Society & Politics
The Worst is Yet To Come: 3 Steps to a More Devastating Trump Presidency
Trump 2024 could be worse than Trump 2020. Here’s why.
As announced a few minutes ago, on November 7, Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election in the USA. In January 2021, he will become the 46th President. So what’s next?
Much of the world is breathing a sigh of relief after fearing a second term of Donald Trump in the White House.
Before we get into three steps leading us to something even worse than a Trump re-election in 2020, let’s quickly summarize what the fears were.
November 2020: Where do we stand?
Donald Trump is authoritarian and acts as if he is better than the second coming of Jesus (or whatever is the equivalent in your religion). He admires dictators and behaves like one. For four years, he survived impeachment, and he did pretty much whatever he wanted with no consequences.
“Lawmakers had several different ways to limit the executive branch’s power. The president is sweeping all of them aside — and the Senate is going along with it.” ~Kim Wehle in The Atlantic
And he did all of that after winning a very tight election in 2016 with fewer popular votes than his opponent.
Imagine if he had won the 2020 election!
It is fair to assume that Trump would have been even more dictatorial in his management style during a second term, feeling validated by his re-election. It would have been great for his rich billionaire friends, family members, and close friends. It would have been bad for everybody else, even those voting for him. In that sense, it is a setup similar to that of mafia-controlled neighborhoods where people are brainwashed (and scared) into believing the Don is good for the community.
I won’t dwell on everything else that is wrong with Donald Trump, like abusing women as if the #MeToo movement never existed, making every lying politician look like honest people, and disregarding our responsibilities to leave a habitable planet to our kids. Let’s focus on the following overarching issue: democracy cannot survive by letting a sociopathic demagogue in control.
So… Good news! Biden won. Trump is ‘fired.’ We can breathe a sigh of relief. But it was a close call.
On the one hand, Joe Biden broke the record for most votes ever cast for a U.S. presidential candidate with more than 74M votes (and counting) while the previous record was 69M for Barack Obama in 2008. It looks like Biden will end up with more than 300 electoral college votes, while Trump will close with a bit more than 230.
On the other hand, it wasn’t the landslide victory anti-Trumpers were expecting. Trump also got more votes than the previous 69M record! As of the time of writing this article, Donald Trump has more than 70M votes, which translates to about 47% of the votes.
“It’s heartbreaking. The number of our neighbors who support a president without empathy or a moral compass is maddening. The number of selfish U.S. voters who have little regard for fellow humans is sickening.” ~Mollie Gray in Politically Speaking
As heartbreaking as it may be, it is what we have to deal with. Democrats didn’t even manage to gain control of the Senate (update: After a January runoff election, they barely got control of the Senate with a 50/50 split).
So… What’s next?
Step 1: Out with Trump, In with Biden
Now that Joe Biden has been declared president-elect, a prominent theme in news media has been, of course, the transfer of power.
It is clear that Donald Trump doesn’t intend to respect the elections' results — he warned us about it before the voting day. He is a master at revisionist history!
Numerous media channels are suggesting that Trump should be gracious in accepting defeat to protect his political legacy. Even Fox News is joining in after years of being Donald Trump’s personal propaganda machine. “Fox News host Laura Ingraham says Trump needs to act with grace and composure if he loses the election” so that his legacy becomes more historically significant.
Well… Come on! It doesn’t matter!
After everything he did over the last four years, Trump still got more than 70M votes. Almost half of the American voters think it is OK to have a sociopathic demagogue as President. A couple more months of lying and conniving ain’t gonna change anything! This is not politics — it’s religion. Trump supporters are like cult members willing to do anything their dear leader wants — even if it’s asking them to die.
We should not expect Trump to suddenly become gracious, polite, and respectful. It ain’t gonna happen! And no matter what Trump’s behavior is between now and inauguration day in January, he won’t lose any of his supporters.
Therefore, the next three months will be full of Donald Trump behaving like Donald Trump. Expect numerous lies, legal actions, and everything else you can think of! Trump acts impulsively, and we should expect this behavior to become worse as January 20 approaches — just like a desperate cornered prey. (Update: And, indeed, that is what we’ve seen!)
The nightmare is not over just because Biden is ‘President-Elect’!
Step 2: A Biden Presidency
“We may honestly see Trump refusing to concede, and having to be escorted out of the White House by the Secret Service or the military. Trump actually said they would have to drag him out, kicking and screaming.” ~Jay Sizemore in Politically Speaking
One way or another, Trump will be out of the White House in January 2021, and Joe Biden will become the 46th President of the United States of America.
Beyond the sigh of relief, we can see people hoping for change. Beyond finally putting in place a plan to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, we see the hope of improvement to the current heartless American healthcare system and actions to address climate change and racism.
What should we really expect?
Unfortunately, I believe we shouldn’t expect much.
The U.S. Senate is key in implementing any type of change in the USA, and it remains under the control of the Republicans (GOP). (Updated on Jan. 27, 2021: The Senate is now split 50/50, and although everybody claims it is under control by the Democrats because of the VP vote, it is not. You can expect at least a couple of Democrat senators to vote against pretty much anything put forward. In fact, one Democrat is enough to stop Biden’s plan.)
