My first reaction to Trump statements is often to smash my head through a wall. But the man’s track record forces me to question my initial response.

Trump flipped the script on gun control, just as he did on immigration. And he won on immigration.

The standard Republican responses to “we need background checks,” “close the gun show loophole,” and “let’s ban this semi-automatic” are “we have background checks, there is no loophole and that’s not a semi-automatic, you complete moron.” Trump’s response is “wow, those are great ideas, let’s do them.”

Trump’s response is better.

“Take the gun, then worry about due process” certainly sounds scary. As do his first bombastic statements on all issues. But the idea behind it is that if there’s a clear and present danger, solve the immediate problem and then figure out what if anything you have to undo. This will soften into something acceptable.

And as he did with immigration, Trump had a bipartisan meeting where he encouraged Dems to go strong. They’ll take the bait. They always take the bait.

And then Trump will likely say “wow, that’s over the top, you guys really do want to take away everybody’s guns. Look, I got the Republicans to agree on these sensible gun control laws that do all the things you said you wanted while also respecting the Constitution and the rights of people who just want to defend their families and protect children.”

And Republicans will put some real proposals on the table, including the Gun Violence Restraining Orders that are all the rage these days. And which somehow became “David French’s idea” even though French was just putting an NRO stamp of approval on laws Democrats have been pushing for years. But I digress.

As with immigration, Republicans stop being the absolutist party of no and become the responsible people you can trust to govern reasonably. And the Democrats have open warfare, where their extremists devour their moderates.

Did I mention the Trump-State Twelve? The ten Dem senators up in 2018 in states Trump won, plus the two in Minnesota? For the next eight months, politics is mostly about them. They do not want to be voting on gun control before the election.

Trump has earned some benefit of the doubt. My bet is he wins this one too.