Yesterday Donald J Trump announced to the world a blatantly populist agenda that made little sense, though one could not mistake his basic message about putting America first.

I guess you can see the oversimplified idea, and there’s nothing wrong with simplicity.  The guy as they say is ‘off the wall’.  He shoots from the hip, I get the uncomfortable feeling that even when he does have time to prepare he doesn’t bother.  After all, the inaugural address of the President of the United States is a pretty big deal and yet Trump’s speech sounded like casual rhetoric with little or no effort to sound statesmanlike or even very thoughtful.

If that’s the measure of the man – the deal maker! – a man who lives in permanent ‘speak now think later land’, then the future will certainly have its surprises.   Some I’m sure will offend the liberal elite, but some will also be refreshing and new.

It’s the ‘new’ ideas that should excite us.  If Trump has a team of advisors who can rein in his off the cuff mentality, and support the positive ‘new’ ideas and initiatives then Trump’s years in office could well generate positive change and changes in international relations that can be seen to be open and move the world on.

Equally some of the extremer rhetoric and a sudden dash toward confrontation with Iran, and an inappropriate intervention on the Israeli/Palestinian issue and the world could go backward very quickly indeed.

‘Off the wall’ wouldn’t be many people’s idea of the core attributes of the President of the USA but that’s what we’ve got. Let’s hope that the great institutions of the American State can safeguard President Trump from his wilder ideas while at the same time accommodate the new and the exciting ideas that the deal maker may come up with.