TAKING STOCK.

Almost a year into the Trump presidency, and how stand things?

Declare victory and leave the social media to others, urges Victor Hanson.

[P]ersonal dueling with journalists, celebrities and politicians is not only becoming superfluous, but it is now distracting Trump's audiences from a growing record of achievement.

Nine months ago, critics left and right were writing off Trump as an irrelevant buffoon without a clue of what to do in the White House. They predicted perennial sloth and inaction.

Not now. Trump's Cabinet and judicial appointments, executive orders and deregulation measures are systematically overturning the progressive Obama project.

Abroad, the Trump national security team has recalibrated U.S. foreign policy from an apologetic recessional to engaged, principled realism.

Yes, those accomplishments are making some people mad, but there is a substantial overlap among those people and people who were weak on communism, who are soft on counterterrorism and crime, who offer misguided education policies.

Republican politicians once grumbled about the utopian Paris climate accord but never thought of doing much about it. Trump, like him or hate him, summarily withdrew America from the agreement -- and shrugged off the ensuing green outrage.

Members of Congress occasionally expressed support for the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel -- but on the expectation that no barnstorming candidate would ever dare to officially recognize Jerusalem as such if elected president.

Prior to 2017, conventional economic wisdom dictated that the Dow Jones industrial average would not soon climb above 22,000, that the unemployment rate in peacetime could not fall to 4 percent, and that the GDP could not grow at an annual rate of 3 percent. All those shibboleths have either been blown up or may yet be blown up in 2018.

The real test of this administration will come when the stock market correction or recession or both occur.

 
Andrew Klavan suggests that the good might be as much symbolic as substantive.

Donald Trump — a political neophyte, a New York loudmouth who plays fast and loose with the truth, a massive egotist and a not altogether pleasant human being — has delivered conservatives one of the greatest years in living memory and has made our government more moral in the process. The left and many on the right didn't see it coming because they hate the man. And because they didn't see it coming, they won't see that it's come.

That's right, more moral.

Trump has made our government more moral by making less of it: fewer regulations, fewer judges who will write law instead of obeying the law, fewer bureaucrats seeking to expand the power of their agencies, less money for the government to spend on itself. He has made government treat us more fairly and equally by ceasing to use the IRS and Justice Department for political ends like silencing enemies and skewing elections.

This is what moral government looks like. And if every male senator in America is grabbing the buttocks of some unsuspecting female while, at the same time, voting for more limited and less corrupt government, the senators are immoral, yes, but the government is more moral. That is why we should never let the leftist press game us with scandal hysteria, but should keep focused on voting in those who will help fulfill government's moral ends.

Trump has delivered conservatives an astoundingly successful year and made the government more moral in the process. You don't have to like him, to salute him. I salute him. Well done.

I'd be more optimistic if Our President, or some future president, vetoed some expansion of government power with an "I cannot find the line in the Federal Constitution that authorizes ..."

And yet, we must not let the Pajamas Media, Town Hall, and the rest cheerlead for a new cult of the presidency.  The mediating institutions still matter.  Kurt Weyland and Raul L. Madrid explain.

Liberal democracy in the United States will survive the challenges and risks that populist leadership poses. Certainly, Trump will continue to transgress norms of accountability and civility during his term, but he is unlikely to effect lasting changes, enshrine them in institutional reforms, and thus do more than temporary damage to liberal democracy. The U.S. system, sustained by a pluralist civil society, has great resilience. In fact, there is a good chance that the new President’s norm violations may generate a liberal-democratic backlash that will reaffirm these principles after Trump’s departure, and perhaps even strengthen their institutional protection.

How can Donald Trump advance his agenda? Populist leaders commonly employ confrontation and foment polarization. To prove their boldness and charisma, they act like attack dogs. They deliberately seek enemies in order to induce their followers to offer intense support. As is evident in his Twitter barrages, President Trump has consistently used this contentious strategy. This approach has its advantages. Because Trump cannot easily expand his backing, given the high levels of partisan polarization in the United States and the absence of an acute economic crisis, it makes sense for him to solidify the support he does have by attacking enemies.

But this confrontational approach also has substantial downsides. After all, the system of checks and balances puts a large premium on negotiation and compromise if a President wants to get his measures approved by Congress and to survive challenges in the courts. The cost of confrontation is especially high because President Trump does not fully control the GOP delegation in Congress. By turning his ire not only against Democrats, but against the Republican leadership as well, he risks antagonizing legislators whose support he needs. No wonder that, so far, Trump has established a very meager legislative record. Moreover, this legislative weakness may set him up for political failure. His problems in steering his bills through Congress not only generate a sensation of government paralysis, they also limit his ability to provide benefits to his supporters, for instance via substantial tax cuts for middle- and lower-middle class people.

If you are of the temperament that views "getting legislation passed" as not necessarily equivalent to "governing" that might not be all bad.

Look for lighter fare, infrequently, until Twelfth Night.