Is America an open society closed off from the rest of the world?
In his first two weeks President Trump was intent on taking actions designed to deliver for those who voted him into office... with little regard for those who did not.
From his Inaugural Address to his appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court it is clear that President Trump is not interested in the being the president for all Americans, just those who voted for him.
The Trump Team is only interested in those who are willing to celebrate their view of the world and their "alternative reality".
Trump has taken a series of actions by signing seven Executive Orders and seven Presidential Memorandum in very quick succession... up till now, that is.
It now seems clear that the authors of these orders were two high level aides to President Trump: Steve Bannon - former head of Breitbart News and Steve Miller - a former Hill Staffer... these men are image makers and not legislators.
There was little or no vetting or input from the Federal Agencies, Republican Leaders in Congress or any of the usual players who would have given their input regarding the implementation of such dramatic policy changes.
Perhaps the most extreme example of this is of course the Travel Ban against seven predominantly Muslim countries - which was put in force with no advance notice and guidance even to those Customs and Border Patrol Officers who would be responsible for implementing the policy change.
Although many of these Executive Orders and Presidential Memorandum have troubling aspects this one caught the attention of the American public because it had an immediate effect on the lives of real people.
In some cases those affected were our neighbors and in other cases the most vulnerable people - refugees escaping danger in their homeland.
This Travel Ban was intended to send a message to Trump's supporters that he intends to change the way that foreigners may enter the U.S., in his attempt "To Make America Safe Again."
This action also sent a message to the world that the U.S. is no longer the Land of Lady Liberty - "A Beacon of Freedom to the World."
And in the view of many, including seasoned diplomatic professionals, this action may have made America less safe by playing into the hands of our worst enemies.
What transpired from the announcement of the Travel Ban until the firing and replacement of the Acting Attorney General Sally Yates at the U.S. Department of Justice, who refused to defend the Executive Order, can only give us pause for what lies ahead.
In assessing the ham-handed "roll out" of the Travel Ban one could be generous and chalk this up to this administration's inexperience with just how government works.
Although a plausible excuse, it is probably not correct since if the Trump Team had simply reached out to The Department of Homeland Security, The Department of State or The Department of Defense there were certainly many experienced individuals who could have helped them with the process and saved them much grief and embarrassment.
They clearly chose not to do this.
Unfortunately, I think both the implementation of this dramatic change, all of the optics, the pronouncements around it and the mess are actually the new "modus operandi" for this fledgling Trump Administration.
During the GOP primaries the Republicans were reluctant to embrace Donald Trump. In fact, many expressed legitimate concerns about Candidate Trump's lack of experience and his temperament.
Candidate Trump always took the "leave no opponent standing" approach as he picked off all sixteen of his opponents with surgical precision. And he was not in any way bothered by using "alternative facts" to achieve his goal.
Once the Grand Old Party saw the possibility of winning they began to salivate, brushed all of those concerns aside and got on board the Trump Train as it rolled across America.
The Donald's first and overwhelming success was that he had taken over of the Republican Party of Presidents Bush, Reagan, Eisenhower and Lincoln.
So now why should so many of us be so surprised that nothing has changed when it comes to Trump's governing?
Donald J. Trump has defied the old political cliche - "One campaigns in poetry and then must govern in prose."
Not for Trump. We should know by now, unless we have our heads placed deeply in the sands of denial, Trump does not play by those rules.
President Trump needs a strong opposition to be effective without one he is left as a Crusader-in-Chief with no dragons to slay and nothing to rail against.
And without that opposition, he would rise or fall on the success or failure of his own actions.
President Trump can no longer rail against "Lying Ted", "Little Marco" or "Crooked Hillary"... So now it's the "Dishonest Media" and of course all the dedicated professionals who actually know how to run the government.
After all, President Trump is a master of image ... and not of substance and detail.
Before becoming President Trump he made his money selling "The Trump Brand", which let's face, it is just an image.
He has in fact, assembled a team of image makers and shapers and business and military icons...all with little experience or understanding of how to make the government work.
So the question is will Trump and his Team be able to run the largest corporation in the history of the humankind and will the American people and the World be buying any of it?