Everything Trump has done has been done by fiat--by executive order. Almost every executive order has been to undo something that was done to improve our country. He is dismantling environmental regulations, his Justice Department has signaled that private companies can now treat LGBTQ employees as 2nd class citizens and can even fire them for their sexual orientation. This same Justice department has said that companies can also not comply with regulations that conflict with their religious beliefs. An anti-environmentalist is in charge of the EPA and has announced that "the war on coal is over". The regulation put in place by the Obama administration prohibiting mountain top removal coal mining has been shelved. North Korea, always a problem, is now a nuclear power and Trump has made sure that there will be no diplomacy. We inch closer and closer to war each day. Our long time allies have no idea what will come from Washington day to day and have seen that America can no longer be relied on. The State Department, a key promoter of American interests, is a mere shell. Many ambassadorships are empty and an oil/gas executive is the Secretary of State. Rex Tillerson, in a all-hands-on-deck meeting, said his number one goal was to make the State Department more "efficient"...whatever that means.
Puerto Rico is being left to rot after a category 4 hurricane decimated the US territory. Trump just announced he will stop making the risk corridor payments to insurance companies and may stop subsidizing insurance premiums (not clear on that yet--the news is only few hours old).
Everywhere I look I see destruction and wreckage. It is a poignant irony that we have had 4 natural disasters--Harvey, Irma, Maria, and now the California fire storms--at the same time that Trump is doing everything he can to destroy our system of government. It is as if nature in mirroring the ongoing destruction of our system of government.
So, in a sense, Gingrich is right. Trump has been stunningly effective. But is this the change that the people wanted? I think it is the exact opposite of what the vast majority of Americans were looking for. Maybe to Gingrich, one of the anti-government zealots that stormed the bastions of Washington in the 90's, this looks like progress.
But to most of us this looks like destruction of the last remaining super power. When this is done America will be largely irrelevant in geopolitics with our power and influence almost gone. A huge howling power vacuum is developing with China and Russia standing ready to occupy it.
Even if Trump drops dead today what he has wrought will be with us for a long, long time. We are a people that operate on precedent and he has set a good many. The most damaging is ruling without legislation. The closest we have come to imperial rule was Franklin Roosevelt--but he at least was a very brilliant man. Trump is obviously an idiot. If we do not lumber into a world war we will still be trying to put together some system of government after his passing.
Gingrich is a fool. Trump is a moron. Rex Tillerson hasn't the skills to manage the State Department even if he has benign intentions. Scott Pruitt hates the EPA he is supposed to run and doesn't believe in climate science. Mulvaney, well he's just a mean SOB. Ben Carson, he's just crazy.
Effective? Yes, in fomenting chaos and destruction. God help us all.
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