After 13 days, President-Elect Donald Trump released a video message for his subjects, rather than holding a press conference where he would have had to answer actual questions.
As is usually the case with Trump, his plans are very vague. It might be more important to point out what he didn't say, rather than what he did.
There was no mention of a wall. No mention of an Obamacare repeal or a Medicare overhaul to privatize it.
He did, however mention withdrawing from TPP before negotiating "good bilateral trade agreements."
And more:
In the video, Mr. Trump promised to withdraw from the massive Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, “a potential disaster for our country,” and instead pursue bilateral agreements with some of the countries involved. He also pledged to lift “job-killing” restrictions on energy production, including shale and coal, to implement a rule that any new government regulation must be accompanied by removing two on the books and to instruct his Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a new cybersecurity plan.
His only discussion of immigration involved the legal kind — a crackdown on visa fraud that “[undercuts] the American worker.”
“My agenda will be based on a simple core principle: putting America first,” he said. “Whether it’s producing steel-building cars or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here on our great homeland — America.”
However, he did not provide any details about how these actions would work.
Apparently Mr. Trump has decided he's going to give Gilded Tower chats rather than open himself up to real press scrutiny. When we all thought about Trump TV, I wonder if we thought it would be state-run?
