[Note to American friends: a "fortnight" is English for "two weeks"]
Out last night, bumped into a friend who said "how are you handling these first weeks of chaos?"
Knowing he's talking of America -- who isn't? -- I answered "I'm super happy." At which my friend moved to other topics, remembering, I presume, that we had different feelings about politics in the U.S., and that we'd maintained our friendship by a mutually assured decision not to talk politics.
But I thought; you know what? You folks on the Left, Dems 'n all, who hate on Trump, you all (y'all) really need to watch beyond CNN, MSNBC. If you're Aussie, you need to watch beyond the ABC. If you're a Brit, you need to watch beyond the BBC.
I do watch beyond all those. I watch all those, and then some. But if you only watch, as my friend above does -- he's told me -- CNN, then you're going to think that the first two weeks of Trump's presidency are "chaos". Because that's what they're saying. And therefore that's what my friend believes is the Truth.
Which it most assuredly is not. Trump's first weeks, his first fortnight, is a triumph.
For those of us who were excited by the Trump landslide win, these first two weeks -- a "fortnight" for us English speeakers -- have been exhilarating.
What President Trump has done is just what he said he'd do. It's the speed that he's done these that's surprised everyone, supporters and the Dems alike. For supporters, it's been full on adrenalin. For the Trump haters, it's been discombobulating. Their reactions disconcerting. Conniptions all around.
CNN has reverted to full-on hate-on-Trump, despite hints from senior management that they would try to be more balanced. The talk shows are all about how crazy this man is, how authoritarian, how fascist all his supporters are. How much "chaos" there is. Back to what they did all along before -- projection.Theirs is the chaos, now projected on Trump.
What Trump has done in the first weeks of his presidency has never been done before. We won't see its like again, surely not in my lifetime.
Just a quick run-through. From memory. The border is now effectively closed. There's miles of new fence up. The National Guard on the American side, an extra 10,000 Mexican troops on the Mexican side. Border Czar Tom Holman is rounding up illegal immigrant criminals, the worst of them, the murderers, rapists and gang members, and sending them back to their home countries. This is something Trump campaigned on, and which 75% of the population supports.
There's even more support for his Executive Order to ban genetic males from female sports. That's supported by 79% of the population, including 67% of Dems and 94% of Reps.
His tariff policies -- as much weapons of trade as revenue sources -- have led to early and clear victories. Mexico is stopping the flow of illegals through its territory and sent 10k troops to the border, and promises more to control fentanyl. Canada has established its own Border Czar and a Fentanyl Czar to boot. Trump has delayed the tariffs in response. Rather than acknowledge the Win, CNN call it "flip flopping". And, of course, "chaos". Which Australia's ABC dutifully parrots.
Trump has launched the DOGE team on the bureaucracy and the Dems have gone bananas. As if he didn't say that's what he was going to do (which the DOGE team did, in detail, in the New York Times) and as if reducing the size of government is not something that all sides agree needs doing to control the deficit and overall debt. Really, really crazy stuff. Which is proceeding as it should, but which CNN, in addition to calling it "chaos" regularly calls it "illegal" (it's not) and platforms people calling for the arrest of the DOGE team. It's truly crazy.
But to my liberal friend, it's all "Chaos", because CNN -- the news -- says it is.
Which is why you need, we all need, to watch and read more widely. Watch beyond CNN, MSNBC, ABC, BBC. Read beyond The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian.
Watch podcasts of credible people on the Right.
Here's my "Reading list for liberals" and some more here.
Like Megyn Kelly, The All-in pod, Victor Davis Hanson, The Spectator, The Nation Review, Greg Foreman (that I posted about here), DeVory Darkins.
And there's always Fox.
I can't count the number of times liberal friends have asked me "do you watch Fox?", expecting that to be a gotcha. I mean, if you watch Fox -- Fox! -- you must be a fascist!
To which the answer is "yes, of course I do, as well as CNN, MSNBC, etc. If I didn't I'd only have one side of the picture". That remains the case. It's crazy to me that people simply refuse to watch and read on "the other side", because it's too uncomfortable (I know it is; you have to force yourself). Liberals, including my dear relatives, will say "I never watch Fox. It's terrible!". How do you know if you don't watch it?
Back to the main story. Trump is having a busy and productive time. He's getting stuff done. It's done in a planned and logical manner. It's just confounding the Left, who have no word for it than "chaos". They're wrong. And the sooner they realise this, the sooner they might become a credible alternative. For the moment they are not.
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