Dakota Beacon

It’s the process! It’s the process!

President Trump is a pragmatist – a goal-oriented person who focuses on solving problems. He sees a problem, understands it must be fixed, and proceeds to fix it.

Trump was elected to get things done -- not to continue executing some mundane process. He was elected to blow up the “process.” That is the very reason so many of the inside-the-beltway crowd despise him including Democrats, moderate Republicans, and never-Trump conservatives. Globalists, foreign and domestic, also hate him. He is destroying their comfortable international “processes” in favor of America first. As Bob Dylan wrote, “The Times They Are A-Changin’.”

Trump is the enemy of globalism and the leader of a populist army. He entered the arena willing to lead a growing body of citizens tired of being boxed in and controlled by regulations and taxes; by politicians and bureaucrats.

The daily intelligence briefing was part of the process by which the intelligence community could control President Trump with “information.” He rejected the morning briefings early in his tenure and the leaders in the intelligence community never forgave him. In concert with others, they worked to undermine his presidency.

Like process crimes in the judicial system, the “process” in governance becomes a distraction and cover-up for real progress.

Traditionally former presidents stay out of the way of their successors. They didn’t comment on, much less criticize, the new administration of an incoming president. This tradition came to an end when Obama took the liberty to publically undermine and criticize the Trump administration when Hillary Clinton lost the election. Neither could George W. Bush and others hold their peace.

That Trump is unconventional would be an understatement. He doesn’t care if he is crude, if he insults people, if he changes positions with changing circumstances, if he comes across as a bit of an ass. And the American public doesn’t care either. They want results and tolerating his behavior is the tradeoff.

Fortunately for those who support Trump, the new president was not one to take criticism laying down, especially unfair criticism. In the good old boxing tradition, he is a counter puncher. And punch he does in the blood sport of politics. Democrats, moderate Republicans, never-Trump conservatives, and the media all take their licks from this gutsy street fighter when they dare to abuse him.

At a press briefing on January 9^th President Trump, in passing, remarked, “The United States will not be able to compete and prosper in the twenty-first century if we continue to allow a broken and outdated bureaucrat system to hold us back.” Interestingly, he received no questions from the press on his remark. Trump was criticizing “the process.” He is a results-oriented person and “process” is an archaic decades-long holdover of stilted thinking. He views “process” as a bureaucratic roadblock he wants to eliminate.

To elaborate, “process” is a bureaucratic construct. Bureaucrats have bolstered their position with layer upon layer of regulations which Trump is also eliminating. There are safety, environmental, land use, and health regulations piled on top of regulations to the point of paralyzing the government. Nothing gets done. It is as if they were created by the Department of Redundancy department.

There are other terms implying “process.” Establishment and deep state come to mind. Here is the sick part. These “processes” have been around so long that politicians have convinced the American public it is the normal way by which our government operates. Government has become so big, so intricate, so complicated that we are convinced that “process” is the only way to sort through any issue.

In the meantime, nothing gets done. The illusion is that the “process” is moving government toward solutions. But looking back over decades on such things as tax cuts, tax reform, deregulation, international trade agreements, allies paying their fair share for their defense -- nothing got done. There is a lot of power for people involved in the “process.” Money for never-ending studies flows on and on with no solution in sight. To solve a problem would mean no need for the bureaucracy and their studies, the programs they manage, and the tax dollars they consume.

Then Donald Trump got elected. He has incessantly been called a liar, an idiot, and worse. His family has been assailed. In spite of all odds, he is getting results the American public longed for.

Process be damned.

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).