President doesn't show thought, discretion

When Trump finds out he has something at his disposal, he cannot wait to play with it.

Take executive orders. He has issued 102 since he started, almost one per week. Some of his most controversial have involved Muslim immigration bans, family separation at the Mexican border, and creating a Commission on Election Integrity to find widespread voter fraud (it was dissolved after seven months).

Trump also controls tariffs, and he's done a lousy job with those. My nephew is a farmer and seed salesman in Wisconsin. The tariff-created China trade war caused the price for soybeans to plummet. There was government aid for soybean farmers, but only at 85 percent of the price they expected before the China trade war. If the price reduction caused by Trump's tariffs continues through this year, many of the farmers in his area will not make it. Losing 15 percent of sales for a thin-margin industry is a recipe for disaster.

Trump controls foreign relations in a way never experienced before. He's a bull in a diplomatic china shop. He threatens NATO countries, our best allies, and makes excuses for dictators and despots. I expect him to lead us into a war in Venezuela. I think he's found out that wartime presidents have a good chance at re-election.

These three executive brach controls, executive orders, tariffs and foreign relations, should all contain thought and discretion. Unfortunately, this president has neither of those qualities.

Dave Volkman

Naperville