Hugo Gurdon writes for the Washington Examiner about President-elect Donald Trump’s current advantages.
President-elect Donald Trump’s most striking characteristics today are clarity, confidence, and calm. This is extraordinary in a man renowned for chaos, confusion, and the thin-skinned hurling of demeaning insults. But it is a truth that needs to be acknowledged and accounted for to understand what we are witnessing as Trump prepares to resume the presidency.
His press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Dec. 16 revealed a man almost preternaturally at ease with himself, his mission, his domestic support, and his acceptance abroad. His tone was measured, even somewhat humble, despite some bragging. When he dismissed questions, as he justifiably did once or twice, it was not done angrily or in a way that looked petty but with an assurance that widened the gap between himself and his erstwhile adversaries.
The press asked questions almost deferentially, showing respect for his office and a quietude rooted in the magnitude of his political triumph and mandate. The spectacle was a stunning contrast with the media maelstrom of his first term. …
… Van Jones, one of the Left’s level-headed analysts, captured the truth lucidly in an interview with CNN’s Chris Cillizza. When Cillizza asked Jones how such a supposedly unlikely guy as Trump “became the one that cracked the code,” Jones rejected the premise of the question.
“Can we cut it out? … Donald Trump is smarter than me, you, and all critics. You know how we know? Because he has the White House, the Senate, the House, the Supreme Court, the popular vote, he has a massive media ecosystem bigger than the mainstream built around him and for him, and a religious fervor in a political movement around him, and his best buddy is the richest person in the history of the world, and the most relevant Kennedy is with him. This dude is a phenomenon. He is the most powerful human on Earth in our lifetime. And we’re still saying, ‘How is this guy doing it?’ We look like idiots.”
