Nobody can say they were not warned. Donald Trump promised a Muslim visa ban, to put “America first” on trade and nominate conservatives to the Supreme Court. That is what he is doing. He also said he would “wipe out Isis” and build a wall on the Mexico border. Expect announcements on those in the near future. Ditto for big tax cuts and sweeping deregulation. What you see is what you get.
Though he may never have read one, Mr Trump has always been an open book. If you want to prepare for the next four years, you should internalise the Trump manual.
The master key is Mr Trump’s management philosophy. Now in his eighth decade, Mr Trump is not about to change how he does business. His first rule is never admit to a mistake. Mr Trump will dig his heels in rather than apologise. Even casual errors will accidentally become formal policy. It is unclear, for example, whether Mr Trump deliberately avoided mentioning Jews in his statement on Holocaust Memorial day. Yet he is now committed to not mentioning them.