Top of the 2nd for Trump

President Trump has reached the top of the 2nd inning in his second term as we approach Thanksgiving 2025. He crushed it in the 1st inning with a Hall of Fame-level performance.

Herewith: ten 1st-inning scores, ten 2nd-inning assets, and ten 2nd-inning challenges for 47.

1st-Inning Scores

1. DJT hit a home run in his first AB, winning the Presidential Election in landslide fashion. That epochal election pitted the Greatest Political Athlete Ever against a dimwit spokesmodel; Kamala was the worst political athlete to run for president in living memory: Greatest vs. Worst. Trump could’ve beaten an Obama or Slick Willie athlete, but didn’t have to because Dem kingmakers anointed a woman who can’t talk for a high-profile talking job.

2. dCon Tax & Reg Policy: The dramatic dCon moves in the Big Beautiful Bill and the many Executive Orders have already helped Americans and the American economy. Next, January will be a great month for the hundreds of millions of Americans who will automatically get lower withholding on their paychecks and other money-in-pocket benefits. We will also enjoy even lower prices at the pump and in the produce aisle, not to mention witness an explosion in construction, energy, and logistics jobs. This starts in a few short weeks.

3. President of Peace: The Nobel Peace Prize isn’t big enough for the President of Peace, as DJT is called by world leaders from Africa to Asia. He deserves a TRUMP-sized Peace Prize—the Trump Peace Prize. Heck, the man is well on his way to creating World Peace, including in the Middle East, a set of accomplishments heretofore thought impossible.

4. Returned Order & Stability: Job 1 was to turn the border from a vast open wound into a secure barrier against illegal intrusion. Job 2 is to remove violent illegal aliens, and then to remove all illegal aliens, allowing those that self-deport the opportunity to return legally. Job 1 is done and Job 2 is getting done, notwithstanding unhinged and violent opposition.

5. DJT returned panache and fun to the presidency, aided greatly by the GOAT FLOTUS, the magnificent Melania Trump, together ushering in the age of Trumpalot. Aided by Saint Charlie, and now by the august Widow Kirk, they led the MAGA movement on a nine-month celebration of America First. That happy interregnum ended with an assassin’s bullet on September 10. However, life goes on and DJT is irrepressible, so it has strongly resumed.

6. Assembled and fielded an A+ team of Ambassadors, Generals, Secretaries, and Executive Leaders. Vance, Rubio, Hegseth, Bessent, Bondy, Lutnick, Noem, and Kennedy is not a law firm from Central Casting. It's a subset of the hundreds of outstanding civic leaders working on behalf of America First.

7. DOGE powered the necessary restructuring to a rocket-propelled start.

8. Cleaned up DC, Memphis & other benighted cities. We have a clean capital again!

9. Got NATO to pony up a bodacious 5% of their GDP for defense, and to pay America for arms for Ukraine. That means the American taxpayer is no longer funding Ukraine’s war.

10. Tariffs are the greatest thing since sliced bread. Tariffs are money for America & Americans, largely paid for by foreigners. Not a surprise, since tariffs are A Better Tax.

2nd-Inning Setup

Assets

1. The American working economy will kick into an even higher gear on New Year’s Day 2026. This will be immediately felt by working Americans, starting with lower withholding rates on their 2026 paychecks, on top of which come the Big 3 NO TAX deductions. All three are targeted at lower- and middle-income earners, i.e., the heart and soul of MAGA world.

1. No Tax on Tips: Great attitudes rewarded!

2. No Tax on Overtime: Get ready to hustle! The economy will soon go into overdrive.

3. No Tax on Social Security: Less affluent seniors finally catch a break, a big break.

2. Socialism Meets Reality in NYC: The Big Apple will soon become an ugly gusher of object lessons about the banal cruelty of socialism. DJT, the premier insult comedian of our time, will make great hay out of this. Said another way, just as Biden, Kamala, Pelosi, and Schumer exit Stage Left, DJT—always lucky in his opponents—gets a new foil: the callow socialist dog who just caught the biggest car in the country.

3. Maduro is near the end of his rope. The Venezuelan despot will exit in coming months, willingly or unwillingly. One of his generals must covet the $50 million bounty that USAG Pam Bondy placed on El Presidente’s head, especially now that their Coke Boats and cash flow are getting blown out of the water. His successor, the duly elected President of Venezuela, just won the Nobel Peace Prize and dedicated it to President Trump. Thus, Trump will turn out the despot Maduro, even as he gains a major new ally for America.

