The Reasonable Trump Administration

Twice a day, the White House publishes a news summary via email, with the current edition on their website, under the banner of West Wing Reads.

The content of these would surprise many critics of Trump. They are well-written with a professional tone and the content is well-curated. They often link to Fox News or other partisan publications, but generally only to thoughtful, well-crafted articles. Many are editorials that support the administration’s positions, but also popular are succinct, factual reports. As I write this, the current leading reference is Border agents just apprehended convicted child molesters and an MS-13 member at the Texas border where there’s no barrier in the Washington Examiner.

This edition goes on to praise the W-GDP, call for bipartisan progress on infrastructure, simply note new investment by Ford in the Chicago area, and repeat the First Lady’s show of appreciation to anti-drug advocates. All via quotes from external sources including, yes, Fox News, but also The Hill and Associated Press.

You can disagree with the positions the cited reports support, but it’s very rare that they are ever false or even framed in a partisan manner. This is the source material for thinking people who agree with the Trump administration’s policies. I read every one (via Kill the Newsletter) to inoculate myself against the temptation to write off every Trump supporter. Not every one is an irrational, ignorant MAGA like those Jordan Klepper interviews. Some of them are merely cynical and willing to overlook the decline of civil society.