Trump rushing agenda because he fears he may not survive term: National Review columnist

President Donald Trump is scrambling to get his agenda implemented as quickly as possible, because he fears he may not live through his second term, National Review columnist Luther Ray Abel argued in a new article published on Monday.

"Originally, I was going to title this post 'Let Trump Cook,' i.e., just wait and see before condemning the president for his every misstep from conventional fusionist orthodoxy," wrote Abel. "But I can’t stand the imperial presidency, so I couldn’t honestly demand deference to a man for whom I wouldn’t even vote. And yet there’s an obvious (at least to me) explanation for just about everything Trump has done up to this point: He cannot stand inactivity and will take the fast and dirty route every time."

There are multiple reasons for that urgency, Abel continued — but a key reason is that "Trump is old and was two inches from involuntarily landscaping greater Pennsylvania with his grey matter," referencing the assassination attempt against him during a campaign rally last year.

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"While a retired professor friend of mine scoffed at the notion that a handful of assassination attempts have goaded Trump, I’m confident that his lizard brain has computed the probability of surviving his term despite age and act of terror and decided that he will do everything in his power to be remembered as a reformer/martyr," wrote Abel. "Melodramatic much? Yeah, that’s his shtick ... and he has a point. He saw the way Biden moldered until he was so incapacitated that he was loaded in a wheelbarrow and rolled off to Delaware; Trump took a look at that and said, 'Sorry old b******, that’s not for me.'"

Ultimately, Abel believes that the federal courts will rein in much of the chaos Trump is causing — but that is not what's on Trump's mind here as he moves as quickly as possible.

"As Bill Cosby put it in 200 M.P.H., 'Ya gotta burn the gunk out.' Trump is one taking the custom Shelby of State down a side street, burning out the gunk," wrote Abel. "It’s a vile display of smog, noise pollution, and redline abuse, but it’s also necessary. Time is Trump’s enemy, and he’s going to be seven Dukes of Hazzard reruns a day until January of 2029. Best to get comfortable and take in stride some undercarriage and valve-cover components lying in the yard. No one needs Coltrane’s blood pressure."