The question is: Will he ever? At the end of this post, I linked to a few more I wrote about Donald Trump and his record. The most consistent theme in them is my ambivalence. My mixed feelings. He is in office now for over seven months, and my feelings are the same. I like many of the things he does, but I dislike just as many while still waiting for the good stuff that may never arrive. Lots of cosmetics, lots of superficial actions while the truly important things are not even mentioned.
Immigration
This is the only one that seems to be working, except much slower than one would hope.
Even if the pace of departures (both voluntary and deportations) stays constant, it will take longer to make these migrants leave than it took to bring them in. In the first six months of the Trump presidency:
Deportations: Nearly 150,000 individuals were formally deported during the first six months of President Trump’s second term.
Self-deportations: Around 13,000 people were recorded as having left voluntarily through official channels.
The remaining majority—over 1.4 million—are believed to have exited the country without direct contact with DHS, likely influenced by intensified enforcement, public messaging, and incentives like Operation Homecoming, which offers $1,000 and free travel to those who self-deport.
The pace, at some point, will have to slow down, as it will be more difficult to find them or the cases will become more contestable, more on the margin. What shall we do with second and third generation illegals? With birthright citizenship and family reunification? Eventually, the laws governing these questions must be revised, which cannot be done without Congress. Still, the results so far are respectable.[i]
MAGA
Making America Great Again is a great idea! It’s a fine slogan; we just have to figure out what it actually means.
One night, when I was sixteen years old, I went for a walk with some friends. Three of them were my age, one was maybe three-four years wiser. We were talking about what we want to do with our lives. When asked, I said I don’t know yet, I just want to be great.
Great at what? Asked the wise-guy. There are some sailors in Portugal, he said, who can spit farther than anybody else in this world. You want to be greater than they are at spitting?
It was a humbling question.
At times I have the feeling that Donald Trump is looking at greatness with the unfocused silliness of my 16 years old self. America First is a better slogan, as it at least has a vague direction, but still laden with the questions: at what, how and at what cost?
The USA will never have 40% of the World’s GDP again.
The US cannot bully its way back to the top, which is what Trump is (apparently) trying to do. America’s greatness should be sought from within, not without.
The potentials of American greatness are in its founding principles and the culture of independence, self reliance and self-realization. The focus of the MAGA efforts should be the liberation and nurturing of these values. America does not need to be the Global hegemon, the US dollar does not need to be the reserve currency, the US military does not need to be the policeman of the world. America only needs to be its well defined, well understood self. The one that has been corrupted by the seductive virtue signaling of the postmodernist left. America can be great again, but only if it can find its way back to its ideological roots. Back to the republic that it clearly wasn’t able to keep.[ii]
THAT WOULD BE THE GOOD STUFF!
Putin and the BRICS wall of new realities
After winning the election, Trump said that he will end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. He could have. All he had to do was to say: NOT A PENNY MORE! All he had to do is walk away, but he didn’t. Instead of making it better, he is making it worse every day.
He doesn’t know how to say no to the neocons. He is still listening to warmonger scums like Lindsey Graham!
I will talk more about this in my next post, if you don’t want to miss it:
What seems to be missing for Trump is the understanding of the inevitability of the emerging new world order. His cocky, confrontational attitude is at odds of his stated goals. It is destroying whatever is left of the respect for the USA in the world. It is weakening America and its allies while also hastening the emergence of the alternatives. These new institutions and mechanism for trade and finance are weakening the West-dominated global institutions that the US is reliant upon for its global domination. It makes former adversaries (China & India) into cautious, but friendly allies. It makes Europe increasingly irrelevant.
Trump cannot be blamed for the existence of this new alliance, but fighting them is not helping. It is akin to trying to disqualify your competitors instead of facing them.
Still, and whatever the motivations are, the net result is positive, as it is pushing the US towards more self-reliance. Accepting and embracing the emerging new world order WOULD BE THE GOOD STUFF.
