Has Tom Hanks packed his bags yet?
No, because the report that he would leave America if Donald J. Trump won was satire. But there was a long list, even back in 2016, of American assholes entertainers who would rather switch than fight.
None of those deep thinkers left.
Not even Bruce Springsteen, who joked about leaving if Trump won, just as Trump joked about leaving if he lost.
So Trump was elected in 2016, served four years, the Republic survived, and then he got fired.
And now he’s back, the once and future president. The same people who predicted a catastrophe eight years ago are on their platforms merchandising doom.
Is it different this time?
A little, yes.
Last time Trump was surrounded by actual patriots, who put a brake on some of the nonsensical and dangerous things he wanted to do. Many in that inner circle, starting with his own vice president, said they could not support his candidacy.
The fear is they will be replaced by Trump sycophants, who will let him run wild.
I understand the fear, and I understand the Constitution, which Trump does not respect, will get a severe stress test.
What is the bulwark behind the Constitution?
The U.S. Supreme Court, which has a Trump-appointed conservative majority.
Yes, they reversed Roe, which had been precedent for 50 years.
Yes, they expanded presidential immunity, which had always shielded presidents in executing their official acts.
The court also ruled against states trying to remove him from the ballot. It was right in that case, but also ruled against him in others, such as this election challenge.
The conservatives are strict constructionists, meaning they believe the Constitution means what it says, and the foundation of that document is to protect citizens against its government.
Should Trump try to undermine actual, delineated rights (abortion is not a delineated right), the conservatives will stop him.
Am I sure?
No. It is my belief.
One great danger of Trump’s presidency will be his attempt to infiltrate Trump zombies true believers into all levels of the federal and state governments, men and women, such as election deniers, who turn to him for truth.
They are the danger, and they can’t be fought from Canada or Mexico. They must be fought from here.
And should be, using the very laws that Trump might debase. Only cowards run from a fight.
I believe our institutions are stronger than Trump, or the most unhinged of his supporters.
Yes, that is hope.
The people who called him a Nazi used fear, and it did not work.
—-
Now, how did this happen? Why did a majority of voters go with Trump, and against the coastal elites? For the first time he won the popular vote. (Which means the election wasn’t rigged, in Trump’s mind. It is only rigged when he loses.) It was the first time a Republican candidate won the popular vote since 2004.
He actually won among Latino men, who semed to understand what many Democrats did not: When Trump ranted against illegals, they knew he wasn’t talking about them.
Immigration was the second most important issue to most Americans, following the economy/inflation, which was No. 1. Bidenomics was a bummer.
Trump triumphed among a working class sick and tired of handouts to the undeserving, and an obsession with proper pronouns.
The why of the loss will spark a debate among Democrats, like what followed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss.
There is a split between the progressive Woke Left, and the traditional moderates. A chasm, really.
The Woke Left, anti-white male and anti-Israel, will argue Kamala Harris should have run farther Left.
The moderates will say she did not make a convincing case that she was a centrist. That was my major hesitation before I finally decided to cast my vote for her. It was my hope that she would be moderate, as it is my hope our institutions will be stronger than Trump.
I am anti-Woke — meaning what it has become — and have written about it several times, such as here and here.
I see it as a danger, and I always believed I was in the majority. This election seems to prove it.
Americans looked past Trump’s glittering faults and gave him an historic victory, in part, I think, because of his rejection of anything that is Politically Correct. That accounted for his strong support among non-college educated males. Two-thirds of Americans do not have a college degree. The only thing they know about the Ivy League is weak football teams, and ugly cheerleaders.
Middle Americans ignored Trump’s felony convictions and his implication in Jan. 6, along with the Democrats’ use of celebrities and the Obamas.
Keep in mind that even where Democrats won, their level of support dropped.
The Far Left will paint this rejection of Kamala as a demonstration of America’s innate misogyny and racism. But they must explain why a majority of Americans voted for Hillary (who lost) and Barack, who won. Americans ignored gender and color.
This time, Americans sent a message.
Democrats are too far left.
Will Democrats heed it?
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Here's my problem with all this: electing a remorseless convicted felon who tried to overturn the results of a fair election and then lied about those results for four years, a remorseless convicted sexual assaulter, a man facing felony counts in four other criminal actions, some of them extremely severe, a man who by law will not even be allowed to visit many of the foreign countries we call allies, etc. This tells me that the people who voted for him are either incredibly ill-informed or simply as nasty as he is. Someone wrote, "This is no longer about HIS character and morals. It is about OURS." And Americans failed this litmus test miserably.
