For posterity

[elucidator]

Is this the best you got? Pick up some phrase and try to make it into an issue of some kind? Perhaps you can just tell us that everything is going to be fine and dandy, Il Douche is a splendid presidential pick, so on and so forth? Is it because you can’t? That’s why you grab that phrase and fling it around like it proves something?

We’re talking about a guy who basked in adulation while the crowd screamed “Lock her up!”. Said it to her face. Offered to pay the legal bills for his audience if they beat somebody up. Suggested live fire combat was an appropriate response to rude gestures. Mocked a handicapped guy with “spazz jokes”.

List goes on and on, and you got the nerve to scold somebody for “scared shitless”?

Who are you kidding?

[aldiboronti]

@Budget_Player_Cadet

But don’t you find it scary that Trump’s Israeli Ambassador has no experience in government, but wants to completely overturn the USA’s policy on Israel and Palestine in a radical way that is likely to cause a lot more resentment and bloodshed in the middle east?

More resentment and bloodshed in the Middle East? That’s exactly what’s been happening over the last almost 70 years. It’s about time we tried a new approach. I don’t find that scary at all, in fact I find it positively refreshing. Same ol’ same ol’ certainly isn’t working.

[Smitty]

@levdrakon

He did run as Republican though, and I expect a war. Conservatives love a good war. Keeps 'em quiet.

Can you name the only President who was at war for the entire 8 years of his administration?

Hint #1, he leaves office on January 20, 2017.
Hint #2, he wasn’t a Republican.

But you keep those fantasies alive.

[Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank]

There’s something I’ve read by P.J. O’Rourke: The Republicans are the party that says government doesn’t work and then they get elected and prove it.

This is the minimum worry I have: that they will dismantle everything good and useful in government. He and congress will privatize everything they can’t do away with. His cabinet picks have already indicated their position on this. Virtually every one, if not EVERY one, has indicated their dislike for their department, and a desire to eliminate it or otherwise tear it down/apart.

100+ federal judges will be appointed under Trump - all appointments that were prevented under Obama. A Supreme Court justice will be appointed by Trump that by all rights should already have been appointed under Obama. The people DID speak, in 2012, and said that he should appoint any new SC justices if it became necessary in the next 4 years.

The behavior of republicans, ranging from 8 years of unreasoning stonewalling in congress, voter suppression, gerrymandering, outrageous outright lying and denying provable facts, Trump’s questioning the legitimacy of the election process weeks before the election, and the meddling of Russia in our election all have worked to bring our entire government and voting process into serious question. Couple that with Trump’s cabinet picks and what they will do to destroy their charges, and I’m not sure the country will recover. I believe the past decade or so has exposed serious weaknesses & flaws in our government, and I wonder how the country will ever recover to a functioning representative democracy with a functioning government, as the middle class fades away and we enter another gilded age.

Finally, I believe they’ll dismantle the ACA, which I depend upon to keep breathing, something I’ve become quite fond of.

I won’t say I’m scared shitless, even of the last part. As others have said, this is a term of questionable value. It’s more accurate to say these are matters of great, serious concern to me, and I believe there’s a high probability of them occurring.

It might be interesting to start another thread to get the opinions of those on the other side of the aisle "For Posterity. " Let’s get their predictions for the Trump presidency on record.

[levdrakon]

@Smitty

Can you name the only President who was at war for the entire 8 years of his administration?

Hint #1, he leaves office on January 20, 2017.
Hint #2, he wasn’t a Republican.

But you keep those fantasies alive.

I can name a president who got stuck with a war started by a Republican who lied to the American people on behalf of his Saudi masters.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@jshore

The whole premise of this OP is a little confused from my point of view. It sort of reminds me of the line from the Billy Joel song, “You told me not to drive…but I made it home alive…” I mean, does the fact that you drive drunk but manage to make it home without killing or maiming yourself or anyone else (which, let’s face it, is much more likely to be how it turns out for any particular occurrence of this) somehow demonstrate that drinking and driving is not something to be worried about?

That’s a very good way of putting it. Trump probably won’t use nukes. He probably won’t push the world over the global warming tipping point. But his chances of doing either are significantly higher than Clinton’s would have been, and that small likelihood is really scary.

I also expect him to get us entangled in a war that results in a lot of people dying. That, you could say, scares me shitless.

I expect him to work to erode civil liberties–increasing federal use of private prisons, for example, to the significant detriment of inmates, and increasing cruel practices involved in deporting undocumented immigrants. Folks will die as a result. Am I scared shitless of this? No, but it’s appalling.

If an angry meth-head comes storming into my workplace and starts screaming and flailing about, I might not know exactly what her next move is: will she kick me? Will she punch a kid? Will she overturn all the desks? Will she pull a gun? If you ask me to make a prediction, I’m likely to get it wrong. That doesn’t mean there’s no call for fear.

[HurricaneDitka]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

That’s a very good way of putting it. Trump probably won’t use nukes. He probably won’t push the world over the global warming tipping point. But his chances of doing either are significantly higher than Clinton’s would have been, and that small likelihood is really scary.

I also expect him to get us entangled in a war that results in a lot of people dying. That, you could say, scares me shitless.

