I was thinking the same thing
Actually, what I need a forward-looking thread for is rumination on how Trump might operate in office in this second term. That's what I've been mulling this morning.
At the center of my still-hazy thinking is wondering whether Trump will be motivated to do much of anything at all. First, he's already achieved the primary thing that motivated this run: Merchan now won't sentence him to prison time, and he can dismiss all the other cases. He's never been much motivated by the work of the job, except to create the impression that he's being successful. He won't be
campaigning any more, and I think that might make a difference. He's very motivated by seeking people's approval, but the consequential form of approval is being elected and he can't shoot for that again. (There will maybe be some idle talk of repealing the 22nd amendment). He might invent some pretext for holding rallies, but it will probably feel a little flat because they'll be inconsequential. He'll mostly just want to golf and not be bothered, I would think.
I mean early on he'll end the war in Ukraine (by telling Zelensky we're not going to fund him any more, so seek the best deal he can with Russia). He'll bring peace to the middle east (since there has to be some point when Israel thinks it has achieved its military objectives, and that moment will fall during Trump's term; he'll be happy to package that as him ending the war that Biden couldn't). I think he'll have to make a show of deporting a bunch of people, but that may not prove as popular when people see it as it is when people think of it in the abstract, so if there's a PR downside, he'll just declare that issue solved and his followers will care as little as they care that the wall didn't get built.
He'll have no interest in grooming a successor or bolstering the R party. I'm not sure he thinks in terms of legacy, and to the extent that he does, he'll just tell himself that whatever happens during his term is the best in the history of the country, and maybe not actively go after very much.
I just think we might see a ton of golfing and not much attempt to get anything done. Now don't get me wrong, if I'm correct, a bunch of evil will get done by the people in whose hands he leaves the government.
But I just think he himself might default to his baseline laziness, again since just by winning he's achieved the primary objective he had for running in the first place.
Dunno.
, do we really need more impotent whinging (legit or not)?