4. Putin is nearing the end of his rope. His economy a shambles, his remaining oil customers succumbing to DJT’s demands that they stop buying Russian oil, his Ukrainian enemy armed with superior American weapons that NATO bought for them, his meat grinder running low on fresh meat in the form of Russian conscripts, his regional hegemony disappearing before his eyes as DJT brings the Central Asian “stans” into the American orbit, just as he’s done with the Southeast Asian countries—Bad Vlad will shortly succumb to the relentless pressure placed on him by Mr. & Mrs. Donald J. Trump. About the latter, the GOAT FLOTUS negotiated directly with the President of Russia to secure the release of Ukrainian children. Now that he’s shown he has a heart, that vulnerability will be used against him by his own generals, who don't think like Westerners.

5. Tariff revenue is gushing into America. DJT intends to use some of this windfall on $2,000 Trump checks for non-affluent Americans, even as he begins to pay down our massive debt with the rest. Foreign companies and/or their countries’ central banks pay for a good chunk of the tariffs; thus, the massive remainder is literal free money for the coffers of America. This will generate a significant Wealth Effect that will be felt far and wide throughout the working economy, felt by every citizen with a productive stake in America.

6. Professional Democrats are savaging each other, especially in light of their failure to "win" the government shutdown. The Democrat Party has been in death throes since Biden entered the White House, and now all the more. The recent Dem electoral victories in NYC, New Jersey, Virginia, and California are somewhat akin to a losing team managing to score some points after the winning team jumped out to a big lead, and just before they get crushed entirely. Chuck Schumer looks like he's gonna have a heart attack any minute now.

7. The Trump Team is largely in place now that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has cranked up the confirmation process. That allows DJT’s tremendously able Cabinet to execute all the more broadly, expeditiously, and confidently.

8. Energy production has ramped up dramatically and will soon go into overdrive. DJT often emphasizes that the cost of energy underlays everything in an economy. So more nat-gas, oil, coal, and nuclear will further reduce inflationary pressures, even as they give the President and his Secretary of State more leverage over less well-endowed countries.

9. The Department of War is bringing on new troops and new weapon systems at a healthy clip. As to the latter, unmanned aircraft, sea craft, and battlefield drones are massive force multipliers. The US Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Space Force are set to field them in large numbers sooner than our opponents in China, Russia & Iran. Peace Through Strength is getting much stronger as a result, perfect for DJT's Badass Statecraft.

10. Cultural Dominance: Donald Trump, the most famous and popular man in the world, has his own dance, two personal theme songs and a visceral connection with working people throughout America, and increasingly throughout the world. He is fun, he is funny, he is indefatigable, and he drives the culture. This makes the Libs insanely angry, especially because they drove the culture for the past hundred years. No longer, as their deranged response to the Trump Ballroom indicates. It’s Trump’s world now, culture included. They must live in it, notwithstanding their extreme and not infrequently violent frustration.

Challenges

1. Judeo-Christian Enemies on the Left and the Right: The Woke Left has long since connived from within to destroy the Judeo-Christian West, leading to antisemitism, anti-Christianity, anti-family, anti-biology, and other anti-reality impulses. Now, the Woke Right of Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and their fellow travelers have decided that the Judeo-Christian West no longer needs the Judeo part. In their benighted view, Christians can take it from here. Jews? They don't want no stinking Jews. Their philosemitic President knows otherwise, to put it mildly. Hence, while DJT probably didn’t have TAKE DOWN TUCKER on his 2026 to-do list, we can be confident that he won’t shirk or fail in his America First duty.

2. Emboldened Dems: They won several elections last week based on fighting back. Now they’re feeling their oats, or were until the Schumer Shutdown failed. Politics aside, the most important metropolis in America just elected an Islamo-socialist true-believer as mayor. He will do a lot of cCon damage before the notorious Knickerbockers inevitably turn on him.

3. Putin: He will force his people to pay any price to maintain the war against Ukraine.

4. China: Their Hundred Year Plan to become global hegemon won’t be easily dissuaded.

5. Little Rocketman: “Don’t forget about me,” he must be fuming.

6. Too Late Fed: DJT’s new Fed Chair won’t be in office before May. Till then, the gang that couldn’t shoot straight keeps on calling the monetary shots.

7. Would-be Executives in Black Robes: Judges and justices are falling all over themselves to dictate to the executive how to execute, including the President’s ability to levy tariffs.

8. Assassination Politics: The Left has demonstrated time and again that assassination is part of its political repertoire. They almost assassinated President Trump, twice, and did assassinate Charlie Kirk, just the two most high-profile of many political murders in recent times. Who will they try to snuff next? Will they succeed? What paroxysms will follow?

9. Affordability is a real issue, especially for young Americans. This is largely because Bidenflation was a one-way ratchet of price hikes. For instance, a fiver bought a burger in 2019; now it doesn't. DJT has cut inflation dramatically, but stopping that already expensive $5.80 cheeseburger from going up more doesn’t reduce it 25% to the $4.40 it was in 2019.

10. Something else will arise. It always does, especially when the President’s opponents are deeply deranged, as today’s dysregulated liberals have become and the West's enemies have always been.