In an interview with a German newspaper, Tucker Carlson undoubtedly caused a lot of Trump supporters to flinch when he spoke frankly about what he sees as the president’s shortcomings.  Right out of the starting gate, he stated that he intensely dislikes Trump’s self-aggrandizement and boasting.

Tucker is not alone on this one.  Those of us who support Trump’s proposed agenda (repeat, proposed) feel pretty much the same way.  It’s very sad that President Trump has such an insatiable need to bluster about his achievements — even when the facts don’t back up his words — because it’s probably cost him a record approval rating.

One of the most basic rules of good human relations is to be aware that people hate arrogance and love humility.  Puffery is a self-destructive trait, and one that is totally unnecessary for someone of Donald Trump’s stature.

Tucker went on to say that he doesn’t believe Trump is “capable of sustained focus” and that “I don’t think he understands the system.”  Perhaps, but if he understood the swamp system too well, he probably would not be as good as he is at thinking outside the box.

When asked whether President Trump has kept his promises, Tucker answered unequivocally, “No.”  Which probably is not totally fair, because Trump has, in fact, kept many of his promises.  But Tucker is right when he points to the three biggest promises of his campaign as being unfulfilled:

1. Build the wall.
2. Defund Planned Parenthood.
3. Repeal Obamacare.

I would cut Trump some slack on the failure to repeal Obamacare, because he did put a lot of effort into it.  Unfortunately, the childishly vindictive John McCain was still around then, and he took sadistic pleasure in killing the repeal bill.  With liberals Murkowski and Collins always standing guard to protect just about any Democratic legislation, Trump missed getting the job done by one vote.

Defunding Planned Parenthood, unfortunately, turned out to be a low priority on Trump’s list, so it never got any real attention.  Too bad, because he could have been a hero to tens of millions of voting Americans who do not appreciate being forced to subsidize a company that exterminates babies.

But the wall, of course, is Trump’s signature promise, and what’s so frustrating about it is that it could have been built by now had he been willing to stick his political neck out.  I like tough talk, but only when it’s backed up by action.  Trump is a tough talker, and he often does take action, but there have been far too many times where he has not backed up his words with action.

As I said in my September 26 article, when it comes to dealing with the Dirty Dems, negotiation is capitulation.  The admirable thing about the Democrats is that when they have the power, they don’t negotiate.  In fact, they are so committed to their causes that they usually don’t negotiate even when they don’t have the power to call the shots.

Republicans are just the opposite.  They are the fair-minded party of Rubio, Romney, Flake, Corker, Sasse, Gowdy … ad nauseum … always anxious to have a friendly chat with Democrats on any issue.  Please understand that they don’t do it because they’re bad people.  They do it because they’re naive.

Boy Scout Republicans live in a dream world wherein they seriously believe that their fair-mindedness will be rewarded with reasonableness from their Democratic “colleagues.”  Of course, it never happens — and it never will.  Nevertheless, they continue to persist in such naïve, time-wasting behavior.

The main focus of my article “Negotiation Is Capitulation” was on how the Dirty Dems rewarded the Republicans’ willingness to negotiate and debate in the Kavanaugh hearings with never-ending, vile attacks on Brett Kavanaugh.  It only ended when Chuck Grassley and Mitch McConnell finally showed some backbone and said “Enough!” — then finally forced a vote.  And, of course, the Dirty Dems continued to scream bloody murder that a mere six FBI investigations were not enough.

This is why in my article “Combatting the Swamp Injustice System” I made it clear that Trump “should give the Dirty Dems the middle finger and immediately nominate Matthew Whitaker as the permanent attorney general.  No debate; just do it.”  Sadly, it didn’t happen.  Instead, Trump ran away from Whitaker and chose William Barr for the AG post.

My fingers are crossed on Barr, but the fact that he was George H.W. Bush’s attorney general makes me uneasy, to say the least.  Whitaker seemed like a better bet to get to the bottom of the Russia-collusion hoax and pursue Dirty Dem criminals ranging from Horrible Hillary to Barack Obama to the upper echelons of the DOJ and FBI.  We shall soon see if he is serious about pursuing equal justice under the law.

Having said all this, while I admit I have long believed Trump would easily win reelection in 2020, I am now starting to wonder about that.  If he does not build the wall — not a $5 billion portion of the wall, but the whole wall — there’s a good chance the Dirty Dems will take the White House in 2020 and, for all practical purposes, the final fundamental transformation of America will be assured.

The truth be known, Democrats did not stop Trump; he stopped himself.  He could have brought the Dirty Dems to their knees by shutting down the government a long time ago.  He also could have taken money for the wall from the military budget.  Or come up with an endless number of other creative ways to get the wall built.  (Including forcing Mexico to pay for it by simply threatening to cut off all trade with them.)

Let’s be clear:  Trump is a far more effective president than any of the other Republican candidates would have been, but Tucker is right when he says that he doesn’t seem to be capable of sustained focus.  He needs to zero in on an issue and see it through to completion.  From this point on, it has to be an intense focus on the endgame of every important agenda item and a relentless determination to move in for the kill as quickly as possible.

With all the phony legal issues dogging him (none of which are likely to bear any fruit), Donald Trump, as great a dealmaker as he may be, needs to be even greater.  By being candid about his shortcomings, Tucker proved to be a better friend to him than Hannity.  Instead of cheerleading, he’s trying to help him.  Hopefully, Trump will take Tucker’s  words in the spirit in which they were intended.