Government, Trump
If Trump Wins, Will He Calm Down?
Without enemies to fight, will Donald Trump change and start trying to unify America?
Sometime after November 5, I expect to be writing about President-Elect Harris. Who will she appoint to her cabinet? How will she oversee a transition from an administration she has been part of? How will she signal the start of a new day without undermining the legacy of the man who, by choosing her in 2020 as his running mate, helped make her president?
Those are interesting questions, and I look forward to tackling them. But in a conversation over the weekend, a friend asked, “Will Trump change if he wins the election?” I thought about it for a moment. I don’t know the answer.
So much of Trump’s campaign this year has been ugly, mean, racist, and downright scary. My stomach turns when I think about people being called animals or garbage or listening to Trump issue a threat against a judge, prosecutor, writer, or anyone who criticizes him. Some of Trump’s darkest moments — things like calling for mass deportations, abandoning Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression, and claiming election fraud before any votes have been announced, make me worry. I understand why more than a few friends talk about leaving the United States should he win.
