Trump knows that he can use the press to get his message out while ensuring its popularity because they unfailingly declare it unconventional, unacceptable, verging on radical, and unprecedented. For a majority of the country, if liberal elitist news reporters tell them something is bad, they tend to think it may have merit. Beyond that, Trump has accredited a whole new genre of news sources on the right who reinforce what these same people doubt about the legacy press. He also loves stars. Contrary to the accepted wisdom in the mainstream press, Trump has given his cabinet officers wide latitude. He loves seeing them on FOX, discussing the administration, and accomplishing things that suggest empowerment.
David Brooks, a fairly conservative writer who best represents the establishment GOP, wrote about Trump in a recent NYT article (The Six Principles of Stupidity – January 30, 2025) that Trump and his administration were behaviourally stupid. Calling Trump stupid, saying he can’t read, he has to see a chart, a photograph or a picture to understand bumps against reality. Inside his head lay 10,000 factoids he holds ready to discuss. He stands before the press daily and loves the engagement. They try to trip him up about USAID, gender, or whatever the topic and he responds. He is conversant on any topic related to his administration. His detractors, in calling him an idiot have turned this into his superpower. The next thing you know one of his policies has broken free and scores another touchdown. Who is stupid?
Listen to Mark Halperin, possibly the preeminent political journalist of this era, the author of two best-selling books about the 2008 and 2012 elections: “Along with saying since 2015 that Trump’s agenda is for the extreme megabase, wrong. I’ve laughed since 2011 when I started talking to Trump about politics. I laugh when people say he’s stupid. He’s got a human intelligence level akin to Bill Clinton’s, which is high praise. The guy understands that and he gets facts wrong all the time, but John (John Podhoretz, host of The Commentary Magazine Podcast), I think you’re right to highlight these rolling press conferences. He is conversant in the details of these things. People ask him stuff he knows about it. He understands what they’re asking about. He understands the nuance of it in most cases. And we all know there are different kinds of intelligence. Donald Trump is not stupid. He’s not stupid. He’s got a weird mind. Hillary Clinton said about her husband that when he dies, people should study his brain. I’d say the same thing about Donald Trump. Never met anybody like him. But on this question of doing the job and understanding the details and sitting there with the White House press corps, playing pepper with them, bring it on, ask me anything you want, give me more and more and more. It’s because he’s going to have answers for everything. And he’s not an uninformed person. He’s not a stupid person. And to the contrary, again, unique.”
The Left can call him any name they wish. His opponents can dredge up accusations and tie him up in court. The press and its admirers will continue to work overtime to destroy him. Until they begin to understand him, listen to his supporters, stop the name-calling, and get off their sanctimonious pedestals, Trump will continue to win victories that change America. Epic episodes like COVID-19 altered the role government plays in people’s lives. The mistrust was not borne of ignorance. It arose because officials played fast and loose with the truth and allowed unelected bureaucrats to determine policies that affected everyday life. Soon other long-term policies like climate change, transgenderism, men playing in women’s sports, and the ascendancy of DEI created a vacuum for protest. Trump represents the millions who believe the established order failed the country and deserves a comeuppance. Diminishing those millions, denying their concerns, and dismissing them out of hand will do the Democratic Party no favours and allow Trump to continue his winning streak.
Dave Redekop is a retired elementary resource teacher who now works part-time at the St. Catharines Courthouse as a Registrar. He has worked on political campaigns since high school and attended university in South Carolina for five years, where he earned a Master’s in American History with a specialization in Civil Rights. Dave loves reading biographies.
