http://nypost.com/2016/11/30/trump-already-winning-and-hes-not-even-president-yet/Trump already winning — and he’s not even president yetBy Michael Goodwin
November 30, 2016
Donald Trump has come a long way from the “disarray” and “chaos” the media claimed to spy before his transition even got started. Such a long way that it’s fair to say that Trump is having just about the best 24 hours a president-elect could have.
Two A-plus moves — the deal with Carrier to keep 1,000 jobs in Indiana instead of moving them to Mexico, and getting crime-busting US Attorney Preet Bharara to stay on — keep faith with the populist themes of Trump’s campaign.
He pledged to stand up for workers and stop manufacturing jobs from leaving America. And he pledged to drain the government swamp, which is Bharara’s specialty.
For Trump to deliver two huge down payments in one day is remarkable. Imagine what he can do when he is actually president.
The cynics and NeverTrumpers — remember them? — will be out in force today when Trump takes a highly unusual trip to Indianapolis for the Carrier ceremony.
They’ll say Trump should have the courtesy to wait until President Obama leaves office to do such things. And they’ll scoff that the deal, whatever its terms, is meaningless in the greater scheme of things and insist that Trump will not be able to reverse the flow of American manufacturing jobs to cheaper climes.
There’s no way to disprove a prediction, but the critics don’t get the significance of the deal for the same reason they never understood Trump’s “America First” appeal. The heart of the deal is those 1,000 workers who will keep their jobs.
They won’t be shuffled off to a job-training program that is too often a fig leaf for endless welfare. And their families will be better off and so will the businesses and stores where they live and shop.
At $26 an hour, they’ll still be bringing home a decent paycheck.
Not all the deals will work out so easily and quickly, but this one has, and it ought to be celebrated.
So should Bharara’s agreement to stay in office, which rewards the federal prosecutor’s stunning success at busting government corruption.
His bipartisan focus on Albany especially has been beyond reproach, and it is to Trump’s credit that he recognized Bharara’s performance enough to break protocol and ask him to stay.
The immediate significance is that Bharara is no longer under a tight deadline to finish his probes of Mayor Bill de Blasio. All of which gives the mayor yet another reason to hate Trump.
For the rest of us, it’s another pleasant surprise in a transition that has been full of them. As his tweets illustrate, Trump has been true to his own streak of independence and yet also has been deliberate and disciplined in forming a government of highly qualified people.
The most stunning development is that Mitt Romney remains in serious consideration for secretary of state. Romney’s savage attacks on Trump during the campaign would seem to have made him permanently radioactive.
Moreover, Americans are getting a taste of Trump’s brand of showmanship and transparency. The crowds of cameras and press corps, along with tourists, in and near Trump Tower are unlike anything we’ve ever seen in a presidential transition.
Where job applicants, visitors and advisers previously scurried unseen into back rooms, here they must walk past the crowds to the elevators as C-span’s press-pool camera catches them live for national viewing. Most now realize they should stop and make a few comments for people at home.
The extraordinary scene is a security nightmare for police and the Secret Service, but a godsend for Americans eager to see if their next president really does have their backs. It’s also highly entertaining, as a Boston professor noted when he said, “This is like watching ‘The Apprentice: White House Edition.’ ”
We shouldn’t be shocked. After all, Trump comes to the Oval Office with the freedom to do nearly everything in new and different ways. He ran and won as a true outsider, crashing through all the political gatekeepers, and now he’s staging a transition for public consumption.
Even better, there’s no reason to believe he’ll stop breaking barriers when he gets to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
