Style and Substance

UPDATE: President-elect Trump has started outlining his plans. https://mobile.twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/800850810490023937

Two stories started to develop late last week, each highlighting the contradictions in our President-elect's leadership. One was his regaining control of his Twitter account, resulting in undisciplined attacks on critics-notably, the cast of the Broadway play, Hamilton. The other was his survey on priorities for his first 100 days in office.

When VP-elect Mike Pence was booed by the audience of Hamilton and addressed by its cast, the President-elect immediately hit back. Among other things, he said that the cast "[c]ouldn't even memorize lines" (this tweet was later deleted) and that he hears the production "is highly overrated." The tone of Mr. Trump's remarks contrasts starkly with VP Pence's reaction: Pence addressed the substance of the cast's remarks and said he wasn't offended by them. He left discussion of the venue for the remarks, which Trump had criticized, to others. He told his children the boos were "what freedom sounds like." He praised the performance and said that he and the others enjoyed it.

President Trump's recent tweets show that the reason for having others filter his remarks has not changed. A good leader will surround himself with people who will complement his strengths and compensate for his weaknesses. The President-elect may want to consider reinstating quality controls in his PR both during the transition and as he begins his term.

The main issue I see in the Hamilton cast story is one of style. The cast did raise some concerns of substance that Trump and not someone else needs to address. These are not new issues, however. Such concerns have been raised before, and the response that I and others have recommended has not yet come. It is to be hoped that he will directly address the problematic things that he has said over the years and during his campaign, so he can clearly set a different direction with his character and his approach to policy.

The other story, the survey, shows an indication that Trump will continue his practice of listening to people's opinions on policy. This can be a good thing, if it is done with discretion and expert advice. I would encourage every American to take the survey. For more about the President-elect's position on issues, visit https://www.greatagain.gov/ .

My priorities are personal and public morality, social cohesion, and Constitutional order. As a result the policies in the survey that are most important to me are:

1. Appoint a strong constitutionalist to the Supreme Court in the mold of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.
2. Unleash the Middle Class Tax Relief and Simplification Act, which will cut taxes for middle-class families and simplify the tax brackets in order to streamline the process.
3. Renegotiate NAFTA into terms that protect the American worker.
4. Lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion dollars worth of American energy, including shale, oil, natural gas, and clean coal.
5. Cancel billions of dollars in payments to U.N. climate change programs, and use that money to fix our own country.
6. Allow Americans to deduct childcare and eldercare from their taxes.
7. Introduce plan to defeat ISIS.
8. Set the standard for an “America First” foreign policy that ends regime-change, nation-building, and instead focuses on a motto of peace through strength.
9. Cut the government regulations that lead businesses to leave our country in the first place.
10. Enact a five-year ban on White House and congressional officials becoming lobbyists after they leave government service.
11. End the defense sequester in order to rebuild our depleted military.
12. End Common Core and bring education supervision to local communities.
13. Pass school-choice measures that redirect education dollars to give parents the right to send their kids to the public, private, charter, magnet, religious, or home school of their choice.
14. Reform the Department of Veterans Affairs in order to provide proper treatment to America’s forgotten heroes.
15. Let veterans receive public VA treatment or attend the private doctor of their choice.
16. Cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum, and order issued by Obama.

This list is subject to change. It is based partly on intuition and partly on which issues I am best informed on. Yours may be a little different. I will be especially interested to hear what legislators have to say about the issues. Let me know your thoughts!