Disengagement — Conceding This Election to Hopelessness.

If Hillary figures out a way to lose this election, and we are saddled with Donald Trump, I have no expectation that he will be willing and/or able to coerce, compel, or convince Congress to craft a significant and effective series of laws to address our immigration quagmire. I have some opinions on what we ought to do, but let’s be honest, neither chamber of Congress can possibly align themselves with Trump’s view of how to ‘fix’ the problem.

I have the same dread that Trump will be unable to put down his phone long enough to emphasize remediation of the ACA so that our national healthcare is substantially improved in any regard. I expect a President Trump to be told by his Chief of Staff, or some other member of his inner circle, that he can’t imperiously wave his hand and instruct Congress to find a mechanism for repeal and replace, as that is presently his position — I think.

I don’t need to go on with the other pressing problems — terrorism, the Middle East (generally and specifically), trade imbalance, the tax code, and whatever else we want to call the highest priority. In all these cases, my lack of faith in Trump is directly connected to the flaws and foibles in his interpersonal dynamics and emotional intelligence.

Presidents can try to push for legislation in a few ways, by appealing to the electorate as Obama has done repetitively, and then hoping for the rectitude of the case to convince voters to press their representatives. Presidents can also ‘work the room,’ by finding ways to make deals between the rival factions so that each side is willing to forgo a desire in order to achieve legislative need.

What we have seen from Trump is that his immediate response to anything other than immediate agreement is protracted, intense, and time-wasting sequences of tantrums that rely on insult, derision, and denigration of the person who is serving as an obstacle. Such infantile behavior does not provoke improvement in relationships. As such, I can find no reason to be optimistic.

Put simply, even if I agreed with Trump’s agenda — which I mostly don’t — I have expectation that his ego will not allow him to shift from trying to implement that agenda by hook or by crook, as his business history is one where he employed the most overt practice of lobbying legislators to cooperate, and barring the successful use of bribery, his next tactic is to exploit, circumvent, or manipulate the rules to achieve his aim. If these two strategies aren’t effective, the third move is to use the courts to drive up legal bills through lawsuits that will be settled because the target can’t afford the accumulation of legal expenditures.

If Hillary does not find a way to lose to the most over-matched and under-qualified candidate — perhaps in history — I expect four more years (at least) of even more virulent gridlock as she attempts to implement the Obama agenda. I don’t support the Dem. agenda, and speculate that she will feel obligated to push the Sanders agenda on top of the Obama agenda, thereby being forced to significantly raise taxes to pay for a series of government expansions that will serve to drive up the deficit and the debt.

I have been puzzling through all of this since it became apparent that my party was in the process of nominating a political neophyte whose brand of disruption is in contradiction to my principles in many instances, and that the alternate choice of Clinton is also unacceptable.

I believe we will survive as a republic regardless of who wins. If Trump proves himself as hopeless as I think he will be, and if he responds as badly as I suspect, he is capable of resorting to behaviors that will provoke impeachment proceedings. If Hillary wins, I don’t expect such upheaval, but I don’t see Republicans — in such disarray — cooperating with any Hillary initiative that doesn’t essentially add up to capitulation to conservative interests.

Seriously, can anyone out there envision a Presidency where Trump figures out how the system is supposed to work, and where Democrats decide to find compromise? Can anyone envision a Hillary Presidency that doesn’t meld the Sanders’ — Obama agenda, and which doesn’t provoke the GOP to dig in their heels again and still?

About what is there reason for hope?