In the last two weeks, in the Dutch election polls our own mini Trum Geert Wilders has gone from 31 projected seats in parliament to 25. Pundits attribute this loss to the Trump effect: populist voters see that voting for a populist might not be such a good idea after all.
So, that is one very good thing to come out of the election. Also, in the Netherlands too, politics have become much less jaded. The left is electrified.
I’d like to think this was true but the evidence is saying otherwise. George W. Bush didn’t stop Trump from getting elected; he apparently just lowered the bar instead. Trump is just lowering it further and presumably the next Republican President will be worse than Trump.
Marine Le Pen is running into the same problem in France. Granted it always looked like she’s going to make it into the runoff only to loose in a landslide when the rest of France holds it’s nose and votes for whoever her opponent is (just like with her father back in 2002).
I certainly expect some good will come from his presidency. It’s a large complicated topic and surely we will learn a few things and at least some things will be better afterwards.
I’m not sure ‘The Left’ and ‘The DNC’ can be conflated ever.
No reason for you to have noticed, but a lot of people don’t think the CIA are a force for good in the world. And the FBI has sometimes acted oppressively in the past.
Ah, got it. You’re preaching to the choir – When I lived in Mexico, one of my colleagues was Guatemalan, but had to leave because of the war that our CIA was instrumental in initiating.
As cynical as it sounds, if you are invested in the stock market you have seen record numbers in the primary indexes. If you are selective in your investments, certain industries will likely provide over-market gains: banking, energy, infrastructure contractors, etc.
I truly believe a Hillary presidency would have seen some similar gains - ISTM there was anxiety in the market waiting to see which direction the election was going to go, once decided the anxiety dissipated. But, for what it’s worth, the gains we are seeing are being attributed somewhat to Trump.
I don’t want to give him credit for the gains, but so far my portfolio has been making me happy.
The press has been remarkably lenient, given what he’s said about them. CBS news reports what he says, even when he calls them “fake news.” An activist press would have followed that with commentary.
Far from certain! Will the Republican Congress allocate meaningful funding for this? Far more likely they’ll spend it on a new aircraft carrier group…which we do not need.
The SoS will not be effective in any way; all decisions will be made at the White House. The State Department will be nothing but sock puppets.
As John Mace mentions, he made a good pick for the Supreme Court. Possibly he will get to replace Ginsberg with an equally appropriate pick. Not that I wish ill on Ginsberg, but the long-term tendencies of the Court are likely to be pushed right, which is all to the good.
He is also causing liberals to double down on the things they did to lose the election.
Repeal, or at least radically change, reporting limits for FATCA and FBAR filings. Tax compliance should not be so costly for those who don’t actually owe any taxes but who live abroad.
Same for Foreign earned income taxation. Bring the USA in line with almost the entire rest of the world ( I’m looking at YOU, Eritrea.) on this taxation issue.
Buried in the immigration reform crap has been some vague wording about improving the legal immigration process for immediate family/spousal visas. Reform is long overdue there. This might be one decent change among a pile of crap.
What’s wrong with the current system that screens and welcomes legal immigrants? Or are we just operating under the false narrative that legal immigrants are not vetted?
Better could be more efficient and/or more timely processing, at least where appropriate supporting documentation is submitted with the application.
Currently many documents supporting a family visa application must be presented in person at a relevant embassy. And they cannot necessarily be submitted all at once. This can require multiple trips to the embassy for the applicant.
A good example is the case of an American friend of mine who was supporting her British husband’s application for a US immigrant spousal visa. Both were living here in the Cayman Islands. The embassy that serves this area is in Kingston, Jamaica. The application process required six trips to the embassy for her and seven for him. At about $350 per plane ticket this got very costly very fast, roughly $4550 in travel costs in total. Some of the trips were just to drop off a document. No interview, no questions. But it was not acceptable to submit the documentation via FedEx.
He’ll serve to set the bar for how bad a President can be, and Dan Quayle will no longer be the title awarded for getting the fewest points on completing Civilization II.
He’ll be a cautionary tale for why businessmen are in general thoroughly unsuited for the Presidency.