Ugh, we didn't get Hillary and we did get Gorsuch. So far, that appears to be the winners. We got EO's that District judges stopped and - so far - we crumbled over. Obamacare is alive and well. And there will be no 'Wall' since everything Congress delays is always denied. So, just watch the big announcement on taxes that will never happened.
Fact is, I see a lot of executive signings but the stuff that really matters just fades before the finish line.
You're right. As for "think incrementally", I've been hearing that BS for the past forty years starting with the GOP slamming down the Regan social agenda because there were "more important things that have broader appeal"
The only incremental thinking that actually works within the DC Bubble is incrementally making sure anything Trump promised doesn't get done. Everything done by executive order can be undone the exact same way and as long as Ryan is the little tin god in charge he's going to make damn sure nothing that can't be undone in a heartbeat gets through Congress.
The US is tossing missiles around, sending carriers around the world, fighting for over a decade in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and meanwhile China is building a solid manufacturing and consumer powerhouse. Oddly enough, China is moving into the same sort of relationship to the US that the US had to the USSR. One nation a manufacturing, innovation, consumer, powerhouse, the other so focused on being a mighty military player that it bankrupts itself.
JMHo