Donald Trump was such an awful candidate for president it’s not hard to come up with things to fear or reasons to be concerned about his presidency.
Let’s take the other tack. I think there are some good things about a Donald Trump presidency.
- People who criticize the president will be less likely to be called racists.
- The press will resume its role as the watchdog of the public good.
- The members of Congress may rediscover the primacy of Congress in the American system.
- We won’t be expected to believe that the president is so smart he makes Marilyn vos Savant look like Homer Simpson.
- The American people may become more engaged in the political process.
- We probably won’t be seeing a lot of re-runs of The Apprentice.
Any other suggestions for good things about a Trump presidency?
I thought of some crueler ones, too. Like not needing to worry about saving for retirement. And that’s one of the milder cruel ones I thought about.
That’s something else about this blog. I rarely write the cruel things I think of.
Less likely? Yes. But not completely unlikely.
Wrong. The press will continue its role as watchdog for the extremely powerful and their financial interests. Much of this will be cloaked in sob stories about poor illegal immigrants, or the sad tales of jihadis who aren’t allowed to come to America to blow up the Boston Marathon or shoot up clubs full of teh gays, but it will ultimately be about defending the interests of the Carlos Slims and Jeff Bezoses of the world.
This may well happen. But after a generation of doing what they’ve been told, it remains to be seen if that will actually happen. A habit can be hard to break.
Probably true – by everyone except the President himself.
Hahahahahahaha! You’re funny!
An unalloyed good – except that I never watched it anyway. I remember when Bruce Springsteen sang about “57 channels and nothing’s on.” He was behind the times then (he usually runs about ten years behind the times), but that’s really dated now. Who could even count the viewing options? Who would try?
Who can save? And Hillary was more warlike than The Donald, so THAT part of the equation was true no matter who won.
A renewed, strengthened interest in States Rights, nullification,(all redressed in progressive language) etc all of which will keep a phalanx (or three) of attorneys busy and off late night TV ads.
Sales of Preparation H should increase (sample size tubes would make great Mardi Gras throws, party flavors) consumption of psychotropics will increase, so boom times for the chemical industry.
Also look for an increase in wrist splint sales as the keyboard warriors march on.
Presumably, by that you mean California and New York running everything.
1) We could see a real infrastructure program. We could use an update with our grid.
2) Press conferences might be more interesting.
3) Gun sales should drop ad ammunition prices go down. The NRA, otherwise known as the front for gun manufacturers, will have a harder time convincing people the government is coming for their guns. (They will still try.)
4) I don’t think he will build the wall, just a bit of it for show. He may be willing to trade not building the rest of it for some kind of real immigration reform. I know this is optimistic.
5) Comedians will benefit from having a lot more good material.
Steve
2) Press conferences might be more interesting.
I’m wondering how they could get worse, but I remember both Bush Presidencies clearly.
It’s not just that comics will have more material but that they won’t be afraid of using it.
I honestly don’t know what Trump will do about his wall. I think he has to do something since it was so central to his campaign. As Michael mentioned some time ago and I concurred, if you want to do something about illegal immigration do it at the workplace.
How could I forget? There are bound to be more naked Melania pictures out there. Now that is something to look forward to seeing.
Steve
Not really, more like New York, CA and points in arguing in court that cutting federal outlay on high speed rail in favor of road, sewer and water projects in the rust belt harms women and minorities or curbing H1B visas interferes with state policy on diversity, etc.
I’m not sure what you’re talking about here. There’s plenty of case law on this subject. There’s no actual entitlement to federal spending. That includes the programs called “entitlements”. Even those are only entitlements because the Congress would find it politically painful or even politically impossible to rescind them not because they can be enforced in court if the Congress changes its mind.
When you do your predictions, I think you should add in that the GOP will use the nuclear option for something, probably the SCOTUS nomination. I expect them to pass stuff with 51 senators and find ways to ignore the filibuster.
Steve
That was always the argument against the way Harry Reid was running the Senate. The Democrats assumed they’d always control the White House.