@semurg30:
One silver lining…Trump is going to gut the Republican Party.
Believe it or not, even though I dislike the outcome of the election, I'm not too worried. The biggest loss for me is the Supreme Court. Had we Dems won, it really would have allowed a way to cement a lot of change in America for generations to come.
I'm less worried about Trump. Republicans are NOT unified. They are a majority, but their factions are not on the same page, and I don't think they will get there. Trump is already making mistakes that will open the eyes of his supporters to the massive con job he pulled on them. One of his main rallying cries was that he was going to "Drain the swamp" yet a lot of the names being floated for positions of importance in his Cabinet are the very swamp he is supposed to be draining. He's supposed to be surrounding himself with "Only the best", but the caveat to that is "Only the best, that he can get", as many people from both parties won't consider working for him. This idea of appointing family members is flat out nepotism. Yes, HRC was corrupt. But, Trump supporters, are these leaked, unconfirmed conversations that are happening any better, assuming a 180 isn't done on them? Or is it better simply because he's a corrupt RINO doing it instead of a corrupt Democrat? I think most of us knew they were BOTH corrupt, so it wasn't a disqualifier for either. Neither was lying, as they were both liars.
In some ways, all of this could play to the Dem's advantage. Trump and Co feel they have a mandate. That's really not the case. The Dems actually picked up seats after the elections even though they didn't wrestle away control (don't quote me on that, I read that somewhere but haven't confirmed it). There are still a lot of Repubs who are wary of Trump, given that he's really a Dem who simply used the Republican platform to launch his White House campaign. He really has very few values in common with Republicans. Deportation isn't going to happen (at least not these mass roundups like he described and instilled in his voters), as no politician really wants what Trump described on the campaign trail, with the exception of my single issue Senator, Mr. Sessions. Obamacare will NOT be repealed on Day 1. They have to come up with an alternative, and get it up and running, before they ever repeal anything. (If they do repeal on Day 1, it will be symbolic only, and people will be grandfathered into current Obamacare coverage until the new alternative is up and running. That could take years, as this is the US government we are talking about.) Gay Marriage is safe until a court case works its way through the completely backlogged court system and winds up before a Supreme Court that has had at least 2 appointments filled. (One appointment just points the court back at 5-4 with the same make up that decided for Gay Marriage. An additional appointment is needed to actually tilt the court, and it needs to be a Repub replacement of a retiring Dem.) It's the same for Roe vs. Wade and abortion. Building a wall and getting Mexico to pay for it was just a pipedream to begin with.
Trump made too many promises that he will not be able to keep. They were either impossible from the get go, or he needed bigger coat tails than what he got to be able to force these things through, assuming he believed in his own ideas in the first place. I, for one, am NOT convinced he believed them. I think it was just his way of motivating/pandering for votes, just like HRC did. It amazes me that people bought his crap hook, line, and sinker. If he does try to force things through, he's going to be a one term President, as he is on a short leash, even if he doesn't realize it. We are going to have just as much gridlock as we had before (possibly even more, since most Dems are not even open to giving him a "honeymoon"/chance from the start.) I'm not sure how the right doesn't see all this.
All this controversial stuff is for the birds. The walk back of his campaign rhetoric has already started, as we are already hearing that major parts of Obamacare (outlawing pre-existing conditions, kids on coverage until age 26, arguably the two most useful, costly, and important parts) may be kept. If he's looking to make good on a campaign promise, he needs to focus on jobs to maintain those "Blue Wall" states he flipped. His infrastructure idea would be a place he could start from, but, (surprise!) that isn't anything Repubs truly want, or it would have been done at some point during the last 8 Obama years, as it is NOT a new idea. Obama called for it in at least the last 3 State of the Union addresses. Besides, Repubs don't want to flat out confirm for voters that they were playing obstruction politics with the economy for the last 8 years by not allowing a large infrastructure program way back then.
To be honest, I can't even think of a safe place for Trump to start trying to "Make America Great Again" from. It's too early to start talking about tax cuts. Besides, he probably doesn't want to use what little "goodwill" or political capital he may have post election on that as a starting point for his presidency. That's something that wouldn't impact until 2018 at the earliest, likely 2019 if Dems fight it. Trump has basically just jumped out of the plane and landed behind enemy lines. He's on rough terrain filled with landmines ready to explode. There's no way he's going 4 years and not set one off, especially given the start he's already off to - politics as usual with Cabinet appointments from an "outsider" who's already learning to be an "insider", and a helping of nepotism to go along with it. Dems just need to make sure they don't take a beating in 2018 or mess up 2020, as that is the census year and they need that to clean up all the congressional district gerrymandering from 2010 that allowed Repubs to start taking over the state level.
I'm interested in hearing what Trump supporters really think he's going to be able to accomplish. Not what he said he would mind you, as what he said is already being walked back by none other than the man himself in some cases. Do you really think he's the change agent he sold himself as? That's what Obama was too, no? Republicans blocked Obama. Do you really think Dems won't block Trump? How does he escape gridlock without considerably more Republican unity, assuming no Democratic wipeout in 2018? Moreover, where can he start that won't explode in his face?
