The ‘Box of Chocolates’ Administration

Donald Trump (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

For a guy who during the campaign frequently couldn’t maintain the same position on a given issue twice in a 24 hour period, when it comes to pure policy, President Donald Trump is doing fairly well so far. We have yet to see what he will use the bully pulpit of the presidency to call for congress to send him (e.g. his new unconstitutional paid maternity leave entitlement?), but at least with regard to actions he can put into motion on his own, Trump isn’t doing too shabby.

Trump has issued a number of executive orders that have been desperately needed for a long time; desperately needed in order to undue, in some cases, lawless, unconstitutional, and counterproductive acts committed by our former anti-American president.  These include defunding sanctuary cities, easing ObamaCare’s draconian impact on Americans, moving the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem, cutting international abortion support, a hiring freeze on federal workers, and the clearing the way for the Keystone/Dakota Access pipelines. His order to temporarily halt immigration from Syria and to examine our vetting system is also a legally grounded fulfillment of a campaign promise.

To be sure, Trump’s administration has already made a complete ass of itself in its very first weekend. I could have gotten rich off such a bet, were I a betting man. With his planet-sized ego, he just can’t help himself. Tweeting about inauguration crowd size, and having is press secretary continue the infantile chest-thumping, was typical Trump. He just (yet again) revealed himself for the petty, insecure man he is when it was so easily confirmed by photographic evidence that his braying was empty and factless. He could have legitimately pointed out that Barack Obama’s inauguration as the first black president was truly historic and as such could be expected to bring out an exceptional crowd. But no. He chose his usual baseless lying instead, and has now gotten his presidency off on a note of a ham-fisted attempt at deception. Sticking it to the Leftist media is fun (they deserve it–in spades), but we cannot sink to their level of lies and propaganda to do it. And then there was that egotistical, tinpot dictator-esque “National Day of Patriotic Devotion” declaration of his…

But back to the earned praise. Despite the expectations of reasonable people (who know that Trump hired illegal aliens, bankrolled sanctuary city politicians, and has in recent months back pedaled from both his wall promise and on dealing with illegal aliens already here), Trump has actually come out of the gate with some good and lawfully sound executive orders implementing things he campaigned on.

He has actually taken action on building the barrier we have long needed along our border to stop the invasion from the south. His executive order cites and uses as its authority law which already exists, authorizing the construction of a border fence.

So far, from what I can tell, he is using executive orders in a fashion consistent with the U.S. Constitution and their intended use, which is to clarify and carry out already-existing law (not create law or countermand law, as Barack Obama was in the habit of doing). That is very commendable.

But Donald Trump and every American must be wary and ensure that he does not start using executive orders the way Obama and some other presidents have. One of the things that so concerns me about the cult worship of the Trump humpers is that they were completely oblivious to (if not actually cheering on) statements Trump made during the campaign (as well as during all the many years prior to the campaign) that clearly advocate violations of the U.S. Constitution as well as conservative principles. Now that Trump actually has power, we must be more on guard than ever to ensure he does not behave the way he led anyone rational to believe during the campaign that he would behave in office. In other words, we must be alert for when he oversteps his constitutional authority…and hold him immediately accountable.

An area where conservatives can and should do that is with regard to ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA allows illegal alien children to stay in our country. The program is an invention of the Obama Administration for which it had no authority in law; in fact, it is contrary to law and ignores existing immigration law. President Trump should also bring this lawless activity to an end immediately. Building the fence/wall is great, but we must also deal with the lawlessness within our borders and the contempt for law that our government’s executive branch has shown for the past eight years. Trump is already showing strong post-election signs of waffling on this.

We must also be proactive in pressuring congress to preemptively deal with the kind of environment that made it possible for an anti-American despot like Barack Obama to get away with lawlessness in the first place. That means congress must erect legal requirements for the executive branch to act on laws it passes which require action. For example, the Secure Fence Act of 2006, which authorizes the border fence was actually passed several years ago, yet both the Bush and Obama Administrations were derelict in carrying out (i.e executing) the law. We must not leave any wiggle room in the future for lawless presidents to behave lawlessly.

As I said I would be so many times over the past few months, I am glad to be wrong about some of the reasons why I could not support Donald Trump for president. I opposed him because his record going back decades is one of supporting a variety of liberal politicians and liberal causes; because conservatives know all too well how politicians talk conservative on the campaign trail and then behave liberally after being elected, I could rationally do nothing else (especially since we actually have a long track record of support for liberalism from Donald Trump). But I always said that if I was wrong about him in any way, it would be to America’s benefit, and thus my joy to be wrong.

I am under no illusions, though. Even the worst RINO surprises you every now and then with some good policy, and even a broken clock is right twice a day. Unless the Creator of the Universe is wrong, bad trees just don’t consistently produce good fruit. We had a sickly apple tree in our back yard when I was growing up. Most of the apples on that thing never matured and never became fit to eat. It did produce one or two apples a year that were good, but mostly it was no good…which is why my dad eventually cut it down.

Let’s enjoy the good apples Donald Trump produces, because unless God has truly transformed this man (of which there is zero reliable evidence), we’re still going to see a whole lot of bad apples from this bad actor in the days and years to come.

In a discussion this past week with a Trump humper about Trump’s executive orders, I commended some of Trump’s actions. I then asked the Trump humper if, since I had acknowledged the good things Trump has done in his week in the White House, the Trump humper would help me hold Trump accountable when Trump promotes liberalism. I received no answer. Which has been the modus operandi of Trump humpers for the past year or more: AWOL when it comes to dealing with Trump’s love for liberalism.

We on the Right already compromised our moral authority by electing a demonstrated moral reprobate (on the level of the Bill Clinton we excoriated 20 years ago). We cannot afford to totally compromise our stance for conservative values by excusing liberal policies from a president who has an “R” after his name.

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Bob Ellis has been the owner of media company Dakota Voice, LLC since 2005. He is a 10-year U.S. Air Force veteran, a political reporter and commentator for the past decade, and has been involved in numerous election and public policy campaigns for over 20 years. He was a founding member and board member of the Tea Party groups Citizens for Liberty and the South Dakota Tea Party Alliance. He lives in Rapid City, South Dakota with his wife and two children.

Bob Ellis

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