It has been just over a week since Donald Trump was elected to be the next President of the United States. Since that time there have been mass riots of individuals cheering “Not my President,” a 700+ point plunge of the stock market and subsequent record high trading for the DOW and the beginning of the transition period for President-elect Trump. It is also during this time that America has begun to get a glimpse into what policies and personnel a Trump administration will have.
On Sunday, the president-elect announced his chief of staff: Reince Priebus. This is undoubtedly a pick to satisfy moderates on the Hill as well as the Republican leadership; nonetheless, this is an interesting choice for a candidate who decried the “Washington Establishment” almost as much as Ted Cruz and whose slogan late in the campaign became “Drain the Swamp.”
If you wish to see further examples of Trump already showing little to no signs of draining the swamp, look no further than his transition team.
An article, which is ironically titled “Trump’s transition team signals return to GOP establishment,” describes the resumés of many of Trump’s transition team members. Some of these individuals are lobbyists, while others are long-time members of what Trump and other Republicans would call the “Washington Establishment.” Some of the transition team’s members include David Malpass, a 15 year veteran of Bear Steins and founder and president of Encima Global LLC; Andrew Bremberg, who currently serves as a policy advisor and is also a part of the counsel on nominations for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell; Ray Washburn, who is a former finance director of the RNC, and a host of others.
While these and other individuals in the article are only members of Trump’s transition team, their placement gives the world the opportunity to see who the president-elect chooses to surround himself with – long time Washington insiders.
Not only do the president-elect’s recent hires raise questions about his intentions to drain the swamp, but many of his recent statements should also raise questions for those who voted for him.
During the second presidential debate, Trump famously stated that Clinton would be in jail if a person with Trump’s temperament was president. Shortly thereafter, he stated, “So we’re going to get a special prosecutor, and we’re going to look into it.” He later added, “It’s a disgrace. And honestly, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.” Keep in mind this is also the candidate that held rallies at which “Lock her up” chants became commonplace.
However, Trump sang a different tune during his acceptance speech and the following days. During he speech he said Clinton “has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country.”
During a 60 Minutes interview that was released on Sunday, when asked about prosecuting Clinton, Trump said “I don’t want to hurt” her. A central theme of Trump’s transition thus far seems to be reneging on many of the issues and promises he made during the campaign.
Naturally, the argument against this article will be “You’re just a cynical #NeverTrumper looking for any way to criticize the president who is going to #MAGA his way to a second term!” Considering the fact that cheering for the president-elect’s failure would be like cheering for the driver of the car you’re in to wreck, this argument could not be further from the truth. On the contrary, I hope that President is successful and brings meaningful change to this country.
While I hope for his success, his actions and recent statements are not very comforting. When I say that you should expect the expected from President Trump, I mean expect what the #NeverTrump movement has expected out of a potential Donald Trump presidency for some time: a leftist agenda laced with flamboyant rhetoric and u-turns on many of his campaign promises.
At this point, the best and only thing to do is to pray fervently for Trump and this nation’s future.
