By Dylan Paulson, Staff Writer

Donald Trump is a controversial figure. No one’s denying that. However, he is arguably the most important man in the public sphere of the last decade, who has dominated not just politics, but so many other aspects of life. It’s very easy to look at the first week or so of Trump’s second term and start to spiral. Misleading headlines and anchors who lack any form of critical thinking skills would make you think that Trump is trying to turn the country into something wildly different than what we’ve ever seen before.

While it appears that the memo never quite reached Elon Musk, no, Trump is not a Nazi, nor is he Hitler, nor is he going to bring about a second Holocaust nor is he going to become or bring about any other WWII Nazi-related buzz that the modern media doesn’t seem to fully understand. And I can hear some people right now as they read this, practically toppling over each other to point to the birthright citizenship ban that Trump passed last week. “See! He’s already undoing birthright citizenship! He IS Hitler!”, I can hear them yelling. While he did sign that executive order, I’m afraid the truth, as is often the case, is not that exciting.

One of Trump’s main campaign promises was to deport or “deal with” illegal immigration. Regardless of what you think of his rhetoric regarding that, that is what he promised he would do. The “birthright ban” that he signed made it so that anyone with even one parent that was an illegal immigrant could be deported.

This is a headscratcher, if taken at face value. However, what I think we’re all forgetting is that, love him or hate him, Trump is better at the political game than anyone else in America right now, conservative or liberal. I think, were that order to pass through court and actually stay as law, Trump would be just as shocked as the rest of us. He knows it isn’t going to last. But now he can point to that action and say to his voters “I made these promises, and I did everything I could to keep them. I didn’t fail, the bureaucracy around me failed.” You can make of that mentality whatever you want, but the point that he’s been hammering home all this past week was that when he says he’s going to do something, he will do everything in his power to do that. The Biden administration was notorious for making promises it couldn’t keep.

Then there are questions surrounding lifestyles. “Trump will make me illegal. Trump will make my lifestyle illegal.” I’ve heard it said in a hundred different ways. And once again, people will point to his executive order saying that the government only recognizes two genders and say that he’s coming for the LGBTQ+ community. I suppose to that point, it remains to be seen what happens on that front, but I think in this case, it’s actually the left and the media who make the most compelling argument.

All day every day, it feels, someone is saying the words “Trump doesn’t care about you.” I don’t know or particularly care how true that is in terms of politics, but I think when it comes to the fear regarding lifestyles, the point hits the nail on the head. Trump has better things to worry about than how individual people live their lives. Again, the point of the executive order was to show his voters that he heard their voices and is actively addressing the things they wanted him to. It doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree with it personally – that’s the politics of his decisions. He’s made out to be a bumbling fool, but bumbling fools don’t win office two separate times.

All things considered; I like to keep an open mind about these types of things. It’s early. A lot of these flashy moves are for show. Like it or not, this is the administration we have, and while vocal disagreement is a good thing, I would encourage optimism as well. Look beyond just what you’re told. Look towards reality. Look towards how things actually play out. You’ll find the truth to be far less intense.