Monday , March 18 2024
This inauguration of Donald J. Trump will be a sad day for many Americans, and perhaps history will prove that it was also a sad day for America. It will in any case be a transfer of political power like none other in the history of the country. It feels like the forerunner to a great catastrophe – something is going to happen and even Trumpians can feel it, even Trumpians know that the bottom is about to fall out, but they don’t care. After all, it is how you make America great again.

Trump Supporters Sense Coming Disaster, Don’t Care

On Friday January 20, 2017 an amazing event will take place. The peaceful transfer of political power is a routine event in the United States of America, but less common in other parts of the otherwise troubled world. In the United States, the peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another after as much as two years of a really divisive campaign is a common occurrence and a hallmark of American democracy.

On Friday January 20, 2017 the American government will change hands peacefully. But this year this peaceful transfer will have a different feel to it. The Trumpians are gaining power and because of the unpredictability of the new president and unfamiliarity of the people he has chosen to be in his cabinet, no one knows what to expect. In fact, those with expectations are expecting the worst policies and performances from Trump and his Trumpians.

During the campaign Candidate Trump broke every conventional rule one can think of; some of the most (normally) damaging information imaginable was revealed about him; he was up against one of the most experienced political machines in America headed by a woman in the year of the woman; and still he prevailed.

Now we are learning that the reason Trump prevailed is that just as he predicted, the system was rigged. At a July 27, 2016 news conference, Trump publicly asked Russian computer hackers to hack into Hillary Clinton’s account to find the missing 30,000 emails. The Russians, we are learnings heeded the call.

Beyond that, however, Trump won because a large segment of the voting public (The Trumpians) were able to disregard their principles in favor of their interest in keeping the American government focused on their concerns, to the detriment of diversity.

This coming transfer of power is different because it feels like the U.S. government is being transferred into the hand of aliens from outer space. The Trump cabinet is composed of military generals and billionaires, people whose feel for the common American citizen is so remote they might have well have come from Mars. Oh, and also on the Trump team will be a man who is often described as a “brilliant brain surgeon” but who sounds so much like a babbling idiot on subjects of governance that he lowers the value of the metaphor “brain surgery” that is often assigned to anything brilliant (as in “It’s not brain surgery!”).

The most attentive young Americans, say 14 years and younger, may remember the first inauguration of President Barack Obama because of the historic excitement the election of the first black president caused. Many of these young people can remember only a black president, too young (and lucky) to remember much of the George Bush presidency. So they will have only the Obama model by which to judge the Trump presidency. What will their conclusions be when they get a chance to compare the dignity of Barack Obama to the brutishness of Donald Trump – a black president to a white one?

Supporters at a rally.
Trump supporters at a rally

This transfer of power will feel different because like the gang of street ruffians who knocked over the applecart at the farmers’ market, Trump and his Trumpians have tipped over the tables of norms we are accustomed to, norms that reassure us of our stability. Trumpians use linguistic techniques that seduce, persuade and easily lead other Trumpians, and even the politically neutral, astray. None of the values the American people have long believed in holds true any longer. Now it is okay to ridicule our soldiers, especially the most unfortunate among them, those who had been captured and tortured by our enemies. It is fair game to mock the disabled. Misogyny in even its most despicable forms is forgivable and even rewardable. Trumpian spokespeople are capable of making convincing arguments for these positions to other Trumpians, because a Trumpian is a person who cannot be reasoned with.

This inauguration of Donald J. Trump will be a sad day for many Americans, and perhaps history will prove that it was also a sad day for America. It will in any case be a transfer of political power like none other in the history of the country. It just feels weird; like it will be the forerunner to a great catastrophe – something is going to happen and even Trumpians can feel it, even Trumpians know that the bottom is about to fall out, but they don’t care. After all, it is how you make America great again.

About Horace Mungin

Horace Mungin is a writer and poet. He has published many books. See more at www.horacemunginbooks.com.

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3 comments

  1. Dr Joseph S Maresca

    First, listen to the themes Potus-Elect Trump enunciates in the Inauguration Address which may be written entirely by our new POTUS. Next, watch for what the new Administration does in the first 100 days and thereafter.

    On the military, the new Administration will be seeking to strengthen the Armed Forces by modernizing equipment and staffing units by up to 10% more personnel. There will be an effort to deal forthrightly with delivering better service to our veterans.

    Potus-Elect Trump will be looking to build up the military not display military might in unnecessary wars ( but we’ll see). Unnecessary military conflicts expend resources which could be deployed elsewhere to modernize equipment, facilities and upgrade benefits to service men and women.

    On diplomacy, America and Americans will be the primary concern of our new Commander and Chief. We will honor overseas commitments but expect greater contributions from countries who can afford to do so. i.e. NATO

    On health care, we will retain the essence of historic insurability protections under the current law. Special emphasis will be placed on finding ways to deal with complex patient care which is out of the norm like end of life care. A special effort will be made to allow interstate competition for business rather than restricting purchasing to within state boundaries.

    There will be a move to look at medical savings accounts. This commentator would like more supplemental funding for the existing Hill Burton Act of 1946 which essentially built brand new medical facilities with federal money. The mortgages were paid back by the facilities providing free or significantly reduced medical care to the poor and lower middle class.

    On transportation, there will be an aggressive movement to modernize America’s railroads, bridges, tunnels and infrastructure. Potus-Elect Trump has expertise in building complex structures. He could be the right person to rebuild if this country ever experienced major earthquakes like the one we had in 1831 which impacted upwards of 10+ states simultaneously.

    On HUD, there will be an opportunity to deal forthrightly with the many challenges inherent in delivering affordable housing to the inner cities. A related challenge will be to repair the existing stock of housing like NYCHA in New York City.

    On Veterans Affairs, there will be a significant attempt to deliver better services to our veterans. Hopefully, this will translate into upgrading hospital services and outreach into the community of veterans throughout the United States.

    This new Administration wants better trade deals. As such, there will be a review of NAFTA and other agreements to make certain that American workers are helped and not disadvantaged by these deals in the detailed implementation. American companies will be encouraged to keep production facilities in the USA. There will be duties levied for companies who migrate facilities from the US to overseas locations.

    The existing legislation to build a fence along our southern border will be supplemented by an effort to build a wall in strategic places. Obviously, a wall cannot be envisioned in all areas like the Rio Grande River or mountainous regions.

    Very rigorous discussions will be held on just how many people will be deported. Historically, 200-400,000 people have been deported each year since 2001. A continuation of this numerical percentage would have political support – especially among Republicans. Any significant number beyond the 5 million deported over the past 15+ years would be very contentious politically. There could be Constitutional issues too.

    • Thank you, Doctor, for this clinical analysis. We need more this and less hair on fire.

      • Dr Joseph S Maresca

        The most outstanding problems on the agenda include the $19 trillion national debt which won’t go away on its own. The other problem is a global currency which may undermine the US dollar.

        Since the Kissinger agreement with the Saudis decades ago, oil sales were substantially settled in US dollars. Now, there is talk of settling overseas currency transactions in Yuan or in a currency other than the US dollar. Soon enough, Potus Trump will have to implement strategies to defend the dollar against international assault.

        The US government holds up to a trillion dollars in student loans. When I went to college, I was able to pay back my loans easily. Why are the recent college grads unable to pay off their student loans? This is supposed to be a substantially recovered economy.