We always knew that Donald Trump wouldn’t change much, and that was both the encouragement and discouragement of his 2nd go-round. Despite the full-throated demonstrations of terminal Trump Derangement Syndrome, which claimed this would be the last election, that Trump would take away IVF, and on and on, we always knew the best predictor of Trump 2 was Trump 1. To be sure, it seems like his best characterists and worst characteristics are all still there, but did we expect any different? So his opening salvo of executive orders and initial actions fit into the “Way to go Don!” to “Really?” Here is one thing that is clear–we have a leader again in the White House. He is engaged, active and ready to aggressively take us to his vision of a better America. Say what you will, but he’s no Joe Biden. We may not like all of where he’s trying to lead us, but our prayers still need to be with him. So let’s review just a few of his actions, both pro and con.

Pro: Ending DEI in government is a great start. What we’re reading about in Los Angeles and their fire department is a perfect illustration of wokeness gone mad. It’s simply this: before you start dreaming of transforming America into a more inclusive place, is it too much to ask that you prioritize doing your job? Like making sure you’re ready for the inevitable fires that hit California? Even liberals like Bill Maher have had enough. But the high point was Mr. Trump’s common sense (at least for 225 years of America’s life) that a man is a man and a woman is a woman. How you want to think about yourself in no way means others have to think about you that way. I may identify as the most athletic, intelligent, and charismatic man in the world–but I doubt anyone else is going to accept that identity! I’m free to think it, you’re free to reject it. There is going to need to be more than executive orders on this, but it’s a good start. Finally (and this was before the election) was Mr. Trump’s warning that there would be “hell to pay” in the middle east if our hostages weren’t released. Why hadn’t Joe Biden focused on our hostages? Why didn’t he issue the ultimatum and then have a plan to act? Why didn’t the media have a day by day countdown remembering citizens of the USA held by terrorists? You know if a Republican were in charge we would have had daily calls for action (and implicitly the blame for each day that went by). But the deal is now struck and three Americans should be out soon (one is in phase 2 due to service with the IDF). Ending the de facto EV mandate is also good; we don’t need to further financially harm our domestic auto firms by forcing them to build cars consumers do not yet want to buy. So on the whole, Mr. Trump’s decisive action is a huge course correction we need to make. And hey, now we can have incandescent light bulbs! Make America warmly Light Again!

Con: He campaigned on it, but I doubt many that were voting for him had a high priority of pardoning all the J6 participants. His unconditional pardon for all, rather than a case by case review of each, sets free those that had malevolent roles as well as those that just went into the capital after the way was cleared. To be sure, action needed to be taken given the outrageous way the Biden administration acted, and the stretched legal reasoning that the Supreme Court later dismissed, but commutations for most would have been more appropriate. As with Mr. Biden’s grotesque pardons, these actions will have downstream consequences. Just as the right correctly rebuked the left over it’s indifference to BLM riots, so too will Republicans have little right to call for justice for future lawbreakers when their standard bearer just released many rioters. Jan 6th was in no way an insurrection in my mind (which is why none were charged with that), but the people assaulting police officers and tearing down barriers to “kill Mike Pence” are not patriots or heroes–they deserved much (but not all) of what they got, and Jan 6th will live on as a serious stain on our country’s fabric and, no matter how good the 2nd term goes, on Mr. Trump’s historical legacy.

Then there is Mr. Trump’s desire to make a deal on TikTok, the digital fentanyl that is a significant national security threat by most observers, which is why it was supported by both parties and signed into law by Joe Biden. Just because Mr. Trump had a large campaign contributor that owns a huge stake in Bytedance, just because young people like it and they helped his campaign, does not mean that the man that is supposed to execute the laws of the land gets to set the law aside. Is he going to willy-nilly enforce laws he likes while disregarding those he doesn’t like? That’s what we criticized the lawbreaking Joe Biden for. The same charge can be applied to Mr. Trump. You may (and I probably should) give Mr. Trump the benefit of the law’s granting the president the ability to make a 90 day deferral upon implementation, contingent on getting a deal done that’s made significant progress. But since no deal is even on the table, he’s at best stretching the law–so it’s certainly not encouraging. Let’s check in again 90 days from now.

There is so much more, and we can talk about it in the comments if you’d like. But so far, no real surprises. With Donald Trump you’re going to get someone who will have the spine to do some really necessary things, but also do some pretty outrageous things (at least for the long term). Pray for him and our country! And pray for our own hearts that we may not be consumed with TDS or become Trumpian idolaters.

Edit Update: Just in case there are any defenders of the complete pardoning of those convicted of January 6th crimes, consider this from the WSJ–these are not heroes and no amount of saying so by Mr. Trump or his supporters can change this:

Out of roughly 1,600 cases filed by the feds, more than a third included accusations of “assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement.” The U.S. Attorney’s office said it declined “hundreds” of prosecutions against people whose only offense was entering restricted grounds near the Capitol. Of the 1,100 sentences handed down by this year, more than a third didn’t involve prison time. The rioters who did get jail often were charged with brutal violence, including:

• Daniel Joseph “DJ” Rodriguez, sentenced to 151 months, who can be seen on video, federal prosecutors said, deploying an “electroshock weapon” against a policeman who was dragged out of the defensive line, by “plunging it into the officer’s neck.” The night before, he promised in a MAGA chat group: “There will be blood.”

• William Lewis, given 37 months, “sprayed streams of Wasp and Hornet Killer spray at multiple police officers on four distinct occasions,” forcing several to flee the line and “seek treatment for their eyes.”

• Isreal James Easterday, 30 months, blasted a cop “in the face with pepper spray at point-blank range,” after which the officer “collapsed and temporarily lost consciousness, which enabled another rioter to steal his baton.”

• Thomas Andrew Casselman, 40 months, hit multiple officers “near their faces” with pepper spray. His later internet searches included, “The statute of limitations for assault on a police officer.”

• Curtis Davis, 24 months, punched two police officers in the head. That night he filmed a video of his fist, in which he bragged: “Them knuckles right there, from one of those m— faces at the Capitol.”

• Ronald Colton McAbee, 70 months, hit a cop while wearing “reinforced brass knuckle gloves,” and he held one down on the ground as “other rioters assailed the officer for over 20 seconds,” causing a concussion.