Should we expect the Republicans and the Democrats to suddenly start working for the country's benefit instead of their own personal interest and game plans for the next elections? Yes, sure, when hell freezes over!
Even if Trump is out, Trumpism will remain.
The GOP will have no incentive to help Biden in undoing the damages done by Trump, who, himself, spent four years undoing what Obama had done — but Trump had the full Senate's support. We seem to be in an era where the focus is on destroying instead of building.
On top of that, the Supreme Court is now fully stacked with Republican judges.
With the Supreme Court against him and the Senate barely with him, Biden will be significantly handicapped in his efforts to improve anything beyond writing speeches that include coherent sentences with more than three words. Gridlock is what we should expect.
Meanwhile, Biden’s voters are far from being ideologically aligned. Some Republicans voted for Biden just to get Trump out. Supporters of far-left policies also voted for Biden and Harris. It is almost certain that Biden will disappoint big chunks of people who voted for him because you can’t have policies that would satisfy all of the various extremes represented in his voters.
What else?
The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over. We can expect it to continue to be mismanaged up to the end of January 2021. We don’t know when a vaccine will become available, and even then, we don’t know how long it will take for a significant portion of the population to be vaccinated.
Meanwhile, shouldn’t we expect the economy to take a bigger hit than it has already? Perhaps. So far, many small businesses, large businesses, and families have managed to survive the pandemic by digging into their rainy-day funds. But these funds are drying up fast.
With the pandemic still accelerating in the USA, it would be fair to assume that its negative impact on the economy might be worse in 2021 than in 2020 — all of that happening under a Biden presidency.
So… Where will that leave us for 2024?
Step 3: Trump 2024
Donald Trump is allowed to run for a second term. It doesn’t have to be 2 consecutive terms.
It has been customary for a defeated presidential candidate to bow out and leave the party's reins to successors. But why would Trump do that?
Trump has never done anything polite, gracious, or customary. There seems to be nothing more important to him than his fragile ego. He doesn’t want to concede the 2020 election to Joe Biden, and he probably never will, just like he never changed his tune on Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
Meanwhile, the Republican party has become a cult-like operation with nobody daring to say anything against the Dear Leader. Do we think the GOP can re-invent itself on short notice? Doubtful, especially if Donald Trump continues to lead his devoted followers. And why would Trump stop?
Even if Donald Trump wanted to bow out of politics, he has numerous advantages at continuing to cultivate his follower base — if for anything else, to con them in his next business venture, whether it’s fake university courses or bad steak. A more logical choice would be a news network even more devoted than Fox News.
We can expect Donald Trump to maintain his grip on the Republican party. And then, what?
It could very well be easier for him to win in 2024 than it was in 2020.
Imagine four years of a Biden presidency during which Joe Biden could barely achieve anything with a GOP-controlled Supreme Court and a divided Senate, a pandemic that stretched well into his presidency, and economic difficulties tied to a COVID-19 extended pandemic. This is a door wide open for Trump to come back with a litany of lies and promises.
The 70M voters he picked up this year will probably still be there for him in 2024.
“The ‘boomer’ generation that has sold their souls to Trumpism is not redeemable. It has only taken 24 years for News Corp and 32 years for rightwing radio to wreck the foundation upon which our nation had sat for the 220 years prior.” ~Brian Kean in Politically Speaking
Meanwhile, the 74M Biden voters who wanted to get rid of Trump may be less motivated to go to the poll in 2024 — just like it happened in 2016 when Hilary Clinton ran against Trump.
Alternative Step 3 — A Trump is a Trump
Even if Donald Trump himself decides not to run in 2024 (or if he is banned from doing so by the Senate), why wouldn’t he use the total devotion of his Trump cultists to support another Trump candidate? We have already heard about Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump as potential GOP candidates for 2024.
We know that Donald Trump ran the White House like an extension of his private business, with numerous despotic nominations. Why wouldn’t he capitalize on a blindly loyal fan base to push another member of his mafia organization?
Therefore, it seems possible that all of what we feared in 2020 could still happen in a second term of “a” Trump as President of the United States of America. It has just been delayed by four years.
And when the Trump mafia takes back control of the White House, they may do it with a vengeance that could make it worse than if Trump had been re-elected this year, in 2020.
The worst may very well be yet to come — unless the American public remains extremely vigilant and finds a way to motivate voters in 2024.
“Let’s all take a moment to breathe. Relish the power of democracy at work. But, then we must continue the push toward progress. This is far from over.” ~Jay Sizemore in Politically Speaking
I lived in the USA for almost 10 years as a permanent resident with a ‘green card.’ Last month, I moved out of the USA to go back to Canada for numerous reasons related to those discussed in this article. It was a quick solution to my personal issues with where the USA is heading. However, I still fear that what is happening in the USA will have a significant and, unfortunately, negative impact on the planet my kids will inherit. Good luck to us all!
Today, let’s reach out to at least one friend to check out on them before it’s too late.
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