How Trump will keep the left on defense in transition and beyond

“Once they’re on the run, keep ’em running” is an old cavalry motto — and a strategy Donald Trump seems to have taken to heart.Democrats are scared and fighting among themselves. The publishers of newspapers like The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times that used to be hard-left propaganda outlets are now talking about the importance of hearing from both sides. MSNBC and CNN viewership is in freefall; one or the other may wind up being purchased for small change by Elon Musk. Universities are adopting political neutrality.This is nice, but will it last?The answer is: Only so long as the pressure is on. So how do Republicans keep the left on the run?By taking relentless action. Trump has hit the ground running with his appointments, unlike in 2016. Every day brings news of a new nominee, ranging from those designed to horrify Democrats, like Matt Gaetz for attorney general, to those designed to appeal to suburban “health moms,” like RFK Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, to more mainstream candidates like Marco Rubio for secretary of state.  If they were dribbled out gradually, one at a time, Democrats could organize their patented smear attacks. But the flood of nomination announcements has saturated their media apparatus — with so many targets, it can’t seem to focus on one.The next step, I suspect, will be a lot of executive orders on Inauguration Day, covering everything from immigration to federal employee layoffs and relocations. For example, might I suggest a new federal headquarters in Plattsburgh, NY? Shipping tens of thousands of federal workers to a spot 15 miles shy of the Canadian border won’t tip the political balance, since New York is already blue, and the local economy would benefit from the influx of high-paid newcomers. The employees, of course, might not enjoy the Plattsburgh winters. Trump may trigger tariffs already possible under existing law, launch mass deportations of illegal immigrants...