The New York Times, CNN, the New Yorker and other mainstream outlets have set the bar absurdly low for Trump. He enters office with no yoke of optimism hung around his neck. By contrast, when Barack Obama was elected, people expected miracles, which was strange given his meager resume.
It was also damaging, as it opened the young president to ridicule. That Nobel peace prize? Premature at best. Those tens of thousands cheering at the Brandenburg Gates? Soon to be disappointed.
Much of America is pessimistic about the four years ahead. They are being told that Trump threatens their very well being, that his presidency will endanger Muslims and gays and women, for instance.
These charges are scary, and they are ill-founded – political hyperbole that has left a bitter residue.
Trump has sometimes spoken injudiciously, (and offensively), but he has never been unsupportive of the LGBT community, and has a solid record of hiring and promoting women, including Kellyanne Conway, the first female to successfully run a national campaign. As for Muslims, suggesting that we limit refugees from countries fomenting Jihad is not an assault on people living in this country.
Those who should be nervous about Trump’s election are the people at the top of the political food chain.