Draining the swamp, justice and retribution
In my post, There can be no peace without justice, I emphasized the importance of prosecuting every participant of the Russian collusion hoax. I suggested the prosecution of the January sixth agent provocateurs and the perpetrators of the ‘insurrection’ narrative. I proposed that a pardon should be given to both Edward Snowden and Julian Assange. None of that is happening. Whatever does happen barely scratches the surface of the problems. It feels like entertainment. Feed for the news cycles to entertain the masses. The neocons and the oligarchs are still running the show. No meaningful action has been taken to drain the swamp.
In February 2025, Elon Musk’s DOGE blocked funding to NED, the global coup maker. In August, that funding blockade was lifted by the Trump regime via Marco Rubio. Half of its funding is allocated to the AFL-CIO. NED has been cited by Russia, China, India, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Venezuela, as being an association of the Open Society Foundation, aka, SOROS.
(The Deep State Ruling Washington DC, via President Trump by Helena Glass )
The swamp is slowly swallowing the whole superhero team of Trump. It is not possible to fight the swamp. To drain it, one must cut off or channel the water that is feeding it.
I see no attempt of doing this. Seeing the worst of the criminals in jail WOULD BE THE GOOD STUFF!
‘Fixing democracy’
Fixing democracy is more serious, with some real progress in redistricting and in voter rolls cleanups. It was mentioned that we may see a mid-decade census to remove non-citizens from consideration in the electoral vote counts. Some activist judges were put in their place. But there is still:
No talk on investigating the 2020 election.[iii]
No talk of senate or house reform (term limits)
No talk about setting strict rules on lobbyists. There are 24 lobbyists for every Congressperson in Washington DC. Lobbyists are the feeders of the swamp monsters.
No talk about reducing the size of the government in any meaningful way
No talk about radical reforming the regulatory state that is the worst enemy of democracy
Electoral politics is just the skin of democracy, and we are barely even scratching that.
Doing the above WOULD BE THE GOOD STUFF!
DOGE, Musk and the Big Beautiful Abomination
The new administrations got a lot of goodwill and great PR from the DOGE cuts being in the news for months. It was exactly what people wanted to hear, they wanted to see wasteful spendings cut. Elon Musk promised two billion dollars in savings which he later reduced to one. He claimed to have saved $205 Billion which, with the reversals, has been reduced to an estimated 5-15 billion dollars, less than a tenth of what he claimed and less than 2% of what he promised.
Elon Musk has left after realizing that Trump used the PR value of the ~$10 billion savings to put through a $5.2 Trillion dollars spending bill.
Let me say this again: the BBB was justified by savings that represents 0.2% of the new spending’s value.
The DOGE idea was great, but it was swallowed by the swamp.
Musk was way out of his league trying to fight swamp monsters.
Thirteen digit savings, a balanced budget, reduced debt, reduced liabilities WOULD BE THE GOOD STUFF!
MAHA
With great hopes come great disappointments. America’s health, healthcare, nutrition, drugs and pharma dependence are the most important issues of the USA. It is rotten to the core, but not accidentally, it shows the biggest resistance and opposition to any change.
Banning some food dies, cancelling some research project, removing pharma agents from the boards of regulatory agencies; removing junk food from schools and even the cancellation of gender studies in K12 schools are just superficial changes. First steps.
It is and will be an uphill battle with very high stakes.
Suggesting solutions to this most complex task is beyond the scope of this post, but reforming healthcare, big pharma, medical education, professional licensing, the FDA, food production, patent laws and intellectual property rights WOULD BE THE GOOD STUFF!
Universities and student loans
Donald Trump clearly understands the role of universities in ideological indoctrination, and he wants to control them, using federal funds to blackmail them into obedience.
I could list here everything he already did. I agree with every single one of them, but they are NOT the good stuff yet. They are all about control
The right way to deal with the Universities would be to cut them loose completely. Let them survive on the market. Something similar should be done to K12. Demand the states to introduce unconditional voucher systems.
Both actions would drive the political left crazy, but that would be just the icing on the cake. The left thrives on political control. Dismantling the control system is what hurts them most. The institutions of political control is what powers the political left and as long as the institutions are there, they will use them to gain more control.
PREVENTING THAT WOULD BE THE GOOD STUFF!!!
