Donald Trump Declared an American 'Golden Age.' How Can He Make It Happen?

Donald Trump's first Inaugural Address described "American carnage." His second, Washington Free Beacon founding editor Matthew Continetti notes, announced an American "golden age." But prosperity doesn't stem from rhetoric. So what does Trump need to do to make America great again?

The critical policy points are energy, regulation, and technology—and Trump's early executive orders "suggest that he grasps the formula for success," Continetti writes.

First, Trump rescinded dozens of Biden-era EOs that "blocked U.S. energy development and production, saddled business with unnecessary mandates, and threatened deployment of AI, the world's most advanced technology." Then he turned to energy, issuing edicts that declared a national energy emergency, opened Alaska to oil and gas development, and withdrew from the Paris climate accords.

Add in Trump's federal hiring and regulatory freezes—plus his order to increase the U.S. housing supply—and the 45th-turned-47th president has made significant progress in his bid to "unleash energy, invigorate animal spirits, lower costs and boost incomes, watch entrepreneurs and builders thrive, and use the accumulated economic, technological, and military power to restore deterrence and gain leverage over Russia and China," Continetti writes. But hurdles remain.

"Policy has two parts: idea and execution. Trump's instincts on energy, regulation, and innovation are correct. The challenge is overcoming internal obstacles to reform. Yes, Trump is better staffed this time around. But he should be careful that tariffs, industrial policy, antitrust, and pandering to union bosses don’t thwart his stated goal."

"This round of Trump orders points in the right direction. But executive orders are temporary. If you want the golden age to last, you need lasting law. The pen is mighty. But legislation endures."

Read Continetti's full column here.

Hundreds of CNN staffers lost their jobs Thursday as the left-wing network moved to cut costs and restore what's left of its credibility. While #Resistance hero Jim Acosta was spared from this round of layoffs, he may be out of a job soon.

"The notoriously obnoxious liberal host best known for making a scene at press conferences during the first Trump administration," our Andrew Stiles writes, "is reportedly threatening to quit after CNN asked him to accept a humiliating demotion by moving his weekday show, CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, from 10 a.m. to the 'graveyard shift' between midnight at 2 a.m."

CNN execs offered to move Acosta to Los Angeles, pitching him the idea "by noting that midnight on the East Coast is primetime (9 p.m.) on the West Coast and suggesting that CNN is more than just 'an Acela corridor network.'" It's not, of course, and Acosta knows that. He signed off from his show on Wednesday saying, "Still reporting from Washington, I'm Jim Acosta." Subtle.

If Acosta departs the network that once declared itself the "most trusted name in news," his options are probably limited. "What's he going to do, exactly?" Stiles asks. "Start a podcast? Become a humor columnist for Jennifer Rubin's new 'democracy' website, the Contrarian? MSNBC is being spun off into a separate entity later this year and is doing a major restructuring of its own. They probably won't have the money to pay Acosta what he thinks he deserves, but they might let him fill in for Rachel Maddow every now and then." The future is bright!

At Columbia, university administrators are signaling that they're terrified of incurring the GOP’s wrath if they don't respond appropriately to anti-Semitic agitation and intimidation on campus. 

For starters, Columbia quietly retained the services of Dan Murphy, a Trump transition alumnus who served as chief of staff to former HUD secretary Mel Martinez, to lobby Congress on "issues related to higher education and appropriation." Then, on Thursday, the school announced that it had suspended one of the pro-Hamas students who stormed an Israeli history class two days ago and targeted Jews with anti-Semitic flyers.

Suspensions aren't necessarily rare at Columbia. The school, our Jessica Costescu and Lexi Boccuzzi note, took similar action with students who participated in illegal anti-Israel protests last spring. It's rare, though, for disciplinary measures to stick. "Of the 40 students arrested or disciplined when the university called police to campus to clear an anti-Israel encampment on April 18," Costescu and Boccuzzi write, "only 2 remained suspended by Aug. 6, according to disciplinary data released by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce."

Whether Thursday’s suspension endures "could provide early insight into how seriously the Ivy League school is taking threats from President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans."

The encampments last spring came at a time when federal oversight was limited to the GOP-led House. With Republicans in control of the House, Senate, and the White House, we’ll see if anything changes.

Away from the Beacon: 

• Andrew Bates, the Biden flack best known for insisting old Joe "maintains a schedule that tires younger aides," has launched his own crisis communications firm, Wolfpack Strategies. His website rollout included a section touting his work for "the President Biden [sic] and the White Houses." We wish him the best of luck!
• A Haitian man arrested in Trump's ICE raids had this to say: "I'm not going back to Haiti. F— Trump, you feel me? Yo, Biden forever, bro!" Border czar Tom Homan's response: "Well, he's wrong, he's going back to Haiti, I can tell you that."

Karla Sofia Gascón, a biological male who acted in Spanish soap operas as Carlos, landed an Oscar nomination for best actress after playing a murderous Mexican cartel boss who fakes his death to undergo gender reassignment surgery. Tens of people will watch the award ceremony to cheer him on.

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