When Donald Trump won in 2016, it was seen as a fluke, even by Trump himself (reportedly he had no victory speech prepared because he thought he didn't need one). The public was shocked and many members of big businesses were afraid to cozy up to a president who lost the popular vote by millions and inspired women's marches across the country.
But this time the wealthy companies saw it coming and began fawning up to Trump even before he won. His inauguration tomorrow will feature several of the richest people in the world cheering him on, all of whom have donated millions to his campaign or inauguration. (Elon Musk personally donated over two hundred million dollars!).
Sadly, the media in 2024 couldn't seem to remind the public just what an utterly chaotic and corrupt first term Trump had, even before the pandemic: from his defense of a white supremacist rally ("Very fine people.") to child separation at the border. And his conflicts of interest will continue; once again the Trump Hotel in Washington DC will be a place where foreign dignitaries can stay and run up huge bills as a way to bribe the president (You'd think such a flagrant violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution would be a serious issue, but not any more). And every time Trump plays golf, he will once again charge an entrance fee to the Secret Service agents he brings with him. His family will also always stay at one of the Trump hotels when they travel and charge their Secret Service agents a room fee. Yes, a family that always boasts of its wealth and love of our country will still bilk the tax payers at any opportunity when they could just as easily comp those agents that our tax dollars pay to protect them.
Recently, Trump has promoted crazy ideas like the US taking over Greenland, Panama and even Canada, but I'm not worried about any of that. He has the attention span and temperament of a toddler, and once he's in office one of his people will wave a toy in front of his face and he will forget about these things. (He mentioned buying Greenland in his first term and then quickly dropped the idea, which I assume he will again).
But there are some things that he definitely will be moving on, and, unlike in 2016, this time Trump is prepared to hit the ground running. Here is a list of just some of the damage that he will do:
The environment: To me, Joe Biden will always be remembered as the president who did more to fight climate change than any president before him (which is pretty sad considering its been a concern for decades). Trump, who has said that he considers climate change a hoax and that ocean wind farms drive whales insane(!), will, of course, attempt to reverse all of that. While the move towards electric cars in this country will probably continue even without his help, he can and will open up more and more land to oil drilling and reduce air emission standards, all while the evidence for climate change can be seen in our ever increasing number of global natural disasters.
Tariffs: Trump's love of tariffs dates back decades, but he doesn't seem to understand how they work! He honestly thinks that putting a tariff on imported goods is a way to collect taxes from foreign companies without any consequences for the US. But he doesn't seem to realize that those companies will pass the cost of those tariffs onto the American people by raising prices. Now, some targeted tariffs aren't necessary a bad thing, but Trump is considering an across the board 20% tariff on all imports, and perhaps a 60% tariff on all imports from China, which would cause American prices to skyrocket. Kind of ironic from a president who won partly due to a backlash against inflation. Now, some Trump defenders have said that his tariff threats are just a bargaining chip to be used against foreign countries, and I hope they're right. But he really seems to be a true believer in them. Even worse, he can just impose them without any congressional or judicial oversight.
Immigration: One thing Trump was right about in 2016 is that he won because of his "Build the Wall" mantra, although, of course, he failed to do that as president because actually building that wall proved far harder than he had made it seem. That explains why he's moved from building a wall to the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in this country. There are currently around thirteen million undocumented immigrants in America today, and rounding them all up, processing them and then deporting them would be a colossal undertaking costing billions of tax payer dollars. On top of that, it would tear families apart and inevitably sweep up American citizens into the system. But even if you have no problem with the costs or morality of it, the mass deportation that he wants would destroy the American economy, because much of it is dependent on undocumented labor. For example, a recent article in the New York Times pointed out that deporting undocumented immigrants would decimate the American Dairy industry. As Pete Wiersma, the president of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association put it bluntly, if undocumented immigrants were all deported “I don’t think there would be milk.I just don’t think we could get it done.”
Health: A sobering recent report on the bird flu virus that has been spreading among American livestock finds that it is only one genetic mutation away from being able to be passed from human to human. Even worse, milk has been found carrying the virus. Now the good news is that milk pasteurization greatly reduces or eliminates the virus. The bad news is that unpasteurized milk (or so called "raw milk") has inexplicably become popular in certain circles in this country, even in the face of the fact that between 1998 and 2018, at least 2,645 people fell ill after drinking raw milk, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And the real bad news is that Robert Kennedy Jr., Trump's choice to run the department of Health and Human Services, is a big proponent of raw milk. Yes, the anti vaccine lunatic with no real scientific or research experience may soon be in charge of our nation's health while we stand on the precipice of what may be a serious outbreak of bird flu among humans. Putting it bluntly, there could not be a worse person at a worse time running that department. I only hope that the Republicans in the senate can show some shred of decency and vote against his nomination.
The Justice Department: Recently Pam Bondi, Trump's pick for attorney general, claimed that "politics will not play a part" in whom she decides to prosecute. While Bondi certainly is a better candidate than Trump's original choice for the position, the loathsome Matt Gaetz, it still seems possible that she will use her power to settle scores against Trump's perceived enemies than to investigate actual crimes. This becomes increasingly likely given that Trump has repeatedly said that his political opponents should be put in jail. It also doesn't help that Trump's choice for leading the FBI, Kash Patel, once published a book with a list of politicians that he sees as enemies that he very well may target in some way or another as FBI chief. Unfortunately, it looks like both Bondi and Patel will be confirmed by the Republican Senate, which will cement Trump's desire for retribution against any political figure who doesn't think that he won the 2020 election or any politician that he does not see as properly loyal.
While there are certainly other terrible things that Trump will do as president, from going after trans people to perhaps even signing a national ban on abortion, I think these four points will be his focus and they all have me deeply worried about the next four years. I was very pessimistic about our nation's future before Trump's first term, but now I'm even more pessimistic.
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