Tariffs, taxes and tax-breaks
Donald Trump said many times that he likes tariffs.
“Tariffs are the most beautiful word in the dictionary”
Unlike the president, I don’t like tariffs. They are just another form of taxation.
Tariffs are a special kind of consumption tax. What I most specifically dislike about it is its dishonesty. Pretending that it is not a regressive tax that will affect the most those who can afford it the least. I don’t like its Byzantine complexity and its self-defeating stupidity.
I wouldn’t mind the reciprocity – if it was honest, but it is not.
I also don’t mind consumption taxes as they are better than – let’s say – capital gains and income taxes.
The President says that the tariffs will work so well that it may even replace the income tax. It would be nice to be without the income tax, but do I believe that it can happen? Do you?
What the US needs is a major tax reform, not temporary tax breaks and handouts. Not various subsidies, grants and incentives. No special treatments. Just a simple flat tax with a basic exemption to help the working poor.
THAT WOULD BE THE GOOD STUFF!
What I wanted to share with you writing this post is my frustration and disappointment.
We could rate the administration on each of the issues. How would you rate what you see so far? Are you happy or disappointed? Do you think that we will see some of the good stuff? Let me know in the comments.
More from this stack
More from Substack
The following links are just to show that I am not alone with my frustration and disappointment.
Trump and the Illusion of Reform - A Lily Bit
The Deep State Ruling Washington DC, via President Trump
References
A fascinating legal decision:
HUGE Court Ruling on BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP!!!
NATO’s Worst Nightmare Is Happening Right Now in Ukraine - Odessa is Next To Fall? | Redacted News
Microsoft Copilot: Your AI companion
[i] Just as I was writing this, the Ninth Circuit Court passed a landmark judgement about birthright citizenship. Learn more about it here.
[ii] As Franklin exited Independence Hall, a prominent Philadelphia socialite named Elizabeth Willing Powel asked him, “Well, Doctor, what have we got—a republic or a monarchy?” Franklin replied, “A republic, if you can keep it”
[iii] Well, I just heard about it today at a Trump cabinet meeting… they are going through the ‘burn-bags’
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I don't disagree with anything you have stated. However, when analyzing from a critical standpoint Trump promised some very BIG changes including arrests of Fauci, Hillary, Obama, Gates - release of unredacted Epstein files and list, release of CIA file regarding the Kennedy assassinations, eliminating DEPO of Education, pulling out of NATO, pulling out of the UN, no new wars, sterilizing pharma, instituting DOGE's cuts, and promoting American manufacturing. The only viable manufacturing we produce is weapons which we fund to build and never share in the profits. Our trade is tanking and we are losing allies. Tariffs are NOT being paid by the EU - they are passed to American businesses and dealerships. Those Tariffs increase costs to Americans and artificially raise GDP as a 'value measure'. Bankruptcies are rising. Food and energy costs are still exceedingly HIGH. Insurance is untenable.
IF Trump was going to hold to his word - he would have tasked the biggest issues first! To make the biggest impact - then dealt with the little things... His support for bombs and death is one of the world's largess noteworthy mistakes. He has helped to expand the BRICS and tariff revenue will tank when countries move their trade elsewhere. Americans will still be stuck with paying the tariffs.
FYI - I have no issue if you want to quote me, however, I think quotes in general should be notated to their respective owner... Thanks for thinking of me!
To express my thoughts on what Trump and his team have done, and mostly not done, would take a long book, rather than an article. You did pretty well though. It is an enormous amount of money they are up against. It would take very strong self discipline to really turn things around. Trump doesn't seem to have any. He seems to have had a successful life mostly through bluster. Throwing tantrums is not leading. That's what he does when he doesn't get what he wants. That would be bad enough if he wanted the right thing, but he usually has no clue what the right thing is.
I can sum up how I look at what he's done with one seemingly simplistic example, which is not simplistic if you really think about it. He started talking about cutting defense spending in half. He even suggested Russia, China and perhaps others doing the same. That would have been a great start. Then, soon after, he adds hundreds of billions to defense spending. That's not draining the swamp, it's opening the floodgates to fill it deeper.
Still planning to move and not come back.