TRUMP'S BLIND SPOT

Trump and his second-term planners continually refuse to look to the Reagan Transition (1980-81) for inspiration and its leaders for advice. The Reagan Transition is considered the best planned and executed transition in history.

- SCOT FAULKNER

Republicans are rejoicing that Donald Trump says he has learned lessons from his first term and will unleash a full-scale assault on big government and the Deep State. Democrats are raising alarms that Trump will exceed his powers to wreak vengeance and settle personal scores. Trump’s recent musing about being a “one-day dictator” inflamed his critics and enraptured his supporters.

They will all be disappointed. President Trump completely failed at personnel. He never grasped the concept that “people are policy”. Unfortunately, Trump and his transition planners are already ignoring this maxim and heading for disaster.

Many of the people being discussed for Trump’s second term were ineffective in the first. Learning from one’s mistakes is a key to successful leadership. It is not happening. Trump and his secondterm planners continually refuse to look to the Reagan Transition (1980-81) for inspiration and its leaders for advice. The Reagan Transition is considered the best planned and executed transition in history.

Even liberal historians admit this. Its success was based on ideological alignment of all participants and a clear plan for how Reagan’s Revolution would become an operational reality. During the 2016 campaign and transition, Trump and his advisors repeatedly ignored those who led the Reagan Transition.

Eventually, some of these experienced “Reaganites” were allowed into his transition, but in minor roles. Their detailed reports and recommendations were tossed aside. Instead, Trump relied on former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus. Trump felt he had to reward them for defending him at critical points in the 2016 Presidential Campaign.