With the idea of Donald Trump being the next chief executive of the free world finally beginning to sink in, we should turn our attention away from campaigns to impeach the man and start debating what his presidency will look like.
An expansive mountain range of problems lurk beneath the rubble of the election. Economic woes continue to plague middle America, Washington is a perpetual cauldron of sketchy policy makers and, most importantly, the ideological division in this country shows no sign of resolving itself.
Trump doesn’t appear to be worried. His cockiness and certainty regarding his American reconstruction plan can be seen clearly at every interview.
Speaking a month ago to a select crowd at, of all places, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Donald announced his incredibly bold 100-day-plan for his time in office.
Hoping to channel his inner Abe, he got right to the point, calling out the corruption of Washington and blaming the rigged system for attempting to sabotage his chances of winning.
He also vowed to sue each woman that came forth claiming to have been sexually harassed by him in hopes of ensuring to the public that he doesn’t abuse women. Tough task. Not sure suing these women will make things better but I’m not on his legal staff.
Properly handling the misogyny accusations will be as crucial to his success as ensuring minorities and the LGBT community of their safety under his leadership.
Much of the animosity toward him comes directly from those three groups, and we need to see him tackle the issues and mend his relationship with those who feel most disenfranchised.
I have zero idea what he could possibly say to change their minds, but he ought to give it his best shot.
Unfortunately, this will be perhaps the easiest of his presidential tasks. He has also promised to clean up Washington by setting term limits on congressmen and reducing the shady lobbying practices that ruin policy creation.
Tough to say how he’s going to manipulate Congress to pass a law reducing term limits, thus disincentivizing public service, but he did manipulate America into making him president, so I suppose anything is possible.
Perhaps it’s also possible that he will destroy lobbying and special interests. Again, convincing the heavily lobbied, special-interest professionals on Capitol Hill to make policy changes might be something only he can do.
I’m hoping Congress is frightened of him.
Maybe they’ll actually give legislation a try this round. With the liberal constituency unable to block bills via vote, this is the biggest opportunity for conservatives in recent memory.
With that in mind, one must think of the environment. Donald has pledged to back out of the Paris Agreement, and he will likely cut spending on environmental programs like subsidies and research.
Despite my disdain for government intervention in the market, the one place it may actually be necessary is in the environmental sector, which desperately needs capital boosts to solve the energy crisis that will affect our kids far more than people now.
However, I’m hoping my economics textbooks are right when they claim that removing the government’s dirty and deformed hand from the market might actually benefit the private-sector renewable energy companies that haven’t seen nearly as much benefit from governmental aid as is claimed by many on the left.
Ideally, the far cleaner hand of capitalism will naturally push the country to realize its forgotten demand for renewable energy.
With corporate and income tax cuts, it would be nice to see private investment injected into the struggling industry.
The bottom line is, I don’t give a rat’s tailbone if you believe in global warming. The world is a disgusting place, and we may as well clean it up so we don’t live in a trash can in a hundred years.
Something like saving the environment or changing Washington truly takes everyone’s hard work. Change won’t come through policy. People need to start acting.
I’m hoping Donald Trump reminds the American people of what JFK said in the early ‘60s that spurred innovation, social progress and patriotism.
“Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
If the country works together and doesn’t remain under the impression that only the government can make things better, we might see some much-needed change under this new administration.
