‘Under-promise, over-deliver.’  That’s a favorite saying among some business types who claim it’s the secret to satisfying customers and clients.  But Donald Trump has certainly never adhered to the first half of that mantra.

 

The ever-optimistic president tends to promise incredible things and seems to genuinely believe what he’s saying. Lately, he’s been heralding a new Golden Age of American greatness. Trump sees prosperity at home, DOGE dividend checks for all, and lasting peace overseas. Perhaps he envisions Russians and Ukrainians, Muslims and Jews, gamboling by day on the pristine beaches of Gaza before gambling by night at the Trump Mediterra Royale. That’s Donald Trump, whose native tongue is hyperbole.

 

But Trump’s deputies and aides, the people who actually manipulate the levers of government, may want to avoid the grandiose promises. Exhibit A is Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who visited Fox News soon after being confirmed.   The secretary confidently predicted the following: a trillion dollars in tax cuts, a trillion in new revenue, a balanced budget, the abolishment of the Internal Revenue Service, plummeting interest rates, and cheap gas. 

 

Howard, tap the brakes a bit. The mammoth ship of state changes direction very, very slowly, and our nation is still beset with problems that won’t vanish quickly.  Americans are deeply in debt, chronically unhealthy, often addicted to substances and hand-held devices.  It’s great to wish for the best, but Nirvana is not around the corner.

 

Most of us take President Trump’s words with a grain of salt. We don’t expect a land of perpetual milk and honey; we just want a quart of milk and a jar of honey to be affordable.  Everyday Americans desire more jobs for factory workers, fewer jobs for DEI hustlers.  We want pilots who are hired on merit, not gender; teachers who celebrate, not denigrate, our history.  We’d like our daughters to play sports against other little girls before biking home on safe streets.  We want illegal immigrants to return home, we welcome legal immigrants who make our country better and wealthier.

 

In other words, we simply desire a government that works for Americans, a country where decency is not the exception. As Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders puts it, we just want an America that embraces the normal and rejects the crazy. 

That’s really not too much to ask, is it?  In the meantime, Heaven Can Wait.