Frustration

I understand Brent Bozell's frustration at Donald Trump's being the presumptive nominee of the Republican party ... see: his Open Letter to Conservatives. But desperate times require desperate measures and it appears that most of blue-collar America doesn't agree with Bozell's assessment of the situation. Yes, Trump is too often wrong on style but right on substance and this has turned many voters off (like my wife). Even I have spent a considerable amount of this blog space criticizing Trump's vulgarities. But now, resolving myself to his eventual nomination, I am forced to concentrate on his approach to the real issues of our time.

If Trump were to be elected ...  which I now consider highly likely ... how would he govern? I believe that he would go a long way toward solving our economic malaise through tax and regulation reform. (He is even against the carried interest tax loophole enjoyed by the hedge-fund nabobs,) I also believe he would find ways to fix our immigration and international trade problems ... in a tough but rational way. And I expect that our fiscal debt goblin would be put back in the closet through spending cuts and economic growth. Yet he would still rebuild our defense capabilities and put apprehension back in the minds of many the bad actors in the world.

But how would Trump handle the social issues that conservatives, like Bozell, are so focused on? Here I am not so sanguine. I expect that he will disappoint many righties in how he reforms Obamacare and Common Core ... and his Supreme Court picks may not be the best. (Wouldn't it be great if he used Ted Cruz as an adviser in this process?) And his approach to solving entitlement  reform could well be too tempered by the brickbats being tossed at him by the liberal media.

And the Trump administration probably will have its share of faux and real scandals ... just because his management style has often allowed the fringes of society to have a chair at the table. And he will come out of the White House a lot wealthier than he was when he went in.

Will Trump be another Ronald Reagan? No, but he may be a modern-day Andrew Jackson, also a rough and tumble politician ... and put Old Hickory's picture back on the double sawbuck in the process. And the best part? Lena Dunham, Rosie O'Donnell, Michael Moore, and lots of other goofy glitterati will soon be living north of the 49th parallel.