I actually feel like Hillary’s chances of getting is into a nuclear exchange with Russia were higher than Trump’s.

[elucidator]

“And by the way, with Iran, when they circle our beautiful destroyers with their little boats and they make gestures that our people – that they shouldn’t be allowed to make, they will be shot out of the water,”

The War of Jenkin’s Ear < The War of Achmed’s Finger.

[Johnny_Ace]

Right. A kneejerk reactionary about criticisms of his own person is going to be a reasonable person to be giving the orders on whether the nuclear button should be pushed as compared to a policy wonk. Tell me another fairy tale.

[septimus]

@Okrahoma

See, that’s pretty mild. Is that enough to “scare you shitless”?

Politics will be increasingly dominated by big money interests.
When corporate profits are traded-off against concerns like healthy air, water and food, corporate profits will be the priority.
Financial crises will be more likely than before.
Efforts to slow global warming will be squashed.
Foreign relations will be less about peace and protection of our old allies like Western Europe, and more about advancing our new Ally, Russia.
Public education will take an abrupt turn downhill. Government money will still be available but increasingly it will be used to enrich scamsters, in a “Trump University” model.
Labor unions will get weaker still. Federal minimum wage will not increase. Worker safety will no longer be a mandate.
Although a few hundred “returned” jobs will be showcased to please ignorant Trumpists, the trend will be to enrich international cartels at the expense of ordinary Americans.
The deficit will balloon, even as social services are cut. Boondoggles for the rich will be featured, just as in “banana republics.”

If these trends do not “scare you shitless” then your perspective is, IMHO, under-informed.

Some of these are trends we were already suffering from, and some would have worsened even under a mainstream right-wing President. But things will worsen at a much faster pace under Trump.

I cannot predict which particular Trump malfeasance or idiocy will dominate the blogs and Youtubes 3 years from now. The most urgent heart-racing fright, though probably not the greatest long-term danger, would be a miscalculation that leads to major war in the Middle East, or on Russia’s borders, or the South China Sea, or elsewhere.

[JKellyMap]

The OP is suffering from the typical Republican’s astonishment that any human being might actually care about someone other than theirself.

We see this time and again. Democrat: “I am scared and sad because Republican X is causing Y to happen.” Republican: “But why are you scared and sad? It doesn’t affect YOU personally!” Democrat: “Are you some kind of sociopath?”

[D_Anconia]

@Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank

100+ federal judges will be appointed under Trump - all appointments that were prevented under Obama. A Supreme Court justice will be appointed by Trump that by all rights should already have been appointed under Obama. The people DID speak, in 2012, and said that he should appoint any new SC justices if it became necessary in the next 4 years.

The people DID speak in 2014, giving the Republicans a gain of 9 Senate seats. And the Senate has to consent to any judicial appointments.

[Bridget_Burke]

@Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank

…100+ federal judges will be appointed under Trump - all appointments that were prevented under Obama. A Supreme Court justice will be appointed by Trump that by all rights should already have been appointed under Obama. The people DID speak, in 2012, and said that he should appoint any new SC justices if it became necessary in the next 4 years…

Where will Trump get his list of Perfectly Conservative judges? Does he know or even care? He was obviously as shocked by the election outcome as anyone.

This is another matter where Trump’s own “ideas” (if he has any) will not matter. Congressional Republicans & other Right Wing establishment figures will give him the names. Then they will compliment his wisdom when he nominates them.

As much as Trump’s lack of intelligence & emotional maturity concern me, worse damage will come from the Republicans, intent on smashing & grabbing while they have the chance.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@HurricaneDitka

I actually feel like Hillary’s chances of getting is into a nuclear exchange with Russia were higher than Trump’s.

That’s reasonable, in the same way that the fear about Trump nuking Mexico is reasonable.

It’s a good point that the Republican establishment will use this occasion to smash and grab. Here in North Carolina, that’s what we’re seeing; the federal judiciary has stopped a lot of the worst excesses.

The federal judiciary is about to change.

[Wesley_Clark]

Turning medicare into a voucher program
Eliminating the ACA

Both of these things will make medical care less affordable for virtually everyone. Medicare vouchers will make medicare far more expensive for everyone who uses the program.

Other than that…

Trumps authoritarianism will move the overton window and make future politicians realize they can be as dumb, cruel and authoritarian as they want just so long as they never apologize, and the public will support them.

Trumps inexperience in foreign policy could cause a military quagmire. I have no idea how he is going to deal with North Korea, that worries me.

Emboldening the worst aspects of humanity like Trump has done is opening the doors to shitty behavior by shitty people.

[Wesley_Clark]

@HurricaneDitka

I actually feel like Hillary’s chances of getting is into a nuclear exchange with Russia were higher than Trump’s.

Even if that were true, Trump’s chances of getting us into a nuclear exchange with China or North Korea are higher than Clinton.

[elucidator]

But not Russia! Which is what he said, Russia. Our relationship with Russia will be horrorshow, me droogies!

[ElvisL1ves]

We’d be safer with Palin in charge of foreign policy. She does at least recognize Putin as a threat.

At least Dubya could see into Pooty-Poot’s soul.