Cooper: Trump’s rehetoric vs. his actions

The national punditry is agog with breathless reports that President-elect Donald Trump is backing down on some of his campaign rhetoric.

* He might not repeal and replace all of Obamacare.

* He might not have a literal wall built across the entire Southern border between the United States and Mexico.

* He might not immediately deport every illegal immigrant.

* He might not try to jail Hillary Clinton.

That same punditry, already proven to be out of step by not sensing the anger and frustration that brought Trump to power, hasn’t changed. If it has a scintilla of truth or “truthiness,” they print it, broadcast it, tweet it or blog it.

However, we believe most intelligent voters never took the Republican at his literal word of every sentence of his campaign. Oh, to be sure, they expect serious action on Obamacare and illegal immigration. Without it, the New York businessman will be a one-term president.

But consider Obamacare, for instance.

The news is that Trump is waffling on repealing and replacing the health care law because he told the Wall Street Journal last week he’d consider keeping the prohibition against insurers denying coverage because of a patient’s existing condition and the provision that allows children to stay on their parents’ insurance plan until they are 26.

However, Republicans, truth to be told, suggested a ban on denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions in a Senate bill introduced in 1993. And allowing children to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26 has been a part of GOP Obamacare replacement plans for years.

So Trump is hardly being hypocritical with those suggestions.

The president-elect also said on “60 Minutes” Sunday that some of the wall he promised could be more like a fence in spots. The border, after all, already has 580 miles of barriers, some of which are short physical walls backed by electronic surveillance.

Make no mistake about it, though. Trump’s goal – and the goal of voters who elected him – is a secure border, a slammed door on illegals coming into the United States to take jobs, receive government services and not pay income taxes. Whether it’s a physical wall for the length of the 2,000-mile border or a virtual wall, it must be a barrier to the relatively unchecked flow.

The New York businessman is further being taken to task by members of the media for wavering on his early pronouncements about deporting the estimated 11.4 million illegal immigrants already in the country.

For months, though, Trump has reasonably been suggesting he’d initially deport the criminal element among the illegals, make sure the border is secure and then determine what to do with the others.

“What we are going to do,” he said on “60 Minutes,” “is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers probably 2 million, it could be even 3 million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate.”

If Trump, in a potential first (or only) term, is able to deport the criminal illegals and secure the border, he’ll have done yeoman’s work. Then he could determine a reasonable plan for the rest.

During his campaign, the real estate magnate suggested that should he win he would appoint a special prosecutor to look into the high crimes and misdemeanors perpetrated by former Secretary of State Clinton regarding her unsecured email server. Since his win, he has softened his tone.

Trump told the Wall Street Journal and “60 Minutes” he hasn’t given the idea a lot of thought.

“I want to solve health care, jobs, border control, tax reform,” he told the Wall Street Journal.

In fact, Clinton’s unsecured email server itself wasn’t the biggest problem. Her lies and cover-up of the facts about the situation, and those of her staff, were her undoing in the minds of voters. Indeed, her more criminal acts may have come in the pay-for-play exchange of donations and favors between donors and the Clinton Foundation while she was secretary of state.

If President Obama doesn’t pardon his former cabinet member, Trump might well let Congress tackle the Clinton Foundation issue and continue to be about the business of the country himself.

The president-elect has presented himself as a man of action to “make America great again.” Voters who bought his rhetoric have a right to expect action. But those who looked beyond the bombast and the shouting know that governing is a different animal from campaigning and that accomplishments often require give-and-take, coalition building and behind-the-scenes work.

How successful Trump is at those skills will determine what kind of president he is.