The Era of the Donald begins: Initial Thoughts

So we're about 10 days into the President Donald Trump administration and I will say this: the Donald is a man of action.  From executive orders reversing President Obama's executive actions to open negotiations with Mexico on how to pay for the border wall, it's been hard to keep track of all the action coming from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  I just have some initial thoughts.

1) It's early:  Every new administration comes in with slew of initiatives that they want to enact and the Donald is no different in doing that.  However, it appears that the Donald has put greater emphasis on getting things moving than past Administrations.  Forget the conventional way of using legislative procedures to create action. The Donald didn't run his campaign that way and he certainly doesn't look like this White House will run that way either.  The Donald is fully intent to use the bully pulpit of the Presidency through Twitter or his press appearances and interviews to get his message across and get other parties to react.   His vilification of the conventional media creates an avenue for him to throw out new ideas and if they are negatively received he can use them to absorb much of the blowback.  I even have to say that's a shrewd political tactic.  But can he keep this up for 4 years, for the news and actors will keep on changing?  We'll see.

2) The Donald is fully intent in showing how the 'Art of the Deal' works: The Donald publicly has campaigned that he will make all the changes he campaigned on doing based on his past negotiating experience and success.  While it's throwing out ideas on how to pay for the Mexican border wall (how about a 20% tariff if Mexico doesn't pay for the wall?), or enacting bans on travel from terrorist friendly states (Iraq, Iran, Yemen, etc), the Donald is fully intent on starting with an extreme position.  I believe he's doing this to get a public reaction as well as a reaction from his negotiating partner so they eventually can come to a compromise that the Donald thinks is more favorable to the US.  While I don't know how well these tactics work in the public sector, I can see how the Donald's experience in the real estate sector would lead him to believe it can be applied there.  I currently own two condos which I paid 15 to 20 percent less than the listed price for each one.  I assure you that the sellers of each properties were not too pleased with my opening offer on each.  But I eventually came to the deals with the seller.  I can see how the Donald can think the same tactics can work in the public sector and diplomatic relations.

3) The Donald is keeping his promises...so far:  The Donald campaigned on the Mexican wall, expanding the military, lobbying bans, rescinding Obamacare, extreme refugee vetting, etc.  So far he's used executive actions to enact all those promises.  He'll soon nominate a SCOTUS nominee that is probably going to be similar to the mold of Justice Scalia.  So to say anyone would be surprised that the Donald would enact these policies would be a stretch.  I'll be interested in what happens when he actually has to convince Congress to ratify his initiatives.  We'll really see if the Art of the Deal works there.

So my synopsis of the opening salvo, it's been interesting, buckle up folks.

Trip to the Luther Exhibit

Last month I attended an exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art presenting the artifacts and paintings regarding Martin Luther.  As the world prepares to celebrate the 500 year anniversary of the birth of the Reformation on Oct 31, the MIA is stewarding and allowing the public to see artifacts of that time as Reformation sites in Germany are being refurbished.

Here are a couple things I saw:

The pulpit above is from the St. Andrews church in Eisleben, Germany, where on Feburary 15,1546 Luther preached his last sermon.  During concluded his message by saying 

"This and much more might be said concerning this Gospel, but I am too weak and we shall let it go at that."

Three days later, Luther died.

The book above is Luther's copy of the Saint Jerome Bible with his notes and comments written in the margins.  Saint Jerome is best known for writing the Bible into Latin, which pretty much limited the church to translate to other people.  Luther later translated the Bible into German, which make it much easy to access the Scriptures.

The open chest above is an actual community chest during Luther's time.  Basically it was a form of common welfare.  Folks put resources (generally money) into the chest.  Needy folks need to notify two folks with keys to the locks on the chest to access it.  Welfare was certainly much simpler these days.

So overall it was a very interesting visit. I learned much about Luther's life and society of his time.  Quite fascinating I have to say.