Must a Trump Presidency be a crisis in governing?

It doesn’t have to be. It’s up to him.

I fully expect another Kent State Incident in the near future.

Why? Are there widespread violent protests on campuses in the States?

It depends how he governs. If he tries to set himself up as an autocratic populist dictator then yes, that would be a crisis.

He starts out with record low approval ratings. If he continues to flout tradition and just plain decency and exercises autocratic control, expect things to get worse. It has been a while since there have been massive displays of civil disobedience. Standing Rock shows that it can be an effective tool. When the votes stack up against you, what else is there to do?

It doesn’t have to be. We willl see how it goes. Everyone in government should be doing their jobs, and that shouldn’t include being so negative it is destructive. I’m fine with our representatives being oppositional where warranted, but not oppositional for the sake of political or personal gain.

Yes. Basically. You’re all fucked. Good luck with that.

Nah, it’s going to be comedy gold, the gift that just keeps on giving.

Everyone in government should be doing their jobs

Should be.

Republicans get elected by saying government doesn’t work, making it not work, and pointing, “See! See! Government is bad!”

It’s intentional.

Yes, it must be because he seems like he wants it to be.

We have elected as leader of Anerica and the free world the most politically inexperienced and probably least well-informed man in my lifetime, and one who to boot is thin-skinnrd, vindictive, and insensitive. And he in turn he is surrounding himself with like-minded people also without proven governmental experience. It doesn’t bode well.

@Pachy I don’t so much mind the lack of government experience as much as I do the ties to the corporate power structure. You just have to look at our Congress to see what good government experience does for the ability to function for the greater good.

@rojo, I won’t debate this further because I’m sick to my soul thinking/talking about Trump, but I do want to say that I mind deeply about his lack of political experience. Getting things accomplished in government (even Congress, as Republican and dysfunctional as it is) is largely about having a thorough understanding of how the system, like it or not, works, not only domestically but internationally. AND being cool-headed and able to compromise. Not having those critical qualities plus countless others will be of incalculable detriment to Trump, and the rest of us will suffer.

I don’t buy, and never will, the argument that we needed “an outsider” without political experience to run our country, or that a businessman, even an honest one which Trump is not, knows more about running a country than an insider with government experience.

I’ve been trying to talk myself out of it being a crisis since the election. Really.

Looking for any indication that the gravity of the position has registered with the soon to be president. Looking for an understanding that he won, and that battle is over. Looking for him to put people around him that compliment and extend his knowledge and skills, to cover the holes.

I hate taking a negative view. I had myself talked into different ways it could all work out as “normal” rather than historically memorable for the wrong reasons, most have either passed the boards or show zero indication of actually happening.

At some point we have to admit it’s this bad.

We’ve elected a professional troll and from all appearances, he either thinks that’s what people want from him and he’s content to play the part, or he’s truly narrow enough to believe everything is a business negotiation and he needs to maintain leverage in all things.

