The Wrongs President Trump Will Do

[abaddon]

I disagree that division will be his greatest impact. He only got elected because their are already very deep divisions that stem from the very core incompatible values and worldviews that people have which are no more reconcilable than science and religion.
Conservatives already understood this and have for decades cast liberals as the enemy, which is in fact accurate. Liberals are the enemy of the core values of conservatives, and vice-versa. Liberals have been trying to kid themselves that "we're all one nation and the same at heart and want the same things." No, no we don't. Liberals tend to assume that its just a few bad leaders misguiding some voters who can be reached with the right message. This naive view is partly due to the liberals rose-colored view of human nature and over-emphasis on cultural and socializing influences while ignoring factors that are either innate or so ingrained at an early age that they are not changeable.

The one potential positive by-product of his election might be that more leftists and radical liberals who have been fool enough to view Hillary...

.....

You started off very well in the first paragraph. Then you turned it into a rant against third-partiers. “It’s you other people’s fault if my side loses”. That's pathetic.

Hilary lost because Dems didn’t vote in quantity. The nonvoters say they think voting is an extremely important civil duty but most also excuse their non-voting for the reason they're "too busy" and they imagine the lines are too long. Solve that, and the problems endemic to our political system, and stop advocating a vile America that can never be anything but a battle for the less vile of two pieces of shit.

Hopefully Clinton retires to private life. It'd be good too if people would just drop the "too bad Clinton didn't win and it's your fault she didn't" crap.

 

[Elixir]

I disagree that division will be his greatest impact. He only got elected because their are already very deep divisions that stem from the very core incompatible values and worldviews that people have which are no more reconcilable than science and religion.
Conservatives already understood this and have for decades cast liberals as the enemy, which is in fact accurate. Liberals are the enemy of the core values of conservatives, and vice-versa. Liberals have been trying to kid themselves that "we're all one nation and the same at heart and want the same things." No, no we don't. Liberals tend to assume that its just a few bad leaders misguiding some voters who can be reached with the right message. This naive view is partly due to the liberals rose-colored view of human nature and over-emphasis on cultural and socializing influences while ignoring factors that are either innate or so ingrained at an early age that they are not changeable.

The one potential positive by-product of his election might be that more leftists and radical liberals who have been fool enough to view Hillary...

.....

You started off very well in the first paragraph. Then you turned it into a rant against third-partiers. “It’s you other people’s fault if my side loses”. That's pathetic.

Hilary lost because Dems didn’t vote in quantity. The nonvoters say they think voting is an extremely important civil duty but most also excuse their non-voting for the reason they're "too busy" and they imagine the lines are too long. Solve that, and the problems endemic to our political system, and stop advocating a vile America that can never be anything but a battle for the less vile of two pieces of shit.

Hopefully Clinton retires to private life. It'd be good too if people would just drop the "too bad Clinton didn't win and it's your fault she didn't" crap.

The ONLY reason I ever wanted Clinton to win was the SCOTUS appointment(s). And to keep Twitler away from The Button.
This administration will fail mightily, and if even a few trumpsuckers come to their senses in the next couple of years we could see a fairly dramatic turnaround by 2020, thanks to Don the Con.

 

[ZiprHead]

That's because you're relying on actual facts instead of alternative facts. That was your mistake and we can look forward to you correcting this error in the future.

The curious part is that I was also under the impression that liberals were commies. Didn't Hitler hate the commies? I'm so confused. I don't think I was cut out for this post-fact world.

Don't worry. You can be forced to believe the alt-facts.

 

[credoconsolans]

What are the three most damaging wrongs do you think President Trump will most likely do within the next four years?
EB

He's already trying to destroy the free press and he's been in office less than a week.

 

[Jayjay]

Sell off our country to corporate interests mostly. Make life harder for the poor and middle class.

This. I am also particularly worried about him starting a war with Iran.

I don't see how that scenario could realistically happen. US can try to re-establish the sanctions but rest of the world is not likely to follow, and it seems that Iran is keeping silent about its nuclear weapons program so there is no obvious pretext either.

 

[Tinker Grey]

I'm worried that he'll declare martial law when the election in 2020 doesn't go his way.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I'm worried that he'll declare martial law when the election in 2020 doesn't go his way.

I think he'll just rig the election. 2024 is the really scary one.

 

[J842P]

This. I am also particularly worried about him starting a war with Iran.

I don't see how that scenario could realistically happen. US can try to re-establish the sanctions but rest of the world is not likely to follow, and it seems that Iran is keeping silent about its nuclear weapons program so there is no obvious pretext either.

