That point is one I’ve been expecting the dark-money titans—the major Republican donors—to be aware of and unhappy about, from the beginning. Yet they’ve apparently decided that the inevitable uncertainty inherent in letting a mentally unstable person have so much power over the economy, is acceptable.
Trump, in addition to executive orders economically attacking sovereign nations, has performed some tentative acts of economic revenge against individuals and companies that displease him. Again, I’d have expected the major donors to find this unacceptable. So far, that hasn’t been the case.
One wonders if there is some cumulative effect that will eventually cause one or more of them to pick up the phone and talk to some Cabinet members. We shall see.
Great post, JohnT. You’ve raised the most important dangers of the Trump ‘presidency.’ We may never be able to fix the damage, and we’ve lost so much trust the rest of the world used to have in us. Really well said.
Getting rid of Trump does not get rid of the dipshits or evil kakistocrats who supported him or more importantly, their agenda. Trump is just their useful idiot – as much as he is for Putin. It’s going to be a significant challenge to beat them back to under their slimy rocks.
And fuck knows how long it’s going to take to rebuild our institutions – State, Energy, Labor, EPA, Housing, etc., etc. – plus the judiciary, FBI and other national security agencies. The vast amount of institutional knowledge lost across the board should make every American sink to their knees, hang their head and cry. It will take decades to recover that.
I’ve always said we’ll never survive a second illegitimate Trump term. I feel that more than ever. Hell, I’m not sure we’re going to survive the first illegitimate one.
Because nobody can have anything better than what Trump has, he may have spilled the beans on secret US weapons. Or else he might have just lied. Would he do that?
Out of thread: Cal, I’m not sure whether I hate your sig or appreciate it. On one hand, it’s an earworm trigger. On the other, anything that helps lighten threads like this one is welcome. du du du du dududu banana…
I don’t disagree with any of this; Trump’s policies are definitely weakening the structure of the global economic system, so in that sense, yes, his policies do contribute to a recession, but no economic expansion lasts forever. I’m not saying Trump isn’t responsible at all, but as is the case with any president there are always factors and forces acting on the economy that are well beyond his control.
The real danger I see is not Trump causing the recession, but rather his response to it once it starts to take shape, and that may already be happening as we speak. We’re getting mixed signals right now, with consumer spending and sentiment still relatively stable while market forces overseas are beginning to show downward momentum, which will impact us in time.
It’s worse than that. Even if we elect a democrat, to the outside world, there is going to be lingering doubt about the stability of our political system and there will be a lack of confidence in our ability to elect competent leadership. American democracy is in full-on crisis stage, and everyone sees that. If you’re a trading partner, you’re hedging your bets and doing whatever you can to spread your risk to other economies, wherever one can be found, even if it’s China.
A related problem is that our current administration’s embrace of right wing, authoritarian, and disruptor politics means we are less likely to influence and help other Democratic partners stem the rising tide of right wing authoritarianism in their countries. Right wing extremist politics isn’t just a problem here; it’s a growing problem in England, in France, in Germany – even in Sweden, FFS.
The worst damage will be aspiring civil servants coming to the conclusion that the federal government isn’t a reliable employer…which is what right wing extremists want.
I don’t see any Democratic candidates who are capable of inspiring the kind of confidence that will be needed to regain the respect of the world community.
When Nixon resigned and Gerald Ford took over, the country breathed a collective sigh of relief that an honest man was in the White House. Ford may not have been the brightest bulb in the box or a Great Leader… BUT back then the rest of the government was still functioning. Whoever takes over from Donald will have a task similar to the person who goes into the china shop after the bull is done with it. Or someone who surveys a town after a tornado has gone through and destroyed, damaged, or upended just about everything.
We could elect Jesus Christ and it wouldn’t matter, because the lack of confidence isn’t rooted in the failure of a qualified candidate to appear; it’s rooted in a lack of confidence in the American people themselves. Everyone else around the world knew that there was something seriously wrong with American democracy when Donald Trump won the Republican nomination - and then he went on to defeat a decorated career public servant in Hillary Clinton!
And the failure of Hillary Clinton is just as much a part of this story as the success of a total jackass like Donald Trump. Because what we learned from 2016 is that a good, qualified candidate can be politically poisoned by conspiracy theories. And once you let that realization sink in, you realize…we’re fucked. We’re fucked because, generally, American people no longer value democracy in the way that our parents and grandparents did. The rest of the world sees that. Some parts of the world are beginning to mimic our behavior, too