The most shocking ascent in U.S. political history reaches its culmination Friday when real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald J. Trump takes the oath of office as the 45th president. Tapping into working-class discontent about the economy and a dysfunctional Washington, Trump beat all odds in capturing the Republican nomination and scoring a stunning upset in the general election.

Yet in achieving the goal of winning, the incoming president set high expectations that will prove difficult to meet, vowing to be the "greatest jobs-producing president that God ever created" and only a few days ago setting the goal of providing "health insurance for everybody" after Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act.

Trump’s simply stated promise to “make America great again” captured a core and enthusiastic constituency that provided the foundation for his victory as he picked off the states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin, gaining a majority of electoral votes even while losing the popular tally by nearly 3 million.

Trump, along with unsuccessful Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, recognized that despite steady job growth many Americans were hurting. The nation has seen a net loss of 303,000 manufacturing jobs since January 2009.

Much of the wealth generated during the post-Great Recession economic expansion has flowed to the wealthy. Emmanuel Saez, professor of economics at the University of California-Berkeley, has documented this reality. His research found that the annual incomes of the top 1 percent of families grew from $990,000 in 2009 to $1.36 million in 2015, or 37 percent. In contrast, the incomes of the bottom 99 percent grew by 7.6 percent — from $45,300 in 2009 to $48,800 in 2015.

This reality fueled the Trump revolution. He spoke to the economically dispossessed.

The greater America promised by Trump would see a return of good-paying industrial jobs. The president-elect has said he can generate those jobs with big cuts in corporate taxation and the repeal of burdensome federal regulations, both intended to encourage businesses to expand. Trump also wants to retreat from the nation’s long-held support for free trade, instead erecting tariffs to discourage cheap imports and imposing penalties on companies that seek to move manufacturing to low-cost labor markets in other countries.

Unfortunately, in our estimation, much of this is the wrong approach. Inviting trade wars will inflate prices and hurt successful export businesses. Trump’s proposed tax-cut policies would deepen the national debt, raising interest rates and discouraging business and individual investment.

The better solutions to restore good-paying jobs to a working class displaced by the collapse of labor-intensive industries are complex. They would not meet Trump’s promise of quick results. They involve investments in education and retraining, providing the workers necessary to program, manage and maintain the robots that will provide much of the labor in 21st century manufacturing.

Congress should adjust tax policy to encourage domestic investment in new industries, while discouraging the planting of money offshore. In other words, rather than retreating from global competition and trade, America should better position itself to win in that environment.

The best hope is that Republicans, in control of Congress, will be true to their stated ideology of fiscal prudence and offset tax reductions with a corresponding restraint in spending. Likewise, Republicans should not wholly abandon their belief in free trade and open markets, just because Trump disagrees.

In a cynical calculation, Trump vowed during the campaign to round up and expel millions of residents who immigrated to the U.S. unlawfully. In the process he tied illegal immigration to the nation’s economic problems, providing a convenient foe for Americans angry over their economic lot. Since his election, Trump has tempered his rhetoric, saying his administration would focus on those undocumented immigrants involved in crime. That is the better approach.

President Trump can perhaps break Washington gridlock. He used the Republican Party to gain the nomination, but he is no conservative ideologue and owes nothing to a Republican establishment that worked to block him. This means Trump could reach across the aisle to pick up Democratic votes to pass a major infrastructure program or rework the Affordable Care Act to provide the universal care to which he aspires.

Our differences with the incoming president are profound. His lack of government experience, particularly in foreign policy, is of great concern. Yet we wish him well, particularly in his stated priority of job creation, because his success will mean a nation’s success