Patriots: For over 26 years, your generosity has made it possible to offer The Patriot Post without a subscription fee to military personnel, students, and those with limited means. Please support the 2024 Year-End Campaign today.

November 15, 2016

Advising the President-Elect

It didn’t take long. Journalists, editorial writers and columnists who hate Donald Trump and consistently opposed his election are now advising him what not to do. Newspaper headlines claim Trump is pulling back on his campaign promises. Editorials encourage him not to do everything he pledged, although his pledges are what got him elected. The ACLU bought a full-page ad in The New York Times, vowing to use its army of lawyers and volunteers to thwart Trump’s agenda.

It didn’t take long. Journalists, editorial writers and columnists who hate Donald Trump and consistently opposed his election are now advising him what not to do.

Newspaper headlines claim Trump is pulling back on his campaign promises. Editorials encourage him not to do everything he pledged, although his pledges are what got him elected. The ACLU bought a full-page ad in The New York Times, vowing to use its army of lawyers and volunteers to thwart Trump’s agenda.

Since everyone else is offering advice, here is mine: Begin with the economy. Propose to Congress cuts in individual and corporate taxes and a plan to do away with the tax code, replacing it with a flat or fair tax.

On illegal immigration, start building the wall, but announce that to help pay for it a toll system will be implemented, charging people who cross our southern border in each direction. Drivers have to pay tolls to get in and out of Manhattan. Why not tolls for getting in and out of America? The new president could also ask for contributions from the public to help build the wall, which can bring in additional funds. We’ll see if Mexico pays anything.

Trump says he will forgo the $400,000 presidential salary. Here’s a better idea. Take the money and donate it to scholarships for poor children so they can escape failing public schools and get a decent education for a better future. This could be done immediately while waiting for Congress to pass a school voucher plan and would encourage others to make similar contributions to charitable scholarship funds.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., is again playing a central role in the transition. Many of its ideas on domestic and foreign policy are posted at heritage.org. Heritage provided many policy suggestions to Ronald Reagan, which he embraced during his two terms.

A source familiar with what is occurring inside the transition tells me “landing teams” from Heritage will be visiting federal departments and agencies beginning Wednesday to ask questions and retrieve information for the new administration. They will be reminded that President Obama is president until Jan. 20 and to be “respectful.” We only have one president at a time.

The Trump administration plans to follow Speaker Paul Ryan’s advice and “go big, go bold.” Hundreds of executive orders are being prepared, along with language members of Congress can use to formulate new legislation and repeal old laws. These include school choice, repealing and replacing most of Obamacare and reversing various social engineering orders, such as transgender bathroom requirements.

The transition team is combining the New York and Washington offices and entering what was described to me as the “execution stage,” moving from policy pronouncements, to enactment.

Conservatives should be encouraged that vice president-elect Mike Pence has been put in charge of the transition. He is a rock-solid conservative who will be helpful in making sure people who hold conservative views are placed in key posts. The emphasis should shift from ideology to what works. If, for example, poor children are liberated from government schools and their grades and outlook on life improve, their testimony will be evidence enough that school choice has been a success.

Here’s another suggestion. The major media hate Trump and always will. At his press conferences, he should include more conservative journalists who will eschew “gotcha” and “what do you say to people who say” questions and seek to obtain information of use to the public.

This will be the Republicans’ last opportunity for a generation to show that their ideas work and to promote the general welfare. The possibilities are great if Trump and Pence and the Republican Congress ignore critics who want them to fail and press on to receive the prize that success will bring, not only to them and the GOP, but to a nation that longs for it.

© 2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.