Trump struck hard and fast; these guys are incredible

I am beginning to believe that my liberal friends, of whom I am fortunate to have many, are collectively, absolutely clueless about what Donald Trump has done and is doing to them.

I have maintained a fascinated watch of The Donald since the earliest days of his campaign, when I warned fellow Republicans that he was a demagogue who knew exactly what he was up to and he needed to be taken seriously. I said much the same thing to dismissive Democrats and publicly predicted he would win in the last few weeks of the campaign.

Now we're seeing the same dismissive attitude in what is passing for leadership in the Democratic party, while Trump is shoving through them like the proverbial crap through a goose.

I suspect the Trumpians couldn't believe their good fortunes in having a precedent for what is, in effect, the French system of governance by decree — provided by Barack Obama's active use of executive orders at the end of his term. There's no need to wait for a shy Republican Congress to pass Trump's initiatives; he simply decrees them and invites Congress to do something about it.

In doing the refugee freeze early on, he plays his strong hand to his supporters in the face of an absolutely predictable Democratic response. Result, much to the surprise of the traditional media: More than half the country approves, while the Democrats look as if they are doing nothing more than trying to vindicate themselves in the eyes of the country and proclaiming we all made some kind of mistake in electing Trump.

They're still looking at the last election. Good luck with that.

In the meantime, those of us who voted for Trump but didn't at all like his populist policies on trade and immigration doubtless were starting to show up on the radar. The response? Not only did Trump make a priority of a quick announcement of a Scalian for the Supreme Court, he actually moved up the Gorsuch announcement date when things were looking a little dicey. Boom! Moderates and traditional conservatives were reminded of why they voted for him. Strong pro-lifers were similarly treated to some out-front remarks by the veep.

I'm still not a Trump fan. Not even kinda. But these guys are incredible. I had some inklings of this when Trump came to Minnesota at the very end of the campaign. What a dumb move, I thought. What a waste. Minnesota? Now?

In fact, they actually knew how close things were here and were trying to push things over the top. The campaign, and now the White House, has demonstrated more effective exploitation of big data than had even been imagined a few short years ago. They treat the press corps with disdain because they don't like them and they don't think they need them.

Rather than a press event to announce the Supreme Court nominee, they had a media event full of rabid supporters. The same thing happened at the CIA, of all places. It was all about the show. They now feel they can communicate with their supporters directly. Information to the media a little squishy? So what?

What will matter is a system of government, thankfully — and I do mean thankfully — that has checks and balances and a requirement that Congress keep its eye on the ball. In Congress there has to be a robust opposition that actually knows what's going on. But I'm now convinced that the sclerotic coastal minority leadership is likely not up to the task.

It strikes me that Barack Obama's biggest failure was in not turning his two flash-mob elections into lasting coalitions. My guess is that the Trumpians do not intend to repeat that mistake, and they're moving early and fast to solidify their support. While this is going on, the Democrats are at the Supreme Court steps ... doing what?

I know what it means to be in the loyal opposition and to fight hard. It helps to actually know what you're fighting.

Fritz Knaak, of White Bear Lake, is a lawyer and former Republican state senator.