I hope you are right about the guardrails, Stu. But I fear for the loss of the following things:
1) Social Security, which the Republicans have been after for literally decades. You've heard them say it out loud many times. We are already facing a roughly 60% cut in payments in 2034 if the fund is not replenished. Experts say Trump's policies will knock at least two years off that estimate, and we'd be looking at 2032 or earlier.
2) Healthcare, which the Republicans have been talking about upending since Obama. The "existing conditions" protections are in grave danger here.
3) NATO, which Trump constantly speaks against. Without U.S. support of this vital organization, we could see a worldwide flameout in the not-too-distant future, as Russia will be greatly emboldened.
4) The economy, which will tank if an individual like Elon Musk is put in charge. You heard what he said. Do you think he is lying?
5) The rights of women, which the religious right (Trump partners in crime) have been hacking away at for decades. If he gets two more Supreme Court nominees, a distinct possibility, these rights will not be restored in my lifetime.
6) Ukraine, which Trump will refuse to support, thereby handing it to Russia and strengthening their position in the world and weakening Democracies everywhere.
7) The economic success we are currently having, which WILL be impacted if Trump both increases tax breaks for the wealth and the corporations and put his ridiculous tariffs in place.
8) Vaccinations and medicine in general, which will surely suffer if an idiot like JFK Jr. gets his filthy hands in the middle of this stuff.
9) A rogue military, should Trump do what he said he is going to do and installs people loyal to HIM and not to the Constitution of the United States.
These are serious worries, and most of these things are talked about in Project 2025, which to date seems to be the only platform Trump has come forth with. This will play itself out as we see how many Project 2025 people wind up in his cabinet. My fear is this will be a VERY high number indeed.
I really don't wanna have to say "I told you so" on any of these things. I want to be wrong in the worst way. And you better all damned well hope I am.
To paraphrase a line from The Hunt for Red October, "You arrogant asses! You've killed US!"
In brief, DON’T blame Americans. Blame Democrats. They moved too far left.
Importantly, they could not sell the economy being good (which it is, but they couldn’t sell it), nor could they sell the border, which Biden wrecked. YOU may not have felt threatened, but a LOT of Americans did (including many who won’t admit it.)
As to your fears, I acknowledge them and mentioned some.
I blame Americans and agree with Freeze that the voting public failed miserably in the task of electing a responsible individual to lead this country. Voting for this grotesque candidate and his toadies in Congress because you don't like men competing in women's sports is beyond misguided and stupid. I don't like them in women's sports either, nor do I approve of porous borders, stupid pronoun pronouncements, but I knew enough not to elect a woman hating, racist criminal to the highest office in the land. This is on the American people.
vox populi vox dei
Andrew T you are so full of shit people can smell you over the internet. You did not say that when the orange-skinned POS lost in 2020.
The American people made the right choice. Wanda is an out of touch know it all who would never speak to the common man. She thinks she’s above them. Fuck you Wanda. MAGA😂
Amen!
He ain't wrong 👆
Well said
Wanda, this definitely is on the American people.
How did yesterday go for you? Hopefully you did not run into too many idiots.
You are wrong as usual. None of that is going to happen. You are one paranoid idiot.
The Democratic elite are out of touch with most of the American people. Their stupid policies from day one destroyed the poor and the middle class. And they didn’t care. People remember how good things were under Trump and rejected the democrats big time last night. Trump will do a great job for the people again and will leave when his term has ended. It’s time for all the hating and lying to stop and do what is right for the country.
Well put Daniel, I Agree!
After the struggle to pay your bills, put food on the table, pay high gasoline prices, pay increased utility taxes, pay high real estate taxes or high rent prices, I think it was time for a change. Let's see what the new team can do. I don't like name calling it gets us nowhere. I worked the polls for 13 hours yesterday and spoke to many Republican, Democrats and Independent's and many Democrats and Independent's voted for President Trump. By the end of the night in our polling spot Trump won by almost 3 to one. It's time to come together and see if we can help to make things better for all. God Bless America and God Bless President Donald Trump.
