Alfonse D'Amato

Trump takes office

Posted

Last Friday, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States.

In his inaugural address, he began by thanking President Obama for a smooth transition, and offered the people of America a message of hope by stating, “We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and restore its promise for all of our people.”

Trump then quickly moved to his next topic, one that won him the election — he distanced himself from the political establishment. “The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country,” he said. “Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families across our land.”

The new president had some valid observations with respect to the establishment’s protecting itself. While politicians sit in Washington, stuck in constant political gridlock, our factories are closing, our infrastructure is crumbling, and too many of our jobs are being farmed out or are leaving for foreign countries.

Participants in the large protests and marches in Washington and throughout the country have every right to make their views known, provided they do so peacefully. For the most part they were peaceful, and that reflects the greatness of our democracy. The protesters have made their views known, and now they should give Trump the opportunity to carry out his programs and make a judgement not just on emotion, but on the basis of what he proposes and his actions.

There will always be naysayers, and people will always protest. Let them protest. You thought Obama stood for change? There is nothing more unconventional than a president who was a successful businessman, a tycoon-turned-reality star who has never held elected office. At some point, the “deplorables” and the liberals will have to reconcile.

What will help quell the protests is action. I believe that the president’s call to reform government is bold and ambitious, and I hope he has the support of Congress. Cutting the tax rate for America’s corporations isn’t just about making the rich richer; it’s about making our corporations more competitive and keeping them from moving abroad, as we have witnessed for the past decade, taking with them thousands of American jobs.

Cutting taxes for working middle-class families will not only benefit those families, it will stimulate the economy. Trump’s call to make the deportation of criminal aliens a priority is a sound and sensible one, and seeing to it that our borders are protected from those who would cross them illegally is nothing more than common sense — and long overdue.

Make no mistake, the president’s proposals are bold and in some cases provocative, but I believe they are long overdue. For example, to have cities in our nation that arbitrarily decide not to cooperate when it comes to carrying out the law is unacceptable. So-called sanctuary cities should not be permitted to thumb their nose at the federal government when it comes to enforcing the immigration laws, and particularly when it comes to deporting illegal aliens who have committed crimes.

Far too often we have seen these criminals released onto our streets only to continue their criminal activities, in some cases taking the lives of innocent citizens. This is intolerable, and must be stopped. I applaud Trump for standing up and saying that this will no longer be tolerated, and that those cities will be penalized if they fail to cooperate in carrying out the law.

In a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, Charles Koch, the chairman of the board of Koch Industries, one of America’s great industrial companies, wrote, “Now is the time to reverse our nation’s trajectory toward a two-tiered society that benefits the wealthy and well- connected.” Koch wisely added, “No president or government can solve every problem. America’s well-being also requires strong communities, an effective education system and principled businesses.”

Koch went on to say that Trump must end the special treatment for the politically connected, in essence calling for an end of political cronyism. He also wrote that the president must reform the poverty-causing policies in our nation and encourage innovation through education.

Koch believes that Trump should encourage innovation and ensure that “students develop their innate abilities, discover how to think for themselves and become lifelong learners.” These suggestions are emblematic of what the U.S. can and should be about. This is concise and brilliant advice for the president, by none other than a member of the establishment.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.