Remember when we had Presidents that would stand for something and we would know, good or bad, what position our country would take? Deadlines were deadlines. Policy positions weren’t poker chips to be played. Our principles were understood and the statements of our President (left wing or right wing) were respected. How I pine for those simple times.

President Trump has given new meaning to vacillation. Whether its trade, foreign entanglements, immigration, tax policy – the only thing you can rely upon is that any decision could be changed within the course of a news cycle. He sets deadlines, only to extend them or shorten them or ignore them altogether. He gives businesses and consumers alike signals that they can expect certain costs or tax relief, only to change his mind (without ever admitting that the policy changed at all!). He sets expectations that he favors America-first, isolationist policies – only to saber rattle to the point of raising expectations of war.

Its been a pattern all year. On April 2nd, he unilaterally sets non-sensical tariffs on countries all over the globe – and within a week he puts a 90 pause on them. But then not all of the them. Then he says he will negotiate 90 deals in 90 days (with 12 days to go, there is not one tariff agreement). But he says he doesn’t want to negotiate away the tariffs, so what is the point of the ‘deals’? Then he invokes new tariffs on steal and aluminum. What are businesses supposed to do with this? They don’t know what the cost of imported goods will be. Will the ridiculous tariffs be in place on July 2nd? Or will he put a hold on them on July 5th? Should they wait to import goods or should they import now, because this is the best it will be? Or will the President negotiate away the tariffs so he can show how good a deal-maker he is? Why would any business invest in new capacity or a new business in this climate of uncertainty?

This past week, immigration was the hot topic. The President announced a pause on immigration raids for hospitality, farm/food industry, and restaurant businesses – because those businesses are being hit hard by these immigration raids and have complained to the President about the consequences of these actions. Within a few days, the pause was lifted and raids resumed. The message to immigrant workers (who make up large percentages of the food, construction, and hospitality industries) is to not show up for work, because you might get disappeared by ICE. The businesses are caught between a rock and hard place – these employees (who collectively contribute $100B a year in taxes to the US) can’t easily be replaced (I don’t see Baron Trump applying for a job at a chicken processing plant anytime soon). Construction jobs can’t move forward without skilled staff to complete them. How many businesses will shut down because of this administration’s inability to recognize an immigration policy that needs to be fixed?

America First has had a very specific meaning for foreign policy – we should concentrate on defending the homeland and not get involved in what happens all around the world. As callous and short-sighted as this policy is, it should be fairly straightforward for Americans and other countries to understand. We’re happy to sell arms to nearly anyone who is willing to pander to the ego of this President (because he can declare that he got a deal), but American troops will be used here (apparently against American citizens, but that’s another philosophy). So it wasn’t a surprise when the Secretary of State’s reaction to the Israeli bombing of Iranian strategic targets and nuclear sites was to declare that the US was not involved. But this changed to the President declaring that “we” are engaged in this action. He had been saying that he wanted a deal with the Iranians on their nuclear program – then he said wants them to surrender. But then the President declares that he’ll make a decision on the US engaging directly, militarily, within 2 weeks. This hasn’t gone over well with a large block of his core supporters, perhaps explaining why the President needs two weeks to make a decision.

Or maybe two weeks isn’t two weeks at all – none of his other deadlines have stuck, why should this one? Heck, even the ‘deadline’ for ByteDance to sell TikTok has been extended for another 90 days (the third ‘deadline’ that President Trump has set). After all, when is a deadline not a deadline – when President Trump sets it.

And the national disgrace continues…