Taylor’s Takes: Trump 2.0 – MAGA or bust!

One thought kept passing through my mind as I watched President Trump deliver his address to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night: “I’m really going to enjoy these next four years.”

In previous addresses to Congress, Trump sometimes seemed like he was trying to strike a deal with the Democrats. There was often talk of working together, uniting the nation, and understanding points of view.

No more. Not with Trump 2.0, anyway.

“This is my fifth such speech to Congress, and once again, I look at the Democrats in front of me and I realize there is absolutely nothing I can say to make them happy or to make them stand or smile or applaud, nothing I can do,” Trump opined.

“They won’t do it, no matter what. Five. Five times I’ve been up here. It’s very sad and it just shouldn’t be this way.”

It shouldn’t be this way, Mr. President.

Democrats should stand and cheer for secure borders, prospects of peace abroad, increased domestic manufacturing and investment prospects, and the hope and promise of a more prosperous nation.

But as Trump observed and the Democrats proved Tuesday night, what’s good for America is not anything they deem worthy of celebrating.

The Donald Trump of 2017-2021 may have reacted differently. The first-term President in the days following his remarks to Congress may have invited the leaders of the minority party to the Oval Office. He may have tried to persuade them to come around to his ideas and the motivation for them.

The old Donald Trump may have even tried to find common ground with the establishment Democrats. He may have presented the draft of an immigration bill in the hopes of working out a compromise.

That was then. This is now.

President Trump of 2025 is a different leader than he was in the first go-around. This President Trump is on a mission: Make America Great Again or bust. And he’s not taking “no” for an answer.

After four disastrous years of the Biden-Harris administration, Trump has his work cut out for him.

His first order of business is to stop the bleeding.

Sending foreign aid to countries that display carelessness and waste? Cut it.

DEI policies in federally-funded organizations and institutions of higher learning? Get rid of it.

Illegal aliens crossing the border in record numbers? Shut. It. Down.

And on and on it goes.

When the boat springs a leak or two, you don’t try to bargain with the other people on board about the best way to get back to shore. You plug the holes.

President Trump knows that his time to take immediate action is limited. The flurry of Executive Orders are in many cases stop-gap measures until more permanent solutions can be reached.

The clock is ticking, as Trump also understands that the Democrats are just lying in wait for the opportune time to strike. He has a country to save from bleeding out, and the majority of it has to be done before he’s mired in manufactured distractions.

To paraphrase Jerry Reed from Smokey and The Bandit, “He’s got a long way to go and a short time to get there.”

It won’t be long before the newest impeachment hoax starts to rear its head. By the way things are looking right now, it could be a repeat of Russia, Russia, Russia or even Ukraine, Ukraine, Ukraine!

Hell, just about two weeks ago, Representative Al Green of Texas spoke on the House floor, cane atwitter, promising to bring articles of impeachment against President Trump. He doesn’t exactly know what for, but if Rep. Green is censured for his imbecilic behavior during Trump’s speech Tuesday evening, he’ll have plenty of quiet time to mull it over.

In the interim, Democrats will continue repeating their tired talking points to anyone who may care to listen. Lies of Trump wanting to cut Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will abound. Rumors of Elon Musk being pro-apartheid and stealing checks from little old ladies will continue to swirl. All of the usual scare tactics from the usual suspects of fear-mongers will appear each night on MSNBC or CNN.

I don’t think it’ll work this time, though. It seems as though there’s been an awakening in America.

As Trump pointed out on Tuesday, he does have a mandate, despite the “get off my lawn” like ramblings of Rep. Green. And judging by the surveys conducted after Trump’s speech concluded, America is quite alright with the President’s current course heading.

In fact, CNN reported 80% of viewers approved of Trump’s speech.

As the network’s Scott Jennings so eloquently put several weeks ago, “This is like Trump’s superpower. Finding a bunch of 80-20 issues and getting on the 80 and everybody who is reflexively against him gets on the 20.”

Trump as a politician has been an issue for many.

But now America is on his side of that 80-20 split.

Keep kicking and screaming all the way toward greatness, Dems. You’re only making the mandates that much greater, too.