The US can do whatever it wants in Iran. Pretexts for these things are very simple to invent from thin air.

 

[bilby]

This. I am also particularly worried about him starting a war with Iran.

I don't see how that scenario could realistically happen. US can try to re-establish the sanctions but rest of the world is not likely to follow, and it seems that Iran is keeping silent about its nuclear weapons program so there is no obvious pretext either.

Are you kidding? Trump doesn't care whether or not the rest of the world follows his lead.

And Iran keeping silent is more than enough pretext to invade, or to nuke Tehran, if Trump declares it to be so.

"If they have nothing to hide, then why are they remaining silent?"

 

[TV and credit cards]

Where he cannot control information, an assault on the truth. Complete lies. Confusion. Trump truth. He will continue his sales pitch of jobs, security, and individualism. He wants to get as much of America as he can operating on bellyfeel.

If he gets to pick a second Supreme Court justice, watch for how accommodating Congress becomes. We may get sold down the river. If democracy goes in the US, what will become of our friends?

China versus Trump's ego is the wildcard.


This is the way democracy ends
This is the way democracy ends
This is the way democracy ends

 

[Speakpigeon]

Trump truth.

The trumph?
EB

 

[Speakpigeon]

Sell off our country to corporate interests mostly. Make life harder for the poor and middle class.

So it's just more of the same, yes?
EB

- - - Updated - - -

Maybe one fascist but it wouldn't be enough unless you count a big chunk of current judges as covert fascist themselves.

I was thinking in terms of more reasonable and more easily verifiable predictions. I don't know, explode the debt, actually loose more jobs, start a new and unecessary war.

I don't see that one man, be it the President, could destroy America without being first shot dead by his own secret services.

As to "kill people", I think it's a little bit to predictible. Any American president is bound to decide on the life and death of quite a few people. How many would die might be a required information here.
EB

Okay then, I will get serious about it for one moment... I think one of the greatest harms - if not THE greatest - that he will perpetrate upon the populace is to undermine confidence/belief in science. This, in order to advance the anti-environment agenda of his gas&oil cabal. That will be damage that will not be un-done by any stroke of some future pen; it will persist for decades.

So essentially making a bad situation worse...
EB

 

[Speakpigeon]

Hasten environmental catastrophe.

Degrade Social Services.

So just make things worse?

Economic bubbles then collapse.

You shouldn't get any bubble in less than four years but then the Dow Jones seems to positively love Trumphonomics. I guess it's the smoke and mirror thing. So, yeah, it doesn't seem too farfetched. The collapse of a bubble is something too apparent to be denied even by Trump huggers but Trump will try to blame somebody else so what is it that the Dems could do to preempt him doing just that? Or are most of them effectively too busy trying to jump on this Trumph wagon?
EB

 

[Speakpigeon]

I think that the worst he will do is debase the political process and the divide in the country to even worse levels than they are now, perhaps to even an unfixable level. He has already demonstrated that being an asshole who caters to a minority and demonizing the other side is an effective strategy and that just plain not caring about the truth isn't a negative, so this strategy is going to be emulated again and again.

That's really what many Republicans have done for decades. The post-truth template had already been used extensively by people like Sarah Palin, George W. Bush etc. He's just been more effective at it but it's really more of the same.

But possibly reaching some critical point and that would be the problem. So, yes, I would agree unless perhaps the critical point was already reached without anybody paying attention. Trump may be a symptom more than a cause.
EB

 

[Speakpigeon]

Sell off our country to corporate interests mostly. Make life harder for the poor and middle class.

This. I am also particularly worried about him starting a war with Iran.

That's obviously not entirely impossible but the G.W. Bush war on Iraq, short on proper justifications and long on unwanted consequences may be enough of a deterrent. Let's hope Iran doesn't give cause.
EB

 

[Speakpigeon]

Climate change is the most significant problem on earth, so much so you might as well write off all other concerns if this one won’t be addressed. But Trump’s contribution is to show the worst people in the country (corporatists, and everyone who cares more about economics than about the future and all life) just exactly how to get whatever it is that they want: a very direct and loud assault on truth, more-so than has been done before.

I agree it may be the worst of what's coming.

