The far left wants to take over, and some of them would settle for just creating massive destruction. But they don't have the numbers and in their cold little hearts they know it isn't their time. There are those who want to force the state to overreach and become fascist. They might get their wish. But it won't help with an authentic revolution. It won't serve to win over the average American. It isn't a workable scheme. But it won't be a fun time for the country. It is my hope that it provides us with the national motivation to learn about the toxic nature of progressivism. Only that will provide a real cure for our woes. The right is fractured. It was before this. Now there is a relatively new faction: The Donald Trump Populist/Nationalism Movement. We don't know how successful, or how fumbling and absurd his administration will be. He is surrounding himself with people that no one needs to fear (even if they don't like any given one of them). The concrete steps this presidency will attempt early on, and might be successful at are as follows: 1. Appoint a supreme court justice that will be close (or actually be) an Originalist. That would be very good since the constitution is the only real protection we have against many kinds of government craziness. If Trump jumps off the tracks and nominates someone that is A.) a progressive, or B.) a Right Wing nut job, or C.) just incompetent or a crony... well, then I suspect that congress will sadly see that they need to be the grownups and to give up on the idea of Trump the Savior. 2. Secure the southern border. This should be done and shouldn't even be an issue. The issue is what kind of legislation comes next to say who can come in, and legislation about who is already here. If Trump abandons even a pretense at building his "wall" then he will lose support from his base and much of his political capital will disappear over night. I expect that he will at least make some form of start on the "wall." 3. He is really big on infrastructure. I've posted about this somewhere else on ROR in the last few days. I hope that the conservatives reign him in on this - it is just progressive foolishness that doesn't stimulate the economy as much as the taxes or borrowing it requires would hurt us, and it doesn't create as many jobs as would be lost from the private sector when they pay for the boondoggles. 4. Revoke executive orders. That's all good. And should happen day one - if it doesn't, we want to know why. 5. Tax reform. This, along with corporate reparations and a massive reduction of regulations will be very good for our economic health. It will also be a place where we can watch and see if the special interests and the establishment capture Trump to any significant degree. He will stop bringing in refugees, at least for a while. But I see no dangers at this point. I think he is enthralled with the idea of Trump going down in history as truely great - breaking the gridlock - accomplishing many things. He will make deals with anyone to serve that end. As with every president there will be unforseen events that take him places and occupy him in ways that have nothing to do with his proposed agenda. The Democrat party is very broken right now. In terms of organization it had several major parts: The Clinton Machine that was widespread, respected, even feared and everyone supported it's ends as good and as inevitable. That's now rubble. There is a very large, loosely knit set of private organizations that are spread out and aren't really an "organization" but rather a loose federation of groups that are just on the same side. Soros funded groups, liberal media stars, political action groups, special interest groups like BLM, etc. There are the ardent supporters of various progressive ideals and they are stunned. But many of them were already disallusioned because Bernie Sanders seemed so much more authentic and pure but he was trashed. They have to find their direction. Are they going to try to move more to the center and try to recapture the middle-class working stiffs that left for Trump? Are they going to find a pure Progressive like Elizibeth Warren to be their new leader? That would be a bet on going left and the hell with what is practical. I don't have a clue as to what the Democrat party will look like in a few years. In the end, the progressives will win (note: Progressivism is an ideology and a movement - and with a powerful life apart from any party). Trump will have been a temporary delay in the march of progressivism - unless the voting public becomes educated to what Progressivism really is. There isn't much time to do that and it doesn't look likely. There aren't at this time any charismatic leaders who would step in and replace Trump. And Trump is only partially effective in opposing progressivism. He doesn't undertand it, but does do a good job of spitting in the face of political correctness - and that is a good thing. Each year there are far more young people who graduate from universities indoctrinated with various social justice/globalism/redistributive propoganda than those coming out with even a commonsense understanding of the political world - and only a tiny, tiny number who are liberatarian. Tim, the far left creates fear as a motivator. They would use violence if they thought it would work because they believe it is justified. But they know they are still too a small number. They work to use the media to make themselves seem to be more and to seem powerful and to make the threats and imagined dangers seem larger than they are. My opinion is that there is nothing catastrophic to worry about near term (the next few years) but that the long term is different story. Trump is a wild card. But as a variable he is more likely to fall between doing a number of good things and not too many bad things and the bad things won't be worse that a Bush or Christie or Hucklebe would have done. At the other extreme, Trump might self-destruct in the sense of being unable to manipulate the arms of the state, being driven by his personality quirks and not be able to get much done, and losing his base over time. I think that it is more a time to be sad than frightened.
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