# In the long run, do you think Trump's election will have been a net positive or negative? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 24, 2017, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760 "2017-10-24T21:32:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760/21 "2017-10-25T16:16:10Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > I voted bad over the good because I think Trump has cause long term political damage to the USA. I think the midterm and 2020 elections will really say whether this is true or not. If Bannonites win elections in the midterm and if Trump and more Bannonites win in 2020, then the USA is in some serious jeopardy. If on the other hand there is a resounding rejection of Bannonites in the midterms, especially at the GOP primary level, then probably the damage caused by Trump is pretty minor and that would mean the short term pain of having Trump would be worth the longer term gain of the rejection of White Nationalism. Just have to wait and see, but it certainly appears to me that Bannon and his ilk are on the rise. I expect a lot of alt-right types to win their primaries, and I think the Republicans are going to do very well in the midterms. I think the Bannonites are more energized than the Democrats and are a tighter voting bloc. White Nationalism might be a long term political power in the USA, and that’s not good. It is possible but I wonder how long white nationalism is sustainable in a multicultural society. Only 71% of voters in 2016 were white, compared to 82% in 2004. If that trend continues, only 60% of voters will be white by 2030 or so. Can a white nationalist party sustain itself on those numbers? They do in Mississippi where whites are 60% of voters, because 90% of whites vote alike. I don’t know if that kind of unified racial voting among white people will happen on a national level though. Rural Mississippi is not a large city or the northeast. Who knows. My big concern is the next authoritarian white nationalist politician will not be severely mentally ill like Trump is. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760/22 "2017-10-25T16:18:34Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Efforts by who - the federal government? > > Assume for the moment that Trump is replaced by Pence. What efforts to punish dishonest media would you support? > > Regards, > Shoda I would like to see mandatory corrections for false information. Things of that nature. This could possibly be done on the state level in California or New York, where a lot of media is generated. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760/23 "2017-10-25T16:30:29Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Who knows. My big concern is the next authoritarian white nationalist politician will not be severely mentally ill like Trump is. That, in my mind, is exactly what Americans should be worried about. Trump is a boob. He doesn’t have the competence to really make anything from this. But if you get somebody smart who plays up the White Nationalism, that’s what it scary. Trump has shown that it is very real, he just doesn’t know how to properly wield it. In part because, I don’t Trump really cares about that. He’s a narcissist, he just likes feeling the love and White Nationalists are willing to love he. ---
**Author:** ![Tatterdemalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@Tatterdemalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tatterdemalion)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760/24 "2017-10-25T16:32:33Z")
> [@BeepKillBeep](#): > > That, in my mind, is exactly what Americans should be worried about. Trump is a boob. He doesn’t have the competence to really make anything from this. But if you get somebody smart who plays up the White Nationalism, that’s what it scary. Trump has shown that it is very real, he just doesn’t know how to properly wield it. In part because, I don’t Trump really cares about that. He’s a narcissist, he just likes feeling the love and White Nationalists are willing to love he. Like, for instance, Pence? ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760/25 "2017-10-25T16:39:41Z")
Almost certainly a bad thing, because putting people who have no idea what they’re doing in charge of a complex and crisis-prone system is ALWAYS a bad thing. Will it, in the long run, lead to the election of more people I agree with? Quite plausibly, and in fact things seem to be going in that direction, but I’m not convinced the ideological payoff is worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760/26 "2017-10-25T16:47:23Z")
Good or bad compared to what? Trump’s election probably will pave the way for an energizing of the sane, and that’s better than not getting that energizing, but it’s worse than getting it without Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760/27 "2017-10-25T16:51:28Z")
The way I see it, the worst-case scenario is orders of magnitude greater than any possible best-case scenario. If people are wandering through a nuclear wasteland in 2050 they’re not going to give two shits about the Democrats galvanizing back in 2018. That said, I think Pence or Ted Cruz might have done even more long term damage than what Trump will actually accomplish. ---
**Author:** ![BeepKillBeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BeepKillBeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeepKillBeep)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760/28 "2017-10-25T17:06:39Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#): > > Like, for instance, Pence? I don’t think Pence is a Bannonite. I think Pence would be bad because I disagree with him but not dangerous per se. I could be wrong. Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-long-run-do-you-think-trumps-election-will-have-been-a-net-positive-or-negative/799760.md?page=1)