Trump fascinates me, as I said before. He manages to convince all of his supporters that he is going to do exactly what he wants. He also seems to manage to convince people who would accept the public label of a "Trump Detractor" that he is going to do exactly, precisely, and completely everything they DON'T want. Despite the fact that I have seen time and time again that in many cases both of those categories often want exactly the same thing. That is, Supporter says "Trump is going to support X extensively!" and detractor says "Trump is planning to completely eliminate X." Obviously at least one of these has to be untrue. Or ones idea of support is another's idea of destruction (also possible). Or both, or neither. Actually, from what I can discern, all of these are true, across almost all of these issues, to some extent or another. The only thing that is certain in every case is that the supporter supports, and the detractor detracts, often with neither having any concrete knowledge of any of the issues involved, or what Trump's position might be (if, in fact, he has one!).
Furthermore, people don't seem to understand how much power the president has. (and with that statement, I am talking about the president as a concept, not any specific example of one.) The answer is their level of power is highly variable. With strong support from the majority party, strong support from the courts, and a solid amount of support from the general population, the President can be very powerful. With no support from the majority party, or limited support from them, limited support from the courts, and hard to determine support from the general population, or active lack of support (Think Bush Jr. in his last year in office, for example.) the president's power can be nearly nonexistent. Where in that graph Trump resides is hard to determine, and is based on who you listen to- from what I can tell, all of them (irrespective of support) are either spinning like George Washington in his grave (whether he would support Trump or not, he'd hate how divided we are as a nation), or outright lying. However, supporters tend to think he his highly regarded, and detractors are convinced everyone hates him.
Speaking for myself, I'm not sure what to think of him personally, but I dislike the state his election has put the nation, and more importantly my family dinner table. Why? Because he is the only bloody thing I ever hear about. What he has done, will do, might do, could do, can't do, should do, shouldn't do. Also what he obviously thinks or doesn't think, which irritates the hell out of me (The whole point of this rant is that he does an excellent job, particularly, of hiding what he is thinking and what his intentions are!). I'm tired of it, because its just a lot of ranting or raving noise with nothing accomplished. Every headline is "HERE IS WHAT TRUMP MIGHT DO!" Let me add one: Trump might dress up a baseball bat in a Sombrero and a Tutu, and then re-enact the boat scene from Phantom Of The Opera, in his underwear. CHRISTINE!! I mean, its extremely improbable, but he might. Garsh, Mickey! (impart Goofy accent, just so you know this is a joke, also I'm making fun of news agencies excessive use of nullifying words in headlines, not suggesting Trump is particularly prone to acting like Jim Carey).
I'm not criticizing Trump here. The fact of the matter is, the goodness or badness of what he wants to do depends mightily on who you are, where you stand in life, where you come from, and the way movements in the economy effect you personally. So whether he is good or bad depends on his effectiveness, and he is definitely being ideologically blocked by his detractors. Which is the same basic position Obama was in around this time, if you happen to recall, albeit with slightly less blather. (very slightly)
However, I suggest all of those who want support or detract, evaluate what he is doing. For example, the budget proposed absolutely is set up such that if it particularly goes into effect, Amtrak's long distance network will be de-funded. That's a fact. Whether this is his intention or not, whether this is meant to be a baseline for negotiation, and whether you like or dislike the idea proposed, those are all opinions. And all of your opinions are open to yourself.
But I suggest the lot of you dig out all the indisputable facts you can find (not easy, I know, in this world of blather bombardment), including exactly what the programs he is funding or defunding ACTUALLY DO, rather than their naming scheme, and then decide whether or not you like it. Just as an example: The EPA, or Environmental Protection Agency, has parts that do stuff for protecting the environment (I've seen bits and bobs that do directly) however, I think the part I have had the most dealing with should be broken off into something called the BSA- BANANA Support Agency. Because the main function of that part of the agency seems to be providing a springboard anti-build for NIMBYs and BANANAs to object to things over.
Oh, also stop assuming anything makes sense. That's not a Trump thing, though. My enlightenment in the world came from the following understanding: Rarely does anything make sense, never blame malice for what can adequately be explained by stupidity, unless the stupidity has the precision of a Swiss watch, in which case it is definitely malice.
