Well, the only time the new president is not mistaken or lying is when he shuts his mouth (and that happens oh so rarely). And what he has said about foreign affairs and the economy is laughable comic-book drivel.  So sitting back and waiting to see if it all works out seems like a bad proposition.
The US does have interlocking governmental bodies that could act as a rein on the wild Trumpian foolishness, except the house ans senate are both controlled by craven ideologues who think that Trump is on their side (for now) and Trump will be appointing a deciding vote on the Supreme court.
So Ms. Wente, just the opposite. Now is the time to be preparing for the worst, to shift our trade as much as possible away from a country that is trying to close its borders, to undertake defence agreements that are not based on the Americans helping anyone but themselves, and to generally disengage from the US as much as possible, economically, politically, militarily, diplomatically.