President of all?

Being President of all the people
Donald Trump at least pretended in his address to Congress last night that he wants to be President of all the American people, and not just President of his supporters.

You never know about Donald Trump, and Donald Trump seems to prefer it that way.

Let's play it out that Donald Trump wants to be President of all the American people, and list things he could say or do that would help him unify the country.

One thing would be for Donald Trump to stop saying that the press is the enemy of the American people.

Along with that, it would help unify the country if Donald Trump stopped talking about The New York Times, CNN, et al, as purveyors of "fake news" and the apotheosis of dishonesty.

Another thing Donald Trump should do to be President of all the American people is to patch up his relations with the intelligence agencies and the FBI.

Pursuing comprehensive immigration reform could also help Donald Trump be President of all the American people.

His supporters
If Donald Trump does these things to be President of all the American people, his supporters will probably not be entirely pleased.

Take "fake news." Donald Trump has been stoking his supporters for months about fake news, and many of them have bought all in on Donald Trump's charges of "fake news." These supporters may have questions about what is going on if Donald Trump now tells them, "naw, not so, The New York Times, CNN, etc., don't really purvey 'fake news.' Those media may make mistakes at times, and they may have biases in the things they report, but they do have laudable journalistic standards in seeking to determine and report truth and facts, and it is not right to say they make up the news."

Saying things now that contradict things you said previously can be disconcerting, and result in Donald Trump's supporters wondering what they should believe, such as about fake news.

Another example is comprehensive immigration reform, which is reported to be under consideration by Donald Trump. If Donald Trump pursues that, it will likely be inconsistent with what Donald Trump said throughout his primary and general election campaigns. Donald Trump's supporters who were all in with what Donald Trump said during his campaigns may start to think they were sold a false bill of goods.

The above are possible contradictions that Donald Trump may exhibit to his supporters in the future, but that have not actually happened yet. Actual contradictions have now come about in other things Donald Trump has said or done..

Healthcare
Two days ago, Donald Trump said, "Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated."

It does not take much to know that, for more than 25 years, healthcare has been extremely complicated for the United States, and either Donald Trump is alarmingly ignorant about healthcare, or else he has been lying for months to the American people about healthcare.

Whichever it is, it was expedient for Donald Trump in his campaign to pound that Obamacare was a total disaster and that repeal and replacement was simple to achieve and would provide better and cheaper healthcare with the same amount of coverage for Americans as Obamacare.

Doubt is currently spreading around the country about whether Donald Trump will be able to achieve what he said regarding healthcare.

While millions in the country are getting very anxious about what is going to happen with their healthcare, Donald Trump seems unfazed that either he is alarmingly ignorant about healthcare or has lied to the American people for months about healthcare.

If Donald Trump is unfazed, it prompts question of what is the explanation for Donald Trump being unfazed that he may not be able to fulfill his promise about healthcare and that many American people have been misled by him.

One possibility is that he is unfazed because ultimately all that matters to Donald Trump is that he won the Presidency and he wants to keep being President, and whatever lies and contradictions from time to time are expedient for those purposes will be perpetrated, without any qualm on Donald Trump's part, so long as the lies and contradictions can be managed. Such can explain how Donald Trump is unfazed that he stands exposed as either appallingly ignorant about healthcare or as having lied to the American people for months. The American people may be very unhappy about what they are learning about healthcare and what Donald Trump told them about healthcare, but Donald Trump is safely ensconced in the Presidency and will have no problem managing the lies and contradictions he purveyed in gaining the Presidency and keeping it.

Draining the swamp; Hillary Clinton
Donald Trump made a lot of hay in his campaigns that there was a swamp and he would "drain the swamp." This was highly expedient for him in his campaign.

Now that Donald Trump is President, he may no longer care whether the swamp gets drained, and his only concern is whether he will stay President regardless of what happens with "draining the swamp" and regardless of whether his supporters conclude they were sold a false bill of goods by what Donald Trump told them during his campaign.

