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Earlier this year I wrote a column titled, “Maybe Trump’s onto Something,” referring to the president’s trade policy. That produced more critical comments than all my other columns combined, reminding me—again—that here inside the Washington bubble, it is very difficult for people to separate the president’s personality from his policies. If you don’t like the tweets, the bluster, the insults, the implicitly sexist and racist comments, then it is a given that you don’t like his policies. People outside the bubble seem less troubled by that and are comfortable saying they don’t like the tweets or his attacks on other people, but they support what he is trying to do. I think that obligates us here in Washington to try harder to evaluate the president’s policies dispassionately. So, here goes.

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