As it has been said before, in four short years from now, the presidency of Donald J. Trump will be over. The country will end up being changed in ways that we cannot foresee. One thing can be said for certain, however – President-elect Donald J. Trump has already assumed office.
The Biden presidency is in limp mode, trying to protect itself, the country and its people from further damage until President Biden’s term is officially over. Kamala Harris has already become a footnote in history, a sad tale of a candidate who had the single-minded focus of a prosecutor and not the visionary purpose necessary to be president.
President-elect Trump seems to believe in the myth of his own making, that he was elected with an overwhelming mandate to radically change everything about the government. President Trump will soon find out that the revolutionary changes he seems intent on making will bring about resentment and resistance, not adoration and acceptance.
President-elect Trump speaks of diplomacy, but when has he ever been diplomatic? Seizing the Panama Canal? Forcing the sale of Greenland? Referring to Canada as the 51st state? Threatening our closest allies and trading partners with broadly based tariffs? There is no diplomacy in these statements, only arrogance and ignorance.
It appears that the Republican Party can be and has been dominated into submission, prepared at least for the short term to rubber stamp everything that President-elect Trump wants, but the world beyond our borders cannot be dominated in the same way. President-elect Trump is not engendering trust and respect anywhere with his words and actions – quite the opposite. Unfortunately, his heavy-handed, disrespectful approach will understandably be seen as a negative representation of the United States as a nation and as a people.
At least under President Trump, the U.S. will be a country to be reckoned with instead of being a country to be disrespected as it has been under President Biden, which can be seen as an improvement.
And, when it comes to domestic policy, there are a number of reasons to have concerns. Most of President-elect Trump’s appointments have either been billionaires or acolytes.
A persuasive argument can be made that the only way to become a billionaire is by exploiting both the lower-to-middle class people of this country and all of the favorable tax laws and regulatory loopholes available only to the wealthy. To expect billionaires to make policy decisions that would favor the same lower-to-middle class people they have been exploiting – this is nothing more than wishful thinking.
In addition, we should expect to see new tax breaks and reduced regulations that favor their business interests instead of the common interest.
So too, many of the acolytes who have been chosen by President-elect Trump to do his bidding have ties to Project 2025 or have similar ideologically based Old-Testament beliefs that will potentially punish believers and non-believers alike through policies that restrict dissent, limit freedom of speech and the press, reduce or eliminate socially beneficial assistance programs, and generally attempt to forcefully reshape this country into a more oppressive and punitive society.
It is being reported that many of the people who have been the most ardent supporters of and true believers in President-elect Trump are now fearful that the policies of his administration will take away critical assistance that they depend on to live day to day.
Instead of ushering in a new age of American dominance and greatness, the Trump administration may bring about a new age of American darkness and unease. Instead of building on the strengths of this country and its people, the Trump administration appears to be intent on destroying whatever it feels is making this country weak. Under the Trump administration, nothing and no one should feel safe from its ire, its retribution, its ideological fervor.
Kamala Harris did a commendable job of highlighting the potential damage that a second Trump administration could do. She also did a remarkable job of highlighting the abject failure of the Democratic Party to put forth a cohesive, alternative vision for the future.
It is entirely possible that the Trump administration will usher in a subsequent two-term Vance administration if the Democratic Party persists in its self-destructive tendencies, and this would likely be a continuation of dark times.
Four more years of a Trump administration is likely to involve an excessive overcorrection of many of the Biden administration’s efforts and initiatives. The Biden administration rejected Trump administration policies out of hand without any pretense of having conducted a thoughtful evaluation of their possible merits. The Trump administration will almost certainly do the same. This is the problem when administrations are based upon ideology and extremism, and not on common sense and moderation.
The second coming of Donald J. Trump is likely to be more disturbing, disruptive, and chaotic than the first. It is unlikely that the excessive influence of this country’s elite corporate and billionaire class will be addressed, nor will the increasing disparity of wealth that exists among our people.
We may become a more secure nation, we may see overall economic improvement, but there will be no dramatic reduction in energy and food prices, no attempts to control the excesses of the health care system, and no improvements to the housing shortage. The aspects of life that are of most importance to the majority of the American people can be expected to be ignored by the Trump administration.
In the end, the rich will become richer, the poor will become poorer, and the hopeful expectations of the American people will change to dissatisfaction and disappointment. The mediocrity of Donald J. Trump will be enshrined in history. A hustler, not a builder, a self-promoter, not a leader, a charlatan, a clown, a grifter.