Commentary: Donald Trump Should Be Magnanimous… and Ruthless

The once and future president emerged from Election Night with a clear mandate from the American people.

Donald Trump’s victory on Election Day was unexpectedly… easy. Many observers predicted many things as America headed to the polls, but a relatively quick victory over Kamala Harris and the Obama Democratic machine didn’t make the top of the list for a lot of people. Two clear things emerged from his electoral trouncing.

First, America is absolutely done with the elites who think they run things around here.

Second, Trump has a mandate to act quickly, which will do more to unite the nation than anything the Democrats could have offered—if he properly executes a coherent plan.

In retrospect, one could see the conditions for his victory set near the beginning of the campaign cycle. The overwhelming Republican turnout in early voting, the lack of time Harris had to cobble together a campaign after her ascension to the “nomination,” her incoherent message, and Trump’s relatively simple and positive vision for America all played a part. The enthusiasm gap became obvious weeks before Election Day, and Harris never closed that gap.

More than that, though, Americans really haven’t gotten over 2020. Nor should we. Beyond mere economic and national security and foreign policy decisions, which were destructive enough to the fabric of the republic, the regime ruling our lives from 2020-204 went even further. Unconstitutional pandemic lockdowns and mandates. Riots that burned cities, while local officials refused to prosecute the crimes committed. Massive overreach of the federal bureaucracy. The constant persecutions and prosecutions of the half of the country that didn’t vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris—the literal lawfare against political enemies. Incompetence at the Secret Service that led to multiple assassination attempts against Trump. The complete takeover of the propaganda machine in corporate media to accuse anyone not toeing the radical progressive line of harboring fascistic tendencies. Using all of the above as a pretext for once-in-history rejiggering of the rules surrounding our elections.

It was as insulting as it was blatant, and Americans want a reckoning.

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Trump Should Convey a Combination of Magnanimity and Ruthlessness

This tumult that roiled our society for so long has led us to an inflection point. Even as Trump’s election in 2016 set off a series of reactive forces that rent America, Trump’s 2024 comeback story has a uniquely American tenor to it and could actually serve to reunite the country. He should seize the moment by showing magnanimity to his political and cultural foes, while at the same time showing little mercy to the apparatchiks who conspired to take him out, both politically and literally.

Little doubt remains that Trump’s economic policies, combined with a tough on crime and America first border stance will create a maximum benefit for the maximum number of Americans. He should take every opportunity to bring Americans together and show off the advantages of his America First agenda that benefit his political foes equally as much as his political allies.

At the same time, so many people conspired against his first administration, and so many enemies of America infested the subsequent Biden-Harris administration, that he should show little mercy to the enemies, both foreign and domestic, that actively work to undermine our republic. Most of America would approve of—and unite around—a ruthless approach to America’s adversaries.

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Trump Transitions

Maybe the most remarkable and underreported bit of news that emerged in the last weeks of the campaign came out during Trump’s interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast. He told Rogan that, unlike every other presidential transition team in recent memory, he will forego using the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to fund his transition team. Instead, he will privately fund it out of his own pocket, and hire trusted advisors to fill out staff positions in his administration. This will allow him to put people into vital roles in the administration far less likely to work to undermine his agenda. By doing so, Trump will have a much better opportunity this time around to hit the ground running and execute his agenda much more efficiently—and with far less interference from the Deep State.

This will be key to his first two years in office, in which the Republicans will control the House of Representatives and the Senate. After the 2026 midterms, anything could happen, so he must execute quickly.

Glenn Reynolds, a law professor and founder of the indispensable Instapundit blog, made the point on his Substack that Trump needs to have legislation lined up like airplanes on a runway, ready to take off the day after Inauguration Day:

Last time around, Trump squandered his momentum.  He passed the tax bill that the establishment GOP wanted, after which they didn’t need anything from him and turned to obstructing him . . . .

Trump’s approach this time around should be what he should have done last time:  Shock and awe.  Shut down departments, fire bureaucrats, exercise emergency powers, all so fast that the establishment’s responses are saturated.  Javier Millei’s whirlwind assault in Argentina should be the model, sometimes in specifics but also in general approach.  Bureaucrats move slowly; Trump should move fast.

Elon Musk says he can cut $2 trillion easily; do it.  Also, set bureaucrats competing with each other for what funds remain.  Divide and conquer.

