10/15/2017 Promise the Moon? Easy for Trump. But Now Comes the Reckoning.

t Now Comes the Reckoning. - The New York Times

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POLITICS | NEWS ANALYSIS

Promise the Moon? Easy for Trump. But

Now Comes the Reckoning.
By PETER BAKER OCT. 14, 2017
WASHINGTON President Trump leaves little doubt about what he thinks of his
predecessors top domestic and international legacies. The health care program
enacted by President Barack Obama is outrageous and absolutely destroying
everything in its wake. The nuclear deal with Iran is one of the worst and most
one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.

Yet as much as he has set his sights on them, Mr. Trump after nearly nine
months in office has not actually gotten rid of either. Instead, in the past few days, he
took partial steps to undercut both initiatives and then left it to Congress to figure
out what to do next. Whether either will ultimately survive in some form has become
a central suspense of Mr. Trumps first year in office.

In the case of health care, Mr. Trump is making a virtue of necessity. Having
failed to push through legislation replacing the Affordable Care Act, he is taking
more limited measures on his own authority aimed at chipping away at the law. On
the other hand, when it comes to the Iran deal, he has the authority to walk away
without anyone elses consent but has been talked out of going that far by his
national security team. Instead, by refusing to recertify the deal, he rhetorically
disavows the pact without directly pulling out.

These are not the only instances in which Mr. Trumps expansive language has
not been matched by his actions during this opening phase of his presidency. On
immigration, diplomatic relations with Cuba and international accords like the

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10/15/2017 Promise the Moon? Easy for Trump. But Now Comes the Reckoning. - The New York Times

North American Free Trade Agreement and a separate trade pact with South Korea,
he has denounced decisions made by Mr. Obama or other previous presidents
without fully reversing them.

Presidential campaigns are won with big, simple, directional promises that
rarely align well with the complexity confronted in the Oval Office, said Michael O.
Leavitt, a Republican former governor of Utah and secretary of health and human
services who advised Mr. Trumps transition team. So presidents do the best they
can to stretch the fabric of incomplete outcomes to cover as much bare backside as
possible and move on.

Mr. Trumps advisers characterize that as the more pragmatic side of a businessman
who takes maximalist positions in part to set the stage for negotiations but does not
necessarily intend to go as far as he might give the impression. His critics said that
the partial steps were still destructive, and that the president was effectively leaving
initiatives like health care and the Iran deal wounded on the battlefield without
allowing ambulances onto the scene.

A question for the president is whether partial actions will satisfy supporters
demanding a full repudiation of the Obama era. Mr. Trump promised to deal with
such issues in some cases within his first days in office but has found that
Washington resists quick action. Frustrated by Congress, he is increasingly turning
to executive power and can point to the moves he has made as signs of his
commitment to fulfilling his promises.

The gap between President Trumps ambitious promises and actual policies is
large and growing, said William C. Inboden, a White House aide under President
George W. Bush and now executive director of the William P. Clements Jr. Center on
History, Strategy and Statecraft at the University of Texas. This is weakening the
institution of the presidency itself, which becomes diminished when presidents over
promise and under deliver, or when responsibilities normally handled by the
president become habitually shirked to Congress or other nations.

A cautionary tale is Mr. Obama himself, who made lofty and ambitious heal-the-
planet, close-Guantnamo promises only to fall short in some instances, to the
disappointment of his liberal supporters. The difference is that Mr. Trump often

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10/15/2017 Promise the Moon? Easy for Trump. But Now Comes the Reckoning. - The New York Times

gives the impression with his public comments that he has gone further than he
actually has.

Its classic Trump: bluff and bombast substituting for actual deeds, said Jacob
Heilbrunn, editor of The National Interest, a foreign policy magazine. Hes the
political equivalent of the Washington Nationals a choke artist at critical
moments.

Mr. Trump pronounced himself happy with the approach he is taking on health
care, which has been the most consuming domestic issue of his presidency so far.
Were going a little different route, he told an audience of religious conservatives
on Friday. But you know what? In the end, its going to be just as effective, and
maybe itll even be better.

Later in the day, he acknowledged that his new strategy on Iran would not
actually scrap the nuclear deal but would allow Congress to come up with an
alternative. Asked why he did not simply terminate the agreement, he said: I may
very well do that. But I like a two-step process much better.

Democrats said Mr. Trumps actions were meant to sabotage the health care
program and undermine the Iran deal even without full repeal. By cutting subsidies
to insurance companies, its clear the president is trying to sabotage the health care
market and send costs soaring, said Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
Senator Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland denounced what he called the presidents
reckless, political decision and his subsequent threat to Congress on the Iran
agreement.

Mr. Trump has taken partial steps on other campaign promises as well. He
signed an order scrapping his predecessors program granting legal status to as many
as 800,000 younger immigrants who were brought to the country illegally as
children, but delayed the final effect for six months to give Congress a chance to
restore it on a more solid legal foundation. Even then, he suggested that he would
find another way to preserve the program if Congress did not meet his deadline.

He has boasted that he was reversing Mr. Obamas diplomatic opening to Cuba.
But while he has pulled out many diplomats and restored some restrictions on

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10/15/2017 Promise the Moon? Easy for Trump. But Now Comes the Reckoning. - The New York Times

contacts with the island, he has not cut off relations again, closed the embassy or
shut down travel and other interactions. He has talked about throwing out Nafta, but
has actually left it intact and has taken the route of negotiating to see if it can be
retained with improved provisions.

I am not surprised because Donald Trump is not an ideologue, hes a realist

and a pragmatist, said Christopher Ruddy, chief executive of Newsmax Media and a
friend of the presidents. During the campaign, he staked out some very strong
positions maybe as a negotiating start point, or in other cases they were based on the
facts he had at the time.

Trump is actually very open to feedback and criticism on his ideas, Mr. Ruddy
said. Based on that he can easily adjust and change course.

Clifford Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, a consulting firm, said the
president seemed to be trying to translate business negotiations to the political
world. Trumps clearly got a theory of deal-making demand the world, take the
most you can, and then brag about it, he said. Its actually a pretty good tack thats
often underestimated. But the bottom line, so far in his presidency, is that hes been
unable to deliver on overstated goals.

In the end, he may wind up taking the more sweeping actions he may yet pull
the United States out of Nafta or the Iran deal. He may yet let the program for
younger immigrants expire early next year. He has repeatedly talked about letting
Obamacare fail, which his latest steps may accelerate.

There is now a new and scary spring in his step, Mr. Kupchan said. He could
be entering a new phase involving fuller takedowns of agreements and institutions.
The Iran deal and Nafta are bellwether cases. Whats really interesting is that he
fired his chief revolutionary, Steve Bannon, but seems on the verge of taking on that
role himself.

Follow Peter Baker on Twitter @peterbakernyt.

A version of this news analysis appears in print on October 15, 2017, on Page A1 of the New York edition
with the headline: Trump Wields Words Louder Than Actions.

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10/15/2017 Promise the Moon? Easy for Trump. But Now Comes the Reckoning. - The New York Times

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