These are my observations and opinions on the results of electing a business man to be president of the United States.

After enduring eight years of experiencing the on-the-job-training of Barack Obama, a community organizer, who promised to fundamentally transform the United States, I was excited about the prospects of a business man in the White House.

I must confess that I was initially dubious of Donald Trump’s chances of winning.  Witnessing his campaign style, it was obvious that he had gained traction with the average voter.  He was tireless.  I still recall his 1 a.m. Election Day rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and his … yes … surprising, but the exhilaration I felt with his victory.

With my near 40 years in business, and my close observance of the political scene, I saw Trump’s win as a win for America.  Making America great again was what we were all looking for.  The voters obviously saw something in him, too; putting aside the distasteful events in his past.

Although he was vilified from the day he was inaugurated by Democrats and the leftist media, he went to work, putting in 15 to 17-hour days.  He successfully engineered tax reform and began cutting costly regulations and a long list of his promises-kept mounting.  Importantly, he restored our military.

He continued tackling the business of the country while Obama holdovers formed a Deep State that initiated Investigation after investigation, leading to their last gasp failure in the Senate impeachment trial.

THE VIRUS OUTBREAK was still another test. You knew he would be criticized, whatever he did.  He inherited a bureaucracy ill-equipped to handle a pandemic, with antiquated systems and low stockpiles.

The chronology of events beginning in China show that the president, when provided with data and advice from the CDC, while World Health Organization information was less than candid, acted prudently.  His ban on travel from China is said to have saved tens of thousands of lives.

The usual group of Trump antagonists – Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and even Apology Joe Biden – were provided time on MSNBC and CNN and in the pages of the Washington Post and New York Times to build a case that the president wasn’t responsive to the threat of the virus.  After it appeared that he would easily win reelection, this was another opportunity for them to continue their attack.

Although he was criticized for his views on science, he rapidly formed a group of scientists, health and medical experts and named the vice president to lead a virus task force.  In a rare display of White House transparency, the president and this group of professionals meet and brief the public daily.  But this, too, has caused the media dismay because they are witnessing the president’s approval rising. Some have called for the televised briefings to cease.

SOLICITING OUTSIDE ADVICE – As the virus task force meets, President Trump has also called in health and medical experts, small and large business representatives and political leaders, including governors, religious leaders and law enforcement personnel, to update them, but more importantly, to seek their advice and assistance.

His instincts and associations developed over his years in the private sector, where things tend to happen faster, have shown through as some 50 American firms, a virtual who’s who in business, have joined his war on the virus.  Many have shifted production lines to produce medical needs.  One company, Medtronic, even gave up its ventilator patent so others could produce them to meet the need.

Shrewdly, the president plays to the CEOs of those companies, who like the fact that their contributions are being recognized, not only by the president and his task force, but the general public.

During a recent briefing, the president said, “Joining us this afternoon are CEOs of the great American companies that are fulfilling their patriotic duty by producing or donating medical equipment to help meet our most urgent needs.  What they’re doing is incredible … these are great companies.”  Excellent public relations.

Several of the CEOs were given an opportunity to make brief comments.  I was particularly struck by the remark made by United Technologies’ Gregory Hayes, who said, addressing the president, that UTC is pleased to be able to help in this endeavor, and that they didn’t need the Defense Production Act to force us to do so.

CUTTING RED TAPE – I’ve also seen the president’s business acumen surface when he talked about cutting red tape for this procurement, this test, or that treatment.  The FDA under Trump has never moved so fast.  “We’ve always done it this way” doesn’t fly in Trump’s world.

The rule that truck drivers were not permitted to spend more than 11 hours behind the wheel in a 14-hour workday was suspended and truck stops closed in some states were reopened to facilitate movement of goods across the nation.

Task force member Dr. Anthony Fauci early on stated that “We’re going to be able to remove constraints so that people at the state and local level – the individual physician all the way up through the federal government, to do everything they possibly can.

The president ordered that all purchases of equipment and supplies be shipped directly to the hospitals and medical facilities rather than to Washington to cut valuable time in getting the products where they are needed.

Unbelievable, he was criticized for telling governors to obtain what they need through their own supply chains if it will result in getting what they need more expeditiously.  It just made common sense.

For those of you interested in details, you can find an exhaustive list of 74 actions taken by Trump to fight the virus and bolster the economy developed by Paul Bedard in the Washington Examiner, by CLICKING HERE.

A CAUTIOUS TRUMP obviously listens to his team of experts.  Although he was hopeful that things would turnaround by Easter, they advised him that it would be premature to stop adhering to his guidelines, and suggested that they continue to be recommended through the month of April.  Though his Easter date was aspirational, the media was critical that he backed off that deadline.

“Never in my time of watching these press encounters with the president has there been such a blatant attempt to provoke the president to immoderate responses, or a more sustained effort to misrepresent what he says and does,” Conrad Black recently opined in National Review.

“The fact that it is finally blowing up in their faces must aggravate the frustration and rage of the anti-Trump media beyond imagination,” Black notes. “They are grossly demeaning the status of the press, which is dangerous for any democracy; none of their “bullets” now wounds the target.”

MEANWHILE – “Recent polls show trust in the media entirely under water. And still can’t see the extent to which they have abused and lost the trust of the American people,” writes David Marcus in The Federalist.

May God continue to bless the United States of America.