Good advice JR. Thanks for sharing. I have already had two "friends" block/drop my phone number because I answered honestly when they asked me who I voted for. (and no, there was no gloating/bragging/drama from my side the morning after). I see there was/is a protest already happening at city hall. Its makes me weak and sad that politics became so political. :0|
If your supposed friends drop or block you for your political views they were never your friends. I don't talk politics with my friends, I feel who I back or vote for is my and only my private business. Rlewisphilly keep the faith.
Stu is right, the Democratic party leans too far left. But, now we're stuck with the far right lunatic fringe trumpicans, where fairness & sanity are considered sins. GOD didn't send trump💩, Satan did. The Great Trickster fooled half of America into voting for a phony Christian demagogue. Daniel & JR are "useful idiots" for Satan. GOD please save from the evil, hate, lies, and bigotry the trump/vance administration will perpetrate upon us. I do hope that the obese, demented trump doesn't stroke out while in office. Vance, spokesman for Project 2025 is a true believer of that filth. He IS an extremist who fervently believes in the white Christian Patriarchy.
P.S. Stu is also right about the economy. America has the world's best economy; even the Republican Wall Street Journal had to admit that.
GDP went up again 3rd qtr 2.8%.
Trumpicans insane economic plan would cause economic devastation.
Hey Stu, when you & the execrable Christine Flowers talk about strict constructionists on SCOTUS you don't realize many of the Founding Fathers like George Washington, Alexander Hamilton & John Adams weren't 'strict constructionists'. They took broad interpretations of the Federal gov't's power.
Now what scares me is 👹trump could nominate even more 🤡 to SCOTUS. America could be stuck with an anti-democratic extreme right Supreme Court.
With all due respect, all this faux analysis and “I like his policies” and state of Wokeism and pulse-of-people nonsense is irrelevant to the real reasons he won.
His entire campaign was based on hate, fear lies and lawlessness. It’s a very old and successful playbook. Don’t take my word for it, check the library. And, he worked it to perfection. We are not the first to fall for it and we won’t be the last.
There are numerous examples. Two stand out.
When the VP candidate says the opponent “can go to hell” and the presidential candidate wraps up his campaign saying - let me get this exact - “It starts with a B, but I won’t say it,” adding “I want to say it,” we know what’s going on.
I lived in Texas for a few years. One of my favorite sayings:”Don’t piss on my boots and say it’s raining.”
My boots are soaked, not with analysis and strategy, but with hate, fear, lies and lawlessness.
I know the difference.
Bill, you’re “proof” is he is crud? That is a given.
Kamala underperformed across the nation. Dems dropped everywhere.
I say it’s because Dems have gone too far left and woke.
You know Woke LA DA George Gascon got kicked out of office 2-1 and an anti crime prop passed in liberal Cali 70-30. Those are numbers. They support my opinion. What supports yours, other than the same fearmongering you accuse him of?
Republicans win the White House, win the Senate, and may win the House. There is a message there for the ultra-Left, but they are deaf to it. Dennis Praeger said it best, "Americans were not ready to lose their country."
And if the Dems had run Michelle Obama instead of Kamala Harris, Stu, YOU may have been the crow eater!
I don't single out the "woke" (God, I hate that term, and I don't know why), nor the elites, another highly misused term by the MAGA crowd. I hold both of what I term Progressives and MAGAs as equally disdainful extremists. When, oh when, will common sense return to politics? Probably not in my lifetime. In this blog you characterize the Constitution of having enough to withstand any onslaught this administration will throw at it. As you, I hope you're right, but I don't have confidence to believe it. As you know, I'm a macro economics wonk, and the markets are already factoring in higher inflation, exactly what the voters said they didn't want. Again, I hope I'm wrong, but keep in mind, the recent housing shortage, we're going to reduce the home construction workforce by 25% through deportations. Talk about an inflation and price buster!
Why don’t we toss out all the catch phrases, Woke, MAGA, BLM, Elitist, etc. they are only used to separate people.
Both sides use them and both campaigns ran on hate and fear-mongering.
You could not script two more horrible choices for president.
For me a registered democrat, the party was warned against pushing unwanted candidates in 2016, but failed to look in the mirror when examining what went wrong.
They did the same in 2020 and pulled off a win and attempted to push Biden upon the voters when pols were indicating the citizens overwhelmingly felt the country was going in the wrong direction.
Again they anointed an unwanted candidate, who indicated she would follow the same direction as Biden and the citizens responded as they warned.
Now we as citizens can come together and unite the country or continue labeling and separating people with labels and fear-mongering.
