Thankfully, I didn’t write a piece about who would win the presidency. My gut was undecided. I felt like a debater who can easily advocate the pro and con of an issue but can’t make a conclusive case either way.
I had no trouble finding things that appalled me about President-Elect Trump, but Vice President Kamala Harris remained a mystery to me right up to yesterday. Her unfavorables were high. President Biden’s too. How was she going to get out of the hole?
The Democrat party had gone too far. It’s presumed sympathy for people who have been dealt a tough hand caused it not to take the border restraints seriously. Then, at the last minute, they did, but it was too late.
The Afghanistan debacle made the default reaction to President Biden disabling. When trends and reality (like inflation) turned south, default goodwill did not minimize the political downside.
And vanity caused the President, against almost universal doubt, to insist he could run and win again. And, lead the Country for another four years. Regardless of great progress in elder care, four more years was a Biden dream and certainly not a national wish. Forced to step down, one presumes his operatives engineered a Harris elevation. Operatives don’t lead; they advise, and those that are too many to count in Washington often have tin ears.
So what does President-Elect Trump do? Does he treat this as a popular mandate? Does he act as if there is no Congress? As if there are not restraining laws that the Courts will enforce? Or does he take his victory as a chance to write a better final chapter in a (admit it) remarkable political career?
If the oddsmakers take a coffee break from the latest sports betting, they will probably all concur that the President-Elect, with his cadre of malcontents, will overplay his hand. Yeah, like the Democrats for the last three years. Thank you Bernie Sanders.
Maybe just maybe Trump has figured out that he has a historic opportunity. An opportunity to convert a populist movement into something that will outlast him. That will eventually be known for principles more than rallies. But, I wouldn’t bet on it.
Can We Be Serious?
Organizations that rail against how much money the Federal government spends beyond what it raises need to remove the accountants and dreamers and become a down and dirty political force. We are now at $35,886,323,865,905 trillion dollars in debt (national debt clock at 9:35 am on November 6th). At that moment, the debt per person was calculated to be $106,453.
If this excess cannot be converted into a potent political issue it is because politics and its so-called leaders have no imagination. Or, that we the American electorate, have lost the capacity to be serious.
Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.
