We are in fast times

LARRY ANDERSON
Larry Anderson

Donald Trump makes Ronald Reagan look like a slowpoke.

This president has busted out of the gate like a rodeo cowboy with curious hair flying and spurs gouging the comfortable.

Trump’s method thus far seems unstoppable. In a few days, he has done more corrections than spell check on a freshman comp. The newbie prez has put the paddles to the nation’s heart and revived a patient lost to the lethargy of political correctness and social engineering.

So many politicians talk and lecture and promise. Trump follows through, and he isn’t flummoxed by the opposition‘s monotonous protests. The man is not a philosopher or a community organizer; he is a builder with a contract.

I’m not sure Trump ever sleeps.

Sure, Trump is defensive at times, but he isn’t one to take guff from big media grinding away. He talks about problems that Obama wouldn’t even mention such as the appalling murder rate in Chicago, Obama’s home base and Hillary Clinton’s hometown.

So, I must ask, who cares more?

Even those aghast by Trump’s performance may be privately relieved. Finally, there is someone willing to take on the nation’s most pressing problems without concern for the next election or for a legacy overrated.

Surprises? None yet that I have noticed. Trump is doing what he said he would do. It’s not his fault some can’t keep up, and it’s not his problem when others forecast calamities that will not materialize.

Trump meant what he said during the campaign. If his work continues to yield the kind of results that get people’s attention, the nation will indeed become great again.

These things said, I do have concerns. The road ahead will not be yellow brick, but one replete with more potholes than Highway 71 south. Said damage will be supplied by the same old source–the left.

The thing liberals fear most is the probability of Trump’s success, so pushed by his substantial will and expanding public approval. Liberals could be rendered insignificant as the economy evolves and people begin to feel they can grow with it. Irrelevance is political death for lefties.

The left has lost the presidency, the House and Senate, and a majority of governorships and state legislatures, but that doesn’t mean it is completely impotent. Biased big media will continue to set the tone of the political narrative. Liberal courts will continue to reinforce bad behavior until overhauled. The left’s propaganda mill will persist in its accusations of racism, social injustice, and the horrors of economic inequality.

Everything Trump does will be subject to relentless attack, much of it personal. The more ground Trump gains, the more shrill the attacks will become. Some on the left–Chris Mathews for one and former Mexican president Vicente Fox for another–have already compared Trump to Hitler. The left knows even groundless labels stick, and they could not care less about honesty.

Social upheaval is part of social engineering. We all saw the left’s behavior at the inauguration. This was the work of a few, but it was well organized and funded for what was actually a stone slung at the democratic process. When the country elects someone the left doesn’t want, some turn to the streets to break windows, burn cars, and insult and taunt policemen there to protect their rights.

I expect protests somewhere constantly as Trump‘s administration takes root. This supplies broader exposure for whatever wrong has been imagined by those who have lost momentum everywhere else. Such protests give an inflated impression of dissatisfaction and power.

Some left-leaning protestors have learned how to abuse the First Amendment while hiding behind it. They will continue until the media gets bored or the public has finally had enough.

Destructive behavior isn’t really protest anyway. It is petty vandalism by those too immature and irresponsible to offer real solutions to issues they help perpetuate. They are also too politicized to sit down and have a useful conversation with adults. Only they matter.

Just remember, hundreds (if that) do not millions make.

I also expect every detail of Trump’s agenda to find its way to a politically sympathetic court somewhere. The purpose will not be to define legality, but to tie up as many of his “make America great again” measures as possible for as long as they can.

Over the years, many courts have become liberal refuges for political protection and advancement. Within lies corruption; political expediency has replaced the letter of the law. The solution lies without.

That’s why we have elections, and why our memories must be long.

Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator, author and lifelong Northwest Missourian.