After hearing the continuing legal BS from Letitia James, Bragg et al.
My suggestion is Trump call Biden and say “Joe I’m going to suggest to you an opportunity to save face, you pardon all Jan 6, call off all the legal dogs (NY, GA), all of you show up at inauguration and when he (Trump) gets in he pardons Hunter, ……bury the hatchet, let’s move on…. OR you and the others will be sorry you didn’t take this opportunity, ….!!!
D’s MUST call off ALL legal & RESIST ….OR NO DEAL!!!!
Also suggest ALL those who continue to bash Trump and re-hash old news-move on.
Here is a question to ponder, Stu...If you are woke but already awake, have you already awoken...lol
Yesterday’s Presidential election made me sad. But, a Harris victory would have also made me sad. Either alternative proves the truth of the anonymous comedian’s comment, “ We should always vote for the best person; but that person is rarely on the ballot.”
It is now time for the vitriol (spewed by politicians of all stripes, the media and among family & friends) to stop. The voting process functioned properly without chaotic claims of rigging or theft. Whether you and I are heartened, disheartened or joylessly resolved (like me) to the outcome, the depth, breadth and heterogeneity of Trump’s victory is unassailable.
The winners should not gloat and the losers should not feel victimized. No more name-calling or ad hominem child’s play. The professional politicians must lead – not by going on the offensive (and being offensive) but joining in healthy debate about realistic and practical solutions to the problems that confound our great Country. Like a well-balanced see-saw, workable results are best achieved by equal measures of give and take.
Election-eve polling established that 71% of voters wanted a change. The election outcome (for President, Senate and House of Representatives) proves that the people obtained change. The personnel have changed. Will the outcomes also change? The people also demanded, and continue to demand, a return to civility and respect for differences of opinion. Most often, we agree upon the issues and general outlines of solutions. The devil always lurks in the details. One over-arching mandate of this election - find good solutions; and they will not be perfect solutions. The quest for the latter is always the enemy of the former.
We will now find out if the Ds and Rs (candidates and their surrogates) really meant their campaign messaging: each side claiming to fight to preserve democracy as a US institution. Trump was more widely appealing than Harris. He and his team bear the heavy burden of leadership. The Ds must decide if they will provide counterpart energy to achieve mutual successes or if they will opt to disrupt in the name of positioning themselves for 2026 and 2028. Our current problems need to be cured now. If all the rowers are on one side of the boat, it’ll move in relentless circles. A crew of 10 on one side and 9 on the other, with one coxswain, will move the boat forward – albeit slight to the right for the next 4 years.
The Ds now have the opportunity to prove that they fought for democracy. They can respect the result and genuinely commit to work (and actually work) with the incoming Administration, instead of a redo of Trump’s 1st term when the Ds did everything in their power to marginalize him, followed by relentless efforts to undermine his ability to run for a 2nd term. Sure, the Ds won’t agree with all policy details and the Rs won’t agree with all implementation details offered by the Ds, but in their heart of hearts they mostly support many of the policies in their broad strokes.
As some of the left-tilting, fair-minded pundits said in the early morning hours, Trump (unencumbered by the responsibilities of functioning with a mind towards another term) may prove to be good. I personally believe (or, maybe it’s my hope and prayer) that his ego-driven strategy to go down as the best President in US history will lead him to actually make good decisions and achieve commendable results. He only needs the opposition to be fair, receptive & responsible, instead of vindictive and vitriolic. This can be a very positive 4 years. I do not believe (nor do I want to believe) that he will seek retribution. I think that he will enjoy bragging about being magnanimous. However, he can be easily goaded into crazed knee-jerk reactions against anyone who attacks him after his unquestioned success in this election. His handlers need to keep that temperament under control. He should simply laugh at anyone attempting to emasculate him, and repeat the statistics from the 2024 election victory. Those unvarnished statistics speak volumes.
As to the criminal cases hanging over his head, they should all be put on hold until he completes his upcoming term. Plenty of time thereafter for the appeals to occur…and possible sentencing thereafter. Frankly, if I were an appellate judge handling any of his criminal or civil cases, I would unilaterally put all of the cases on hold – whether he wants them iced or not. The world won’t come to an end if the lawsuits sit in the freezer for 4 years. That way – the public and adverse politicians can’t scream that Trump has his thumb on the scales of justice. The long arm of the law can effectively reach out for 4 years to then mete out justice.
And that, my friends, are my thoughts.