Judged by previous presidencies, the Trump White House is chaotic. So the media daily tell us. But we may have been here before during the presidential campaign. Not a single media commentator predicted a Trump win at any stage. Always there were comparisons to show the next gate would close in his face because analysis shows…… The reason was , as this blog eventually pointed out, Trump was not running a presidential campaign. He was running a Trump campaign. And that was a campaign to his template, not a politically designed process to meet expectations, conform to the game and play to the rules. The mood was anti-political establishment, which Trump tapped into, and he won.
Now he is President he does not see himself as fulfilling a role to time honoured norms. He thinks all that is out of date, has created a mess and is past its sell by date. So he has become himself, Donald Trump, the populist leader of the United States who also has the title President. That is exactly what his supporters voted for. The dismay in the media, among the commentators, academics and the political establishment at all levels is profound. Not only is Trump doing it his way, but it in no way connects to their way and much of what they do is irrelevant. At some point Trump will have to connect with Congress to deliver on his promises, but the idea is to build a populist head of steam which Republicans in Congress feel they cannot resist, without fear of retribution at the hands of their voters. Which explains how an apparently chaotic White House to the politicos, runs like a finely tuned machine in the eyes of its occupant.
Opinion polls give Trump the lowest rating of any new president in history. Bar one. Rasmussen gives him 51% approval, although that has fallen from 55% a few days ago. Rasmussen were nearest to the actual result of the election, so they are worth watching. His new appointment of NSA and his promised new Executive Order on travel and immigration will be important moments. Meanwhile the show, like no other before it, goes on.