The 17 days since Donald Trump’s second inauguration have been quite busy.

As promised, the president hit the ground running. So far, he’s signed 54 executive orders, far surpassing any other president at this stage.

Many of these were promised during the campaign: enhance border security, establish the Dept. of Government Efficiency, remove funding for DEI programs, withdraw from the Paris climate accords, pullback from funding solar and wind projects, withdraw funding for schools that allow transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports, withdraw support for UNRWA and other UN projects.

However, others were surprising, such as asking 2 million federal employees for their resignations, and summarily closing down the US Agency for International Development—firing all 10,000 employees of the government’s humanitarian arm.

And some of his proposed actions are absolutely shocking, to say the least, like temporarily stopping all federal aid and grants programs, giving Elon Musk and his team access to the federal payment system, and proposing that 2 million Gazans be relocated (no one knows to where!) to allow Gaza to be developed as a resort—”The Riviera of the Middle East.”

With all this going on, it’s easy to feel like we’re being zapped around like the inside of a pinball game. Look here, bounce there, but watch out, there’s another ball coming around the corner, up, down, all around.

Already, some of these initiatives have been rescinded and there are lawsuits challenging others. Proposed tariffs on products from Canada and Mexico are now on hold. Still other proposals, like taking control of Greenland and the Panama Canal, and relocating everyone from Gaza to build a high end resort, have been met with such disbelief and outrage on a global basis that they aren’t likely to actually happen.

This seems to be Trump’s MO: Throw out the most extreme option possible with enough firepower behind it that you have to take him seriously. Then do a “deal” with the other side to come up with a much more reasonable option. For example, maybe threatening to build the Trump Gaza Resort will get Arab nations to step up and help rebuild Gaza instead.

If you don’t like what’s going on, how do you fight against so many pinballs being flung at you at once? Instead of trying to avoid all those spinning balls, stop and watch where they’re really being aimed. Wait to see where they land. Only then can we determine what was all a show and what’s really hit the target.

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linda@popky.com
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