On this blog, I discuss important national issues, often emphasizing economic and fiscal matters.  Today I discuss one of Trump’s major failings:  getting carried away by attacking his political opponents rather than focusing on his positive achievements.

Consider:

• Tariffs. The Supreme Court has just struck down his use of emergency powers to declare arbitrary and capricious tariffs on any other country he felt like.  Since most of his tariffs are hurting the American economy, he should be pleased to see his tariffs cut back to primarily national security situations like China.  Instead, he criticizes the Supreme Court Justices who voted against his tariffs.

  

• Closing the southern border. One of the first things Trump did in his second term was to close our southern border to illegal immigrants.  This action was very well received nationally.  But now he has jeopardized that success by cracking down too hard on undocumented immigrants who are both working and law-abiding.  Again, he is squandering the favorable reaction he received from closing the border in the first place.

  

• Encouraging Europe to increase defense spending. Europe has gotten the message that it needs to take its self-defense more seriously. Unfortunately, Trump has aggravated our relations with Europe by threatening to invade Greenland and annex it to the U.S.  He backed off from this threat but not before badly damaging our relations with European allies.

  

• Regime change in Venezuela. Trump removed Venezuela’s dictator, Nicolas Maduro, from office and has let his lieutenants stay in power. This could become a stable transition to democracy in Venezuela, but only if Trump keeps up the pressure on the current president, Delcy Rodriguez.  If this approach works (leading soon to fair elections), it will be a big victory for Trump.

  

Conclusion.  Trump’s unconventional methods are succeeding in many cases, but would work even better if he refrained from both rhetorical excesses and overreacting with excessive force.  If he wanted to, he could be “effective without being offensive.”

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