For a quarterback, the hardest part about playing a road game is trying to call signals over the din of the opposing team’s fans. President Trump is leading this country on a game-winning drive despite the ear-splitting roar coming from the Democrats and liberal media personalities sitting in the cheap seats.
As a lifelong businessman whose first foray into politics was winning the presidency in 2016, Donald Trump is kind of like the old-school barnstormers who were always the “away” team, contending with opponents (the Democrats) playing on familiar turf (the D.C. swamp) with the backing of a supportive local crowd (the mainstream media). It’s easy to forget, considering how effective this president has been, that the people he’s had to spar with over the past three years have spent literally their whole adult lives training to compete on the political gridiron.
The Democrats have been playing “prevent” defense for most of Trump’s presidency, employing an obstructionist strategy designed to keep him from making big plays. After watching the president march down the field for nearly three years, the Democrats’ defensive coordinator, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is dialing up a more aggressive play — the Democrats are showing blitz, and their fans are screaming with anticipation, acutely aware that this is virtually guaranteed to be the last drive of the game.
Like any good quarterback, though, President Trump has ice water flowing through his veins. The pressure isn’t distracting him at all as he focuses on doing the job at hand.
Instead of calling an audible in the face of the Democrats’ pressure, Donald Trump is trusting that his offensive line — trusted advisors, campaign spokespeople, and even some congressional Republicans — will pick up the blitz.
Even in the midst of an “impeachment inquiry,” President Trump has kept his sights firmly set on the ultimate goal of making America stronger, safer, and more prosperous than ever before.
He didn’t let the impeachment circus stop him from calling attention to a recent wave of business investment in the U.S., for instance, using it as an opportunity to once again tout the strong and growing American economy.
“BIG NEWS by @Hyundai, @Kia, and @Aptiv on a 4 BILLION DOLLAR joint venture to develop autonomous driving technologies in the USA,” the President tweeted on Monday afternoon. “That’s a lot of $$ and JOBS! Great jobs coming back to America!!”
The President also congratulated Apple for deciding to build its new Mac Pro in Texas, which will support hundreds of jobs in Austin. Notably, Apple announced the move just days after the Trump administration gave the tech giant an exemption to import certain components from China free of tariffs — a clear sign that President Trump remains focused on negotiating deals that benefit American workers.
That’s not all, though. President Trump also recently signed a bill extending various benefits for veterans, including home loans, homelessness assistance, and beneficiary travel. On the same day, he signed the “Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support Act of 2019,” which reinforces numerous existing autism initiatives in the U.S.
The Trump administration is even making significant progress on border security despite the ongoing obstructionism of congressional Democrats. In fact, the federal government just awarded three new contracts to a pair of construction companies to erect approximately 65 miles of new barriers along the Texas-Mexico border, a significant portion of the 450 miles of border wall slated for completion by the end of 2020.
It might be difficult to believe, given the media fixation on impeachment, but all of those policy accomplishments happened in just a single day — and that was after the impeachment inquiry had just dominated the weekend news cycle.
The clock is winding down, the Democrats are blitzing, and the media are creating a cacophony in the bleachers. Yet, somehow, President Trump isn’t rattled; he just keeps finding the open man and moving the ball downfield.
Lou Holtz was the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame 1986 to 1996. He is a Florida resident.