All jokes aside, what can we expect from Trump?

By Lawrence Aylward/Editor-in-Chief

Everybody, including those making a living in the private label industry, wants to know what U.S. President-elect Donald Trump will bring to the table as the nation’s 45th president. Political commentator Chris Wallace, host of “Fox News Sunday” and the moderator of the final and third presidential debate in October, provided some insight into what we can expect from Trump during his keynote talk Monday at the opening breakfast of the 2016 Private Label Trade Show in Chicago.

A big question that many people have ­— and it’s an unnerving question — is what can we expect in the short term when Trump takes over the Oval Office as the 45th U.S. president on Jan. 20?

“[Will we see] the boisterous, politically incorrect candidate of the primaries or the more sober, disciplined and presidential Trump that we saw in Washington last week [when he visited President Obama at the White House]?” Wallace asked. “My guess is we will see a mix of both, and that will be one of the most fascinating aspects of watching this presidency.”

In private, off-camera conversations he has had with Trump, Wallace says the American businessman can be “quiet, well-mannered, a grown up.” But Wallace said he has also witnessed the “extremely thin-skinned” Trump in public.

“He does have a tendency to shoot from the lip without thinking through all the implications of what he says,” Wallace said. “That can be dangerous for a president whose every word can roil the financial markets and set off our allies and enemies around the world. How Donald Trump manages that – the two sides of his personality – will be one of the ongoing dramas of his presidency.”

When Trump met with President Obama last week in the Oval Office, they seemed to get along well.

“Don’t believe that for a second,” Wallace said. “They both behaved themselves, but let’s be clear: Trump intends to take a wrecking ball to the Obama legacy, and they both know it.”

For the last four years, Wallace noted that Obama largely ignored Congress and ruled by executive action.

“Now we are going to see the flip side of that, because anything a president does with a stroke of a pen can be undone with a stroke of a pen,” Wallace said.

Wallace expects Obama’s executive order deferring deportation for millions of people in the U.S. illegally will be rescinded, quite possibly on day one of Trump’s presidency. Obama’s Climate Action Plan, implemented to help prepare the U.S. for the impact of climate change, won’t be far behind, Wallace added.

“Then there is Obamacare, which is more complicated and will take more time (to rescind),” Wallace said. “Insiders tell me that (Republicans) are likely to repeal, if the not the law, a lot of major elements of Obamacare but keep it in place for awhile while they work out the details of how to replace it.”

Wallace said Trump will probably not follow through on a few other campaign promises, which Wallace deemed less important.

“Trump promised a special prosecutor to investigate Hillary Clinton. I fully expect him to drop that idea,” Wallace said. “I also think he’ll go slow on massive deportation to people in this country illegally.”

Wallace opened his speech with a slew of political jokes that would make Jerry Seinfeld proud. After telling the packed auditorium that Trump’s victory was the “biggest political stunner in my lifetime,” Wallace turned comedian.

“In his victory speech, Trump said he couldn’t have done it without his rock and the love of his life, FBI Director James Comey,” Wallace quipped, in reference to Comey’s controversial decision to revive inquiries into Clinton’s use of her private email server only days before the election.

Wallace also joked of Trump: “He will be the first president who moves (in the White House) and hangs up his own portrait.”

Wallace’s non-partisan speech, including his insight on what it was like to host the final presidential debate, was more entertaining than political. But that’s not such a bad thing.