The Evolving Views of Mr. Trump

DURING THE ELECTION CAMPAIGN, a period of time which most of us might prefer to forget, Donald Trump, like all overly ardent politicians, made a large number of comments and statements of intent which even at the time seemed, shall we say, a bit poorly conceived, and now seem positively insane. Fortunately, the president elect apparently has no intention of fulfilling any of them. One by one, Trump has spent the post election period "walking them back", as we like to say, stating his intention of breaking all his promises, as we used to say. First, he quietly mentioned something to the effect that a gargantuan wall might not be necessary to keep the U.S. and Mexico separated; a simple fence might do quite well. It was good to hear that. That change of policy should save billions of dollars and a great deal of embarrassment right off the bat. Then, we were graced with a rare act of good Trump grace. After months of promising to, if elected, put Hillary Clinton in jail, Trump nobly and magnanimously, and wisely and pragmatically announced that, no, he does not want to "hurt the Clintons", they've been through enough already, the campaign was bruising, they need time to heal, and so forth, droning on and on, displaying true greatness of spirit.That, aside from the fact the incoming chief executive has absolutely no power or legal authority or standing or evidence of any kind to put anybody in jail, as any astute legal mind is well aware, which he is definitely not. Then too, it turns out that all members of the Islamic faith need not be kept from entering the country; they only need to be questioned a bit more closely, to find out what they're really up to in advance, just like we already do.Remember Donald's promise to bring back torture and to use it on captured terrorists? No, say the military experts, they can do better with a couple of beers and a pack of cigarettes. Besides, torture is illegal, a minor detail which usually fails to stop Trump from doing anything, but this time seems to be. Even more newsworthy is that to Trump man made climate change has become something other than a Chinese or liberal hoax; it is now something about which to be open minded, meaning that America's participation in the Paris climate change agreement might not, after all, be in dire jeopardy. Remember the promise to tear up and throw away the nuclear weapons agreement with Iran? Now, it turns out that might not happen either, and probably won't. A few amendments and adjustments to it might do the trick, plus, new strategies to force Iranian compliance. The fact that the United States hasn't the power to tear up the treaty unilaterally, because other countries are involved in it, has perhaps finally sunk in at Trump Tower. We must all live and learn. Seems a great deal of information is reaching all the way to the top of the tower, as Trump meets with, discusses issues with, and learns from people who know a great deal more than he, showing his pragmatic flexibility. For this process we should all be immensely grateful, and pray that it continues, and never stops.