Still, isn't this a powerful motivation for the rest of the world to insist on a green agenda to his face? And if they stay put, it won't be just Trump who will be responsible. If Saint Theresa goes to Washington just to make a trade deal and doesn't pip a word about global warming then who is responsible?
EB

 

[ronburgundy]

I disagree that division will be his greatest impact. He only got elected because their are already very deep divisions that stem from the very core incompatible values and worldviews that people have which are no more reconcilable than science and religion.
Conservatives already understood this and have for decades cast liberals as the enemy, which is in fact accurate. Liberals are the enemy of the core values of conservatives, and vice-versa. Liberals have been trying to kid themselves that "we're all one nation and the same at heart and want the same things." No, no we don't. Liberals tend to assume that its just a few bad leaders misguiding some voters who can be reached with the right message. This naive view is partly due to the liberals rose-colored view of human nature and over-emphasis on cultural and socializing influences while ignoring factors that are either innate or so ingrained at an early age that they are not changeable.

The one potential positive by-product of his election might be that more leftists and radical liberals who have been fool enough to view Hillary...

.....

You started off very well in the first paragraph. Then you turned it into a rant against third-partiers. “It’s you other people’s fault if my side loses”. That's pathetic.

It was far more about non-voters than third partiers, and its an objective reality that keeping the actual enemy at bay and people like Trump out of office requires forming alliances with less than ideal others and voting for the candidate that is less than ideal but has the best potential to defeat that far greater enemy.

Hilary lost because Dems didn’t vote in quantity. The nonvoters say they think voting is an extremely important civil duty but most also excuse their non-voting for the reason they're "too busy" and they imagine the lines are too long.

She lost because of all the people that opposes all the things Trump is doing and will do did not vote for her. A huge % of those who didn't vote for her (whether they didn't vote at all or voted third party) did so because they share your childish view that democracy should mean that only the person you personally think is ideal should win, who are people that don't grasp that all political progress has been the result of people forming alliances and supporting far less than ideal candidates to prevent severe regresses from the by far more extreme enemy. Voting should be quicker and easier, but the effort is only "too much" when people con themselves into thinking that it doesn't matter anyway because they've made a false equivalence between less than ideal and then enemy.

Hopefully Clinton retires to private life. It'd be good too if people would just drop the "too bad Clinton didn't win and it's your fault she didn't" crap.

It is an objective fact that she didn't win because many millions of people who viewed her as preferable to Trump didn't bother to vote, or to a lesser degree those who voted third party. Its likely that a large % of them now realize just how false an equivalence that was and how infinitely greater the damage that Trump is already starting to do to everything those people care about. I bet dollars to donuts that many of Saturdays protesters did not vote, and they are heavily to blame for all the coming harms they are upset about.
Those who don't yet realize that still may be too dumb to ever realize it.

While Hillary and Dems are to blame for not putting forth a more appealing candidate or running a more appealing campaign, those who did not vote to stop Trump in the general election are to blame for him being president and for the infinitely greater lifetime of damage he will do compared to anything that Hillary would have done. Voters need to be smart and rational enough not to petulantly take their ball and go home whenever their preferred candidate doesn't make the general election.

And had Bernie gotten the nomination, then those that didn't vote for him in the general would be to blame. However, overall those who preferred Hillary would have voted for Bernie because they are not as childish and naive about the realities of democracy as the bulk of Bernie backers. If Bernie had a better chance to beat Trump, it isn't because he was a better candidate, but because those that didn't prefer him in the Primary are more reasonable and mature, and thus would have voted for him against Trump or most GOP candidates.

 

[Speakpigeon]

What are the three most damaging wrongs do you think President Trump will most likely do within the next four years?
EB

He's already trying to destroy the free press and he's been in office less than a week.

How much of a free press is that though?

And there's always the Internet and a great tradition of vocal dissent in America.

Tell me when the free press has been annihilated for real.
EB

 

[Speakpigeon]

I'm worried that he'll declare martial law when the election in 2020 doesn't go his way.

I'm not sure that it would be more likely he get his way just because he is Trump. You'll have a better visibility on the extent of his control on government in a few weeks or months after he will have tried his hand at a variety of plots. How good he is at that and how much of a fight there is in the institutions will be tested then.
EB

 

[ronburgundy]

The ONLY reason I ever wanted Clinton to win was the SCOTUS appointment(s). And to keep Twitler away from The Button.

So you don't care about access to birth control and abortion, public education, climate change, stem cell research, anything that is done by the CDC, the National Science Foundation, Department of Health, and every other Federal Institute that will no longer be advancing science in the public interest? The damage Trump will do to all these areas in 4 years will take generations to recover from, because there will not be enough funds to simply catch back up in the subsequent 4 years.

I agree that SCOTUS is a big deal, but the combined damage he'll do to all these areas with his appointment of anti-science nutjobs bent on destroying all these organizations will probably be greater.