Donald Trump is driving everyone in Washington nuts with his mad presidential style.
Republicans in Congress are getting jumpy.
The powerless Democrats are so desperate they actually think Senator Elizabeth Warren is the future of their party.
The mainstream liberal media are overacting to Trump’s dumb daily morning tweets like they are official edicts coming from the ghost of Joe Stalin.
The media are so hysterical they see Trump’s comments about “so-called” judges or his complaints about a biased judiciary as signs that he is a despotic imperial president intent on blowing up the federal government’s balance of powers.
Meanwhile, Time magazine has Trump’s evil rightwing guru Steven Bannon on the cover looking like Darth Vader.
And David Frum’s cover story in the Atlantic about President Trump -- 20 minutes into his presidency -- is headlined “How to Build an Autocracy.”
Let’s all relax.
Let’s all take a deep breath.
Let’s all get a grip.
Rome wasn’t made in a day and America is not going to be saved or destroyed by President Trump in a month.
The most important relaxing needs to start at the top with President Trump.
He’s been acting like he has four days left in office, not four years.
He’s been issuing executive orders and making ten announcements a day about trade, terrorism, immigration, oil pipelines, the border wall, relations with Russian, Israel, Mexico and who knows what.
For your own good, Mr. Trump, you have to slow down the pace of making America great again to a gentle sprint.
I don’t agree with everything you are doing, Mr. President, but you need some friendly advice.
First, you need to stop trying to do so many things so quickly.
You need to give the public and everyone else time to absorb and understand what you are doing, so you’ll have more people on your side.
You wouldn’t be having a problem with the so-called Muslim ban if you not done the rollout so quickly.
Second, you need to know that Washington is like a $4 trillion aircraft carrier. It can’t be stopped, turned around or sunk quickly or easily ---- and maybe not at all.
Third, you knew from the start that the mainstream media were not going to be on your team.
Now, one of your most important jobs is to not give the media any free ammo to fire back at you or your administration.
So, President Trump, that means stop talking about illegal voters.
Stop picking fights with federal judges ---- especially three hours after you file an appeal with them.
Stop talking about whether the murder rate is up or down unless you actually know what you’re talking about.
And if you are going to refer to certain networks as purveyors of “fake news,” even when they are exactly that, don’t be surprised if they fact-check everything you say and start referring to you as “The fake president.”
The danger in the long run is that you’re spending all your political capital in the first month.
Your base is secure ---- and happy with whatever you say or do. But you’re trying to do stuff so fast you’re missing the most important thing ---- communicating with the rest of the country about what your doing and why.
So choose your words and tweets wisely, Mr. President. Cool it and start acting like the president of the United States. You were elected by all 50 states and their people.
I know it’s not your style, and I know you got to be president in part because you shoot your mouth off so well.
But you need to take some advice from my mother, Jane Wyman, who told me many a time, “If you have nothing good to say, keep your mouth shut.”
Meanwhile, Mr. President, you’ve been working too hard. It’s time you took a mini-vacation or at least took a weekend off.
Maybe you could call up Mr. Obama and join him for a round of golf or have him show you how to kite surf.
I can guarantee no one working in Washington’s swamped news media would complain that you were dodging your duties.
Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan. Visit his websites at www.reagan.com and www.michaelereagan.com. Send comments to Reagan@caglecartoons.com. Follow @reaganworld on Twitter.