Trump is the temperamental opposite of President Obama. Imagine changing the temperaments of your next-door neighbors as radically as we are about to change those of our president. Even if you grew to like the new folks, it would take some getting used to.
Those alarmed by Trump should recognize that those personality characteristics do not define the entire man or his agenda for the next four years — and that, in fact, there are good reasons to welcome the brashness. The vast, suffocating bureaucratic state has grown so powerful and utterly muffling of genuine ideological diversity that we need to break the ice forming over the national conversation. Trump is Thor’s hammer in that regard. It could get loud, but we could also end up hashing some hard things out.
Finally, there is this: The Constitution is very, very strong. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), not to mention the independent judiciary, represent significant checks on Trump, who, as Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn likes to point out, has never raised a word against the Constitution’s design or institutions. Governors such as Arizona’s Doug Ducey didn’t like being pushed about by Obama, and they won’t like it any more if Trump is doing the pushing. The media — asleep and smiling through much of the past eight years — woke up with a hangover and a backache, and are in a collective mood to go full Sam Donaldson. Terrific. Checks and balances.
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