The FBI’s files on its policing of domestic dissent should be opened up, as should the details of the NSA’s illegal domestic spying.

Reynolds didn’t stop there. He says Trump should open an independent investigation into prosecutorial misconduct regarding the January 6 demonstrators, leading to firings and possible legal consequences. He needs to “ruin a lot of lives that deserve to be ruined,” Reynolds says. And not just in the Department of Justice and other agencies that persecuted political enemies, but also those that participated in social media censorship, and other abuses of government power. Treat abuse of government power like a criminal matter—because it is.

This is where Trump needs to be ruthless. Root out the enemies of the state wherever they may hide. We all watched these people make up all sorts of propagandistic excuses to abuse their power and persecute those who disagreed with the regime’s politics and policies.

We’ve Already Seen Results—But the Resistance Resists Regardless

On January 20, 1981, mere minutes after Ronald Reagan got sworn in on Inauguration Day, the Ayatollah Khomeini released the American hostages that he had held for 444 days in Tehran. The incoming administration of a strong Republican leader convinced the Iranians that it would no longer serve their purposes to antagonize the Americans.

A mere 12 hours after the media called the election for Donald Trump, Hamas made a similar calculation:

This gives Donald Trump a clear road map for his foreign policy—a road map he successfully followed in his first term. Peace through strength works, and we will stop coddling our global adversaries immediately. Of course, the Deep State doesn’t like this too much. Trump previously talked about negotiating a peace between Ukraine and Russia as soon as the election ended—during his transition period, before Inauguration Day. In response, the Deep State has floated the idea of prosecuting Trump under the Logan Act:

The resistance has only just begun. Robert Reich, the Labor Secretary under Bill Clinton and now a communist economics professor, published a call to action that leapt from the fever swamps of his mind Wednesday:

Our first responsibility is to protect all those who are in harm’s way.

We will do that by resisting Trump’s attempts to suppress women’s freedoms. We will fight for the rights of women and girls to determine when and whether they have children. No one will force a woman to give birth.

We will block Trump’s cruel efforts at mass deportation. We will fight to give sanctuary to productive, law-abiding members of our communities, including young people who arrived here as babies or children.

We will not allow mass arrests and mass detention of anyone in America. We will not permit families to be separated. We will not allow the military to be used to intimidate and subjugate anyone in this country.

The fever swamps have overflowed, because over 100 other radical “progressive” groups have plans to organize:

Top agenda items were already clear, according to conversations with [Working Families Party], Indivisible, and MoveOn, including concerns over environmental protection, abortion rights, and a crackdown on immigration. Mangla [the WFP press secretary] also calls out opposition to the recommendations in Project 2025. The Heritage Foundation’s 887-page agenda calls for remaking federal institutions, including replacing large numbers of public servants with loyalists. “We don’t have to speculate. It’s all there, written out in excruciating detail,” says Mangla. Though Trump has disavowed Project 2025, there is a good deal of overlap between the document and his agenda.

Here We Go Again

So, here we go again with unhinged resistance to an agenda they deliberately misrepresent while keeping as many Americans unmoored from reality as possible. Deploy propaganda. Gin up outrage. Pit one group against another. The resistance to Trump really is a resistance to national unity. That scares them most of all.

This is why Trump needs to be ready to hit the ground running, taking advantage of Republican control of both chambers of Congress. Show magnanimity, but be ruthless in execution.

Throughout the campaign, Trump brought together a coalition of the anti-elites, the regular Americans who don’t belong to the right country clubs and don’t get invited to the proper cocktail parties. Political ideology mattered far less than busting oligarchies. Trump brought together Speaker Mike Johnson and former democratic congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. He united the Amish vote and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He brought in Muslim and Jewish and Christian faith leaders, along with Elon Musk. He brought together Moms for America and black and Hispanic voters.

This came together under an attitude of magnanimity Trump expressed throughout the campaign, one the corporate media refused to broadcast. He went around them. This new anti-elite coalition represents the true power of the American people, and the sum of all fears for the bureaucracy and the deep state.

Trump clearly has the advantage, and a mandate from the American people who elected him. And it sure seems like they’re sick and tired of the resistance. Now is the time to fully advance the America First agenda, one that will advantage the American people over the Deep State.

And, let’s be honest amongst ourselves here: The bill for 2020-2024 has come due.

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