In his address to Congress, he said:

We have begun to drain the swamp of government corruption by imposing a 5 year ban on lobbying by executive branch officials --- and a lifetime ban on becoming lobbyists for a foreign government.

That is something for his supporters, but whether it will have any meaningful effect is far from certain.

Donald Trump's real thoughts are impossible to know. Donald Trump may think it is impossible to drain the swamp. Another possibility is that Donald Trump may consider the swamp useful to be more safely ensconced as President.

The hay Donald Trump made with "lock her up" may, however, be concretely revealing of the expediency for Donald Trump of using lies and contradiction for pursuing, and then being able to maintain, his Presidency.

The voters heard for more a year and a half about the rigged and corrupt political system, and candidate's Trump charges that Secretary Clinton was one of the most corrupt politicians in American political history, growing out of conflicts of interest and blurred lines between her State Department business and the Clintons' personal financial, charitable and political activities, which may have risen to criminality.

There is clearly a public interest that the voters obtain more information about exactly what is rigged and corrupt, and what should be done to fix the same. If Secretary Clinton is one of the most corrupt politicians in American political history, it is important for the American people to get to the bottom of exactly what Secretary Clinton's wrongdoing was in order to address what is wrong with the rigged and corrupt political system.

While Donald Trump's charges during the campaign made a lot of hay for him in his campaign, there is a problem for Donald Trump following up on them now that he is President.

Namely Donald Trump and his family and the Trump organization present conflicts of interest, in fact. Donald Trump is adamant that he is not going to give up his business interests, and it is increasingly clear that he wants the wealth and power of the Trump organization to grow while he is President, and, if that is exploitation of his being President for his and his family's benefit, so be it.

This being the case Donald Trump has an expedient interest there not be further investigation of Hillary Clinton

If there is further investigation about the Clintons' corruption, conflicts of interests and blurring of lines between their official governmental roles and the Clintons' personal financial, charitable and political interests, that can easily spill over to questions being raised about Donald Trump's conflicts of interest in fact and the blurring of lines between his Presidency and his business empire. The same goes for questions about "pay to play" going on with Donald Trump, and even digging into the past of whether Donald Trump did his own "pay to play" with Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi or other past participation in "pay to play" by Donald Trump.

Trump supporters and others can draw their own conclusions about just how expedient Donald Trump is with his lies and contradictions, including making hay while campaigning with "lock her up" and, now that he is President, saying, "aw, not important anymore" and putting out a Hillary Clinton like lie to the effect of his being generous to help Hillary Clinton heal, whereas the real reason is he doesn't want his own conflicts of interest being the subject of more questions.

Sacrifice
Donald Trump lauds the sacrifices of others, particularly those  made by policemen and those in the military. His address last night included these two statements:

Police and sheriffs are members of our community. They are friends and neighbors, they are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters — and they leave behind loved ones every day who worry whether or not they'll come home safe and sound.

And

We are blessed to be joined tonight by Carryn Owens, the widow of a U.S. Navy Special Operator, Senior Chief William "Ryan" Owens. Ryan died as he lived: a warrior, and a hero — battling against terrorism and securing our Nation.

To laud sacrifices of others raises the question of how much sacrifice Donald Trump and his family are willing to make for the American people.

As stated above, it is becoming increasingly clear Donald Trump wants the wealth and power of the Trump organization to grow while he is President, and is not bothered that some or all of the wealth will be attributable to increased business because he is President. Also, he is ostensibly indifferent that there will be problems in the country's governance attributable to how Donald Trump and his family deal with their business interests.

The main point here is Donald Trump and his family could have made a sacrifice for the American people, but they have chosen not to.( For two suggestions about how Donald Trump and his family could have made a sacrifice, see A Trump speech -- Not.)

Trump supporters and others can consider the sacrifice that U.S. Navy Special Operator, Senior Chief William "Ryan" Owens made, compare that to Donald Trump's unwillingness to make any sacrifice for the American people related to the Trump organization, and reach conclusions about the extent to which the number one priority for Donald Trump was becoming President and now is staying President, and increasing his own wealth.