I’ve been watching Trump as he goes through his first two weeks.

I mostly support what he’s been doing, but it’s been so “shock and awe” that I’m already pretty burnt out on it. I can’t imagine how the liberals feel about it. They can’t even get enough of a breather to figure out what to be pissed off about.

So, let’s start with his executive orders. Other than the AI stuff, I don’t think there’s one that I’m upset about, and I actually love most of them. The only thing I don’t love is that they’re executive orders. What we learned from Trump, then Biden, then Trump, is that executive orders are easily overturned when a new president comes into office. These orders need to be codified as law, or they’re mostly useless. The next time a democrat comes into office, unless something major changes, it’ll just flip even worse in the other direction. And the current brand of Republicans are not to be trusted to do so.

But getting rid of DEI pretty much everywhere he’s legally allowed to do so is amazing, and it’s about effing time. What an awful time this last four years has been, and what a breath of fresh air.

DOGE is also great, and I love how he’s been taking a hatchet to the federal government bureaucracy. A lot of this will be challenged in the courts. Some of it will be overturned. Most will succeed.

What he’s doing with the border is also amazing, and his mass deportations are, unfortunately, the right thing to do. Let me be clear: I am not gleeful about this. I hate that it’s necessary. There is a human cost, and it will be paid, at times, by innocent people, such as babies and children that had no choice in where they go. But, this won’t be the first time children have had to pay for the mistakes of their parents, and there is no good solution. It really can’t be any other way, not if we want to maintain any vestige of our national identity.

But there are a few things I’m far more iffy on.

I think the “return to work” thing is fine in that it’s probably the right thing to do for the federal government. By which I mean, it’s true that many “civil servants” have been taking full advantage, some to the level of defrauding the taxpayer. And it’s true that it’s probably far cheaper and more effective to just take remote work away rather than to try to figure out who’s effective at it and who isn’t. But I don’t like how regressive it feels, and I don’t like how corporate America is probably going to follow in the same mold. Remote work has its place, and is not always a bad thing.

This is probably driven by Elon Musk to a large degree, and let’s be clear. He’s the smartest dolt I’ve ever seen. The guy has no concept of the fact that people are different than him, and that really shows, particularly at times like this.

Another thing I don’t really like is the emphasis on AI. Say what you like about Biden (and there’s a lot to say) he, or his puppetmasters, seemed to understand how dangerous AI is. And it’s partly dangerous because of the unwarranted trust people tend to put in it. Trump and his “inner circle” seem to have no such understanding, and this could be taking us into a world of darkness to some degree. AI is great. it needs to be used responsibly.

(And you could argue that some of the generated pictures on this blog aren’t responsible. I think they’re hilarious. Which is a different thing).

I mostly agree with the J6 pardons. And I would much rather everyone be pardoned than no one does. But there were a few actually violent protesters there, and they got swept up in the pardons too. I think a little more effort should have been put into that. But, on the flip side, considering how Biden used pardons at the end of his term, the liberals have no room to complain. At least Trump’s were unambiguously legal.

Foreign policy wise, It’s amazing how quickly foreign leaders turned around. Putin seems to respect Trump, where he absolutely did not respect Biden (and no, they are not bosom buddies, and those who think they are, are morons). The leader of Columbia shows what happens when one crosses him, and I think they’re all taking notice. It’s a new world, and I feel like a few less dangerous one now. In point of fact, I was wondering if we’d even make it through to Trump’s inaguration, considering how much Biden was intent on poking the Russian bear. I think we’ll see a lot more peace soon.

So, my report card on Trump’s two weeks: A-. Mostly great, but a few missteps that were mostly self-owns. But, that’s Trump. We knew we’d get that going in, and that is absolutely no surprise. I’m looking forward to seeing how he continues to shake things up.