President Trump is acting more like Goethe’s “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” than as president of the United States.
For nearly a month, Trump has operated at what must be the political speed of light, signing dozens of executive orders to alter the government and holding almost daily press conferences. Trump has taken an unprecedented amount of air time to relate with the public.
He ran the deck with his nominees for cabinet and sub-cabinet positions. He set Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency loose, first on the U.S. Agency for International Development and then on the Education Department. No doubt the Pentagon is next.
The aim of DOGE is to make massive cuts in spending while transforming the efficiency of government to close and reduce the $36 trillion in debt and this year’s $2 trillion budget deficit with spending of $7 trillion and revenues of $2 trillion.
In terms of foreign policy, Trump has turned conventional thinking on its head several times over. He has proposed that Gaza can be turned into a Paris or Miami of the eastern Mediterranean. All that needs to be done is to transpose some 2 million Palestinians to undetermined locations where glorious housing and other facilities will magically appear. Who will pay for all the demolition and destruction of ordnance is unknown, as are the costs and time it will take to turn rubble into roses.
Clearly, Egypt, Jordan and the rest of the Arab world are not convinced of the efficacy of this vision. And how many Palestinians are willing to leave Gaza and will resist forcible ejection?
Trump rightly wants to end the war in Ukraine and stop the killing. These are noble efforts. The question is how is this to be done, as the issues for producing a truce or peace treaty are formidable. Russia started the war and now occupies all of Crimea and about 20 percent of eastern Ukraine in the Donbas and Donetsk.
The cost to repair and rebuild a country devastated by war could approach hundreds of billions of dollars or more. Who will pay for it? And what guarantees will Ukraine have to prevent future Russian aggression? Since Trump has rejected NATO membership for Ukraine and proposed that Europe guarantee its security, is that remotely viable?
Internationally, Trump is imposing reciprocal tariffs to balance trade and reduce the huge U.S. deficits in the current account that measures the outflow and inflow of goods and services. This ignores the capital account that measures foreign investment. Here, the U.S. has a huge surplus that is financing the debt.
But tariffs will increase inflation for the short and probably long term. That flies in the face of Trump’s promise to reduce prices dramatically. And does anyone recall the infamous 1930 Smoot-Hawley Act that raised tariffs, leading to a trade war and substantial contributing to economic collapse and the Great Depression?
The sorcerer is clearly at work. But where is the strategy and plan to integrate and coordinate these efforts? Has the White House at least thought about the consequences, both likely and unintended, of this panoply of actions?
The record of past attempts to reform government has a common outcome. At best changes at the margin were achieved. Why?
The fundamental cause of inefficiency and building debt is a combination of Congress, government disorganization and the massive burden of federal and defense regulations.
In 30 years, Congress has only once passed a budget and funded the government through regular order. That means authorization for spending and appropriations are never in balance, leading to deficits and debt. Is DOGE going there?
Further, the government has no chief operating officer. It needs one. And as long the acquisition regulations are not codified and streamlined, it is clear what that means.
DOGE may be uncovering what may be many millions of dollars in spending that make no or little sense. Yet while seemingly massive amounts of money, remember that a trillion is a million millions.
One hopes and wishes the sorcerer will succeed. Yet without a strategy and plan and attacking the sources of inefficiency and too much spending, DOGE will go the way of past commissions and reforms.
Donald, are you listening?
Harlan Ullman Ph.D. is United Press International’s Arnaud deBorchgrave Distinguished Columnist, senior advisor at Washington D.C.’s Atlantic Council, chairman of two private companies and principal author of the shock and awe military doctrine. His next book, due in 2025, is “The Great Paradox: Strategic Thinking in an Unstrategic World.”
