So, orange really is the new black. Who expected that to be so prophetic?
The best thing I’ve heard said, summing up the current state of affairs, came from a friend of mine who knows more science terminology than I care to know. He said what we have here is so much hysteresis.
Hysteresis has very little to do with the similar looking word hysteria. My friend wasn’t referring at all to hysteria. He was pointing out the lags between causes and effects. Hysteresis is a word for that kind of thing, like the lags between the temperature changes and your thermostat flipping the heater on and off. It has more to do with the concept “pregnant pause” than hysteria.
Trump is president-elect, not president-in-fact. He’s on track to be president.
On Jan. 20, 2017, assuming nothing as strange as his own election itself intervenes to prevent it, Trump will be inaugurated and his staff and cabinet will begin to be installed.
Then what?
We don’t really know. The man lied all through his campaign. We can’t know what he will do based on what he’s said, because he lies.
Lying is his best feature. A lot of people voted for him because he lies openly, unlike other liars, who try to hide their lies.
We also can’t know what he’ll do because we don’t know what tools he will have at his disposal. And by tools at his disposal I mean the congresspeople and senators who may fall in line with him.
Right now the Senate stands at 52 Republican, 48 Democrat. But that’s not the tool to non-tool composition. The election of Donald Trump strained Republican unity. Will it snap? Will three or more current Republicans decide to fight Trump initiatives? Or even switch parties? We can’t know.
It’s all that not knowing that is the biggest problem the country has to face during the next two or three or maybe even four months. We know who he is but don’t know what he will do. Even if you think you know what he will do, you can’t know how it will get done.
For example, the original claim was that Muslims would be barred from immigrating into the country, until “we sort it out.” Then that was changed to say that instead all people from certain unspecified “terrorist-connected” countries, regardless of religion, will be barred. Then, that proposal was dropped right around the time of the election. Then it was reinstated.
So what will happen? Will it be all of the above, none of the above, or whatever the liar can get away with? Will it happen in the first week, by executive order, or will it be legislated into effect after a month or two, when the tools have been lined up?
How far will he go in reversing the civil rights acts and decisions of the last half century? If it’s OK to grope women without consent, where does that leave Title IX?
A few other reactions:
If you’ve never been homeless and want to know what it feels like the first time, it feels a lot like having voted for anyone but Trump and seeing him win, and immediately wondering what’s going to happen to you and your family. The doubts are the same. “What did I do to deserve this?” “What could I have done to prevent it?” “But, but, I was paying my rent, my taxes, etc. What do you mean there’s a new landlord?” “It’s not my fault.”
By the way, that’s true. It’s not your fault.
One refreshing feature of a Trump presidency is, we aren’t likely to have to endure a lot of tiresome phony piety. No one expects him to tell us he owes his success to the Creator. He doesn’t owe God anything; he may even sue God for damages if he encounters any setbacks.
It’s great to know that any White male with a rich father to loan him millions can be a successful real estate failure many times over, a reality TV star, brag about his ability to get away with groping women and finally be president without having ever read the Constitution.
In years to come we can look forward to the many others who will be inspired by Trump’s outstanding example.