Change can be a tricky thing. In 2008, the American people voted for “hope and change” when they elected Barack Obama as their 44th president. A valid argument could be made that Obama succeeded in this effort by fundamentally transforming America into a progressive state by increasing taxes and redistributing wealth. But was this the type of change Americans desired? Unlike his predecessor, Donald Trump didn’t talk about change per se. Yet, everything he’s done since his second electoral victory speaks of a new time – a new era if you will – that can and must be ushered in if America is to survive and ultimately thrive.
Harkening back to the late 1980s, the leader of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, brought forth two key concepts – glasnost and perestroika. Glasnost would promote government transparency and openness, while perestroika would initiate crucial economic and government reforms. These were the fundamental elements that ultimately brought down the USSR, but in and of themselves, they are noble and valuable ideas.
From his first day back in office, President Trump engaged with the media as his conduit to the American people. He wanted them to see him signing executive orders. His actions illustrated that he sought to include the average citizen in his new administration – not shut them out. Every day since then, voters have had a front-row seat to all the action in the nation’s capital. And there has been a lot of it, including the most recent kerfuffle in the Oval Office with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
A meeting that was supposed to go smoothly shocked the nation when it went sideways. Reactions to this event are falling along partisan lines: Republicans agree that the Ukrainian president behaved like a spoiled brat who didn’t like his Christmas present, yet Democrats seem horrified that such a divisive conversation happened live in front of the American people. Openness does have its pitfalls, but it remains to be seen whether broadcasting such a contentious conversation will eventually strengthen the US position.
Until this recent event, Mr. Trump’s glasnost approach had been the talk of the town. Earlier this week, the administration’s first Cabinet meeting revealed a president who wants to be transparent with the citizenry about his actions, intentions, and motivations. The contrast between the Biden administration, which rarely engaged or communicated with the public, and that of the Trump administration, which includes daily – almost hourly – dialogue, is stark.
A recent Fox News analysis counted 1,009 questions answered by President Trump in his first month back in office compared to 141 responses by President Biden during the same period in his presidency. Not only do the numbers indicate transparency, but unlike Biden’s single-word answers, Trump speaks plainly and directly. He does it when foreign leaders visit, when he’s going to and from the White House, when he’s in the Oval Office, and just about anywhere he happens to be. The level of openness is evident to anyone even remotely dialed in to the news.
Senior Advisor Jason Miller elaborated on why Trump dares to be so unguarded when he spoke with Fox’s Steve Doocy on Fox and Friends:
“He [Trump] goes directly to voters. What this does is it cuts out the middleman, cuts out the artificial filters and makes voters realize that they are hearing directly from him. These aren’t some spoon-fed sound bytes from aides or some other people. What that does is it drives authenticity, and so when voters hear the president, they know it’s coming from him.”
Progressives may not like what Mr. Trump is doing, but they cannot argue that they don’t know what’s going on. And that leads us to question number two: What exactly is Trump up to?
From DOGE to immigration to tariffs, President Trump is engaged in a fundamental restructuring of America. Where is the taxpayer dollar going and why? How can we go about reducing the national debt? What can we do to earn international respect and keep other nations from taking advantage of the American largesse?
In an article for Firstpost, the authors make a salient point: “The American Empire has been under severe stress for more than a decade. It has become increasingly difficult to sustain it, and Trump’s policy noises expedite the liquidation process.” Thus, restructuring how the federal government taxes people and what they do with that money is fundamental to executing change. Closing the borders to illegal aliens helps define who we are as a people. Opening up places like the underground Social Security system and even Fort Knox are all part and parcel of this effort.
Recognizing what the government is doing wrong allows new ideas to emerge: gold cards for those willing to invest in the US, halting tax on tips, and investing in US manufacturing to put Americans back to work. All of these ideas are on the table, and – if we are to believe the polls – citizens seem open to them.
Yes, change can be challenging, especially when multiple events occur at once. The US is not the USSR, and there’s no reason to suggest that glasnost and perestroika will have a similar outcome. These are valuable concepts, and President Trump appears to be using them in a way that benefits the American people. The American way of life – from the economy to its borders – has been under siege. There is a desperate need to right the ship. Perhaps this new openness to our restructuring will be just the ticket to keeping the US afloat for decades – even centuries – to come.