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Donald Trump brilliantly managing his team of A-list talent. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Donald Trump is already publicly floating the first of what will probably be several waves of firings of his top staff, while the news is a daily procession of astonishing revelations that paint the president of the United States as a lazy, ignorant, temperamental man-child who flouts basic security requirements and signs major orders he has not bothered to read. Or so it might appear to the outside world. Christopher DeMuth, a distinguished fellow that is his actual job title at the conservative Hudson Institute detects a different pattern at work. In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, the conservative scholar explains why President Trumps seemingly chaotic managerial style actually reflects a shrewd and even brilliant grasp of his power.

President Trump may be rediscovering a venerable method of leadership that has been forgotten in our era of ideological messaging, argues DeMuth. Rather than viewing disagreement as a problem, he attracts highly accomplished, strong-minded advisers who engage in vigorous debate. So the daily stream of Trump aides anonymously blaming one another for the administrations failures is actually, to DeMuth, evidence of the presidents sound management.

What are the specific practices that Trump has embraced to make his young presidency such a rousing success? DeMuth argues:

Apparently a lesser president would never have thought to make simple and popular promises like preventing terrorism and creating good jobs. DeMuth does not bother with the question of whether Trump has any policies to accomplish those goals he is sufficiently impressed that Trump would think to promise them.

Trump also has the cleverness to say crazy stuff:

Orthodox opinion believes that higher concentration of greenhouse gasses causes higher long-run temperatures, very few ineligible voters participate in presidential elections, and Trumps inaugural crowd had many fewer attendees than Barack Obamas first inaugural crowd. DeMuth does not quite endorse all of Trumps claims to the contrary, but sees his decision to provoke debates on such subjects as shrewd.

Trump has found the very best officials for his administration:

Carson and Perry are odd choices to support the claim that Trump has attracted elite talent. According to Trump himself, Carson is pathological and Perry is a moron. (He put on glasses so people think hes smart. People can see through the glasses.) To be sure, one might dismiss these insults on the grounds that Trump is a flamboyant liar who reflexively smears any critic who stands in his path, but aknowledging this would obviously complicate DeMuths argument, so he simply pretends that everybody recognizes that Carson and Perry (neither of whom had any experience in their new fields) are A-list cabinet picks.

The president has a wide-ranging thirst for knowledge:

Put differently, Trump reads no books, cannot digest any summary more than a single page, and instead watches endless television, and repeats wild, false viral rumors from fake internet sites.

DeMuth finds more good news:

It is perhaps true that, in the course of alarming close American allies like Germany, France, and even Australia, Trump has caused those countries to become more focused. DeMuth does not explain why this is beneficial. Trump has distracted his domestic opponents by embroiling himself constant and numerous scandals and repeating endless falsehoods. Here, again, DeMuth does not elaborate on why this is helpful.

Having praised Trumps frequent, unpredictable and wide-ranging tweets, DeMuth praises him for his taciturn qualities:

Trump did state that he had virtually finished a plan to repeal Obamacare, indicating the debate was over. But this comment reportedly confused his allies, who quickly discovered the plan Trump described was in fact entirely a figment of Trumps imagination. The debate has not even come close to ending.

Trump, argues DeMuth positively but vaguely, is doing good things in the intelligence field:

Trump attacked the Central Intelligence Agency, later visited the agency to deliver a rambling, self-aggrandizing speech about himself, appointed as director of National Intelligence Michael Flynn, a conspiracy theorist who pointedly rejects any data that fails to confirm his assumptions, and who Trump may well fire within his first month on the job. A good start! DeMuth does not explain what a bad start would look like.

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April Ryan says her former friend got in her face just a few steps from the Oval Office.

Flynn said he apologized to Pence following reports that he misled the vice president about his calls with the Russian ambassador.

One Republican senator is getting impatient.

The National Security Adviser seems to be in limbo after misrepresenting his conversations with a Russian diplomat.

At press conference, Trump ranted about his electoral win and Mexico, while Trudeau delivered a small burn on refugee policy.

An extremely interesting defense of the presidents aptitude in The Wall Street Journals editorial pages.

A HRC 20 scenario denies her the dignity of being a trailblazer who will pave the way for another woman to win the presidency.

He met with the president and First Daughter at the White House.

The groom was the son of a major donor to pro-Trump super-PACs.

Mexicans marched against the wall, deportation, and Mexicos corruption.

The history is pretty clear: Presidents parties lose in midterms unless Americans are preoccupied with the kind of security fears Trump likes to fan.

Michael Bennett of the Seattle Seahawks said he doesnt want to be used by the Israeli government for public-relations purposes.

The college controversially named for a prominent defender of slavery will now honor a visionary female computer programmer.

The fitting depiction of our 45th president was quickly pulled.

Damage to a spillway at the Oroville Dam is threatening to flood the surrounding area.

And other scary leaks on how the Trump administration is handling national security.

The embattled national-security adviser could become the administrations first sacrifice to the realities of political turmoil.

The politics of Andrew Jackson reemerging in 2017.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe denounced the test from Mar-a-Lago with Trump in tow.

He also suggested that Democrats have nothing but flailing and screaming in response to the presidency of Donald Trump.

Read more from the original source:
Donald Trump Is a Managerial Genius, Explains Conservative Scholar - New York Magazine