It's taken several days to recover from the shock that half this country elected one of the most vile, weak candidates in US history. Much like I did in 2016, I'm taking stock of having Trump as President to see if there is anything of value that he could deliver, given his first Presidency was nothing but a coattail ride on Obama and on the Republicans who cut taxes to artificially juice the markets, in exchange for nation-crippling debt levels. So let's take a look:
1. Republican action on deficit reduction/govt spending - yes, these toddlers having full control of the government is quite unnverving. However, because they refused to work with Democrats to solve problems from Obama forward, being the toddlers they are, maybe they will tackle the deficit with a plan that doesn't go too deep on cost-cutting and raises some taxes somewhere, somehow. I highly doubt it, but we will wait and see. The good news is that if they just cut taxes and balloon the deficit even more, or cut government spending too hard and fast, the economy will fall apart and a Democrat or moderate Republican will be President in 2028.
2. Republican action on Medicare and Social Security stabilization - same as above. Because they are toddlers who refuse to govern when not in control, maybe they will do something now that is only partially devastating to the aging, not fully devastating. At least it's not ignoring the problem, like they've done to date with a Democrat in the Presidency.
3. Healthcare - Obamacare is not perfect. Maybe they do replace it with something that works better. I highly doubt it because they have no plan and don't seem to want one, but there is room for improvement. Who am I kidding, there is no way this one becomes a positive.
4. Ukraine Foreign Policy - The US has been footing the bill for Ukraine, and even though a lot of that money goes back to US companies, maybe there is a solution there that doesn't involve the Ukraine being partially for fully taken over. I highly highly doubt it. But, it seems half of Americans don't care, which is amazing to me.
5. China Foreign Policy - I've been a huge critic of China for a long time and whether it's tariffs or something else, I'm all for developing some sort of improved relationship where the trade isn't so imbalanced and Taiwan doesn't get invaded. But in my opinion, nothing good will happen, just like nothing good happened during his first four years. I do think there is a nonzero chance China holds off on invading Taiwan until 2028+ because they probably do think Trump is an unhinged idiot who would launch a nuclear weapon, which he probably would. So that's a positive I guess.
6. Immigration - Biden was slow to do anything about immigration and Trump torpedo'ing the immigration bill was bs, but we do need to have more secure borders, so maybe this time they can do it without as many human rights violations? Doubtful, but we can hope.
Unfortunately, all of the following will definitely get worse because he's President:
1. Hate speech and actions will continue to rise quickly.
2. Wealth inequality will soar, with billionaires becoming even more insanely wealthy
3. Other foreign relations will be a disaster; we will get no support anywhere in the world for anything
4. Women's rights will continue to erode substantially.
5. Separation of christian religion and state will erode substantially.
6. Palestinians could be substantially worse off.
7. Minority, LBGTQ rights will erode substantially.
As I type this, I can't believe people voted for this. Nevermind, yes I can.