When a candidate is elected to higher office based on grandiose promises and reneges on many within the first 72 hours, voters get nervous. We have yet to see that from President-elect Trump’s supporters. When, if ever, will their rose-colored glasses be removed? Will Republicans hold our party to the same standards we expected from Democrats under President Obama, or are we a bunch of hypocrites as well?
Most of the “Never Trump” crowd now wishes him the best of luck. I may not like him, but I’m hopeful he will surround himself with qualified individuals and succeed. Given his enormous learning curve, I’ll give Trump a honeymoon period. However, these first two weeks have been worrisome.
Less than three days after winning, Trump seemingly flipped on three major foreign policy pledges.
Candidate Trump promised to move the United States Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem “very quickly.” Yet Trump adviser Walid Phares announced the move would not take place until there was a “consensus” — whatever that means, since Congress passed a law decades ago authorizing the move.
It was also announced Trump was beginning to make plans to consummate the greatest deal ever made. Notwithstanding promising he wouldn’t repeat the mistakes of his predecessor, Trump succumbed to his over-inflated ego: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict now appears at the top of his agenda, with son-in-law Jared Kushner slated to lead the charge. But every time a president gets it in his head that he can broker a deal between the peace-seeking Israelis and Palestinians who prefer bombs and knives, an intifada occurs.
Then Trump, who promised to tear up the Iran nuclear deal, reversed course and decided he may retain parts of it. It’s not clear if Obama convinced him that full rejection of the non-binding agreement would destroy a key element of Obama’s legacy and Trump obliged, if Trump’s team concluded that actually enforcing the deal would be the better option or if he simply lied while campaigning. Regardless, the nervous Mullahs are applying pressure and Trump appears to be beginning to capitulate.
There are also several domestic policy pronouncements that have drawn little criticism from the Right. The candidate who promised to repeal and replace Obamacare has instead announced that parts of it will remain. Evolving from pronouncements to build a 3,000-mile wall on our southern border to some fencing here and there was no surprise to anyone grounded in reality. But both of those issues prove Trump spent the past six months making promises he had no intention of keeping or was ignorantly promoting policies that were not realistically feasible.
Trump also announced two new entitlements.
The first is reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s foray into policy-making, pushing Hillarycare in President Clinton’s first term. Now it is Ivanka Trump whose cause du jour is a new childcare entitlement.
Then there is Trump’s plan to revamp student loan programs that some experts surmise would cost the federal government billions of dollars. No worries, Trump promises taxpayers will not foot the bill. But we’ve heard those promises before and understand that entitlements aren’t free.
Those who are surprised that the former Democrat about to move into the White House is well, acting like a Democrat, were dishonest with themselves leading up to the election. Will they snap out of it?
Republican hypocrisy is most evident regarding Trump’s selection of Steve Bannon as chief strategist and flipping on jailing Hillary Clinton.
Eight years ago, Republicans worried about the extremism of Obama’s advisers. Many of his “czars” caused the Right to freak out. These same people are aghast at a similar reaction to Bannon while failing to admit he was a controversial choice to announce in the first week of the transition when protesters were shutting down streets and the country is divided.
Trump also announced he would consider not prosecuting Clinton despite using “lock her up” as a rallying cry of his campaign. Notwithstanding that the flip would cause cries of outrage had a Democrat done the same thing, questions of guilt are not in the purview of the president. Perhaps the recent revelations about the improprieties of the Trump Foundation influenced Trump’s reversal.
There is a level of hypocrisy on both sides, and it would behoove Trump supporters to recognize it. They should hold Trump’s feet to the fire, expecting him to fulfill his campaign promises and govern as a Republican. Otherwise, they will find themselves questioning whether promises to “Make America Great Again” were simply empty rhetoric, like “Hope and Change.”
Lauri Regan is a lawyer and frequent contributor to the American Thinker. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
