Donald Trump won the presidency by convincing enough white voters in three states that only Donald Trump was strong enough to fix America's problems. "Nobody knows the system better than me," he said memorably after accepting his party's nomination, "which is why I alone can fix it."

His critics saw hubris, and it was hubris, but his supporters saw strength. Members of the white white working class, despite yearnings by leftist ideologues, are not predisposed to socialism. Without strong unions to mitigate the tendency, it's authoritarianism they like. These people eat and sleep being told what to do.

It should have been no surprise then that the white working class found Trump's strongman's act ideally suited to them. That unions railed against trade deals for decades didn't matter. That class-conscious Democrats cast aspersions on NAFTA for just as long was just as moot. Unions and liberal Democrats, for whatever reason, did not project strength in the eyes of the white working class. Only Trump did.

This impression was deepened by his fame and wealth. And it was inversely proportional to the fear that Barack Obama was a secret Muslim secretly destroying America.

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It was a brilliant play. No one had dared be so brazen. Hillary was crooked and stamina-less. Jeb was low energy. Little Marco was little and Lying Ted lied. But we are about to see the cost of such daring. If Trump's main selling point was his strength – as negotiator and man's man – what happens if his supporters start seeing him for what he is?: A fundamentally weak president.

Things could change. But so far, the president has demonstrated he knows little about "the system," has little patience for details and appears genuinely surprised that a president can't always have his way. More importantly, Trump has shown a remarkable tendency for backing off when met by the slightest resistance. Granted, backing off can be prudent. But prudence is not why Republicans and many Democrats voted for this president. They wanted a bull to charge through Washington's China shop. What they are getting is less bull and more delicate porcelain tea cup.

Consider the three items that set the background for Trump's strongman act: China, Mexico and Muslims. During the campaign, to the cheers of millions, Trump accused China of stealing our jobs, Mexico of importing rapists and Muslims of bringing terrorism. His solutions, and the focus of his campaign's message, were a tariff, a wall and a ban.

Some didn't take him literally, but soon after taking office, Trump proved he meant every word. He issued orders to close the border to people from seven Muslim-majority countries, even to legal residents, and to restart building some kind of partition along the U.S.-Mexico border with the promise that Mexico, not American taxpayers, would pay. With China, he evidently felt he was angling for the high ground when he rejected China's "One China" policy.

With all three, he has shown himself to be a remarkably weak strongman. The courts stopped his Muslim ban. He has vowed to fight, but he's more likely to water down the original order. Knowing he can't force Mexico to pay, Trump floated the idea of a 20 percent tax on Mexican imports. That got howls all around. Mexico wouldn't suffer, American consumers would. As for China, Trump said in December he didn't want it dictating to him whether he can take a phone call from Taiwan's president. Last week, in affirming its "One China" policy, Trump allowed China to dictate to him.

As I said, things could change, but that seems unlikely. Trump didn't "pivot" after the GOP convention. He didn't "pivot" after taking office. And in addition to the above, the evidence of Trump's fundamental weakness is piling up. The bureaucracy is mounting an internal insurrection. His Cabinet nominees have faced historic opposition. The intelligence community is coming around to the idea that he is a pawn of Russian President Vladimir Putin. And the Republican establishment, having figured out that he's just one flattering remark away from changing his policy views, is playing him perfectly.

Under normal circumstances, it would be unfair to say that the president is weak because he runs into obstacles. Presidents are not kings. They must share power, abide by the rule of law and be accountable to the citizenry that gave him authority. But Trump is not a normal president and should not be judged by normal political standards. He himself won the presidency on the basis of his strength, that he alone can fix our nation's problems. Everyone else was weak.