Somewhere in between the assertion that Donald Trump has done nothing in his first year, and the President’s own claim that he has done everything, so many more things than ever before, believe me, is a record of action and inaction that will take years to fully understand. According to an ABC News/Washington Post poll released on November 5, 65% of Americans think that the President has done “not much” or “little to nothing” since taking office, up nine points from the poll done after Trump’s first 100 days. This is why Trump, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan need to pass the current tax bill very badly.

Yet — before we turn to taxes — it is worth pointing out that, in addition to trying to pack the judiciary with conservatives, certain ways of doing nothing matter. That almost a third of ambassadorships and 300 top State department positions have gone unfilled, on top of the 2,000 jobs cut by Rex Tillerson, are an actual plan, a method consigning the parts of government you don’t care for to a lingering, painful death.

For the rest of this essay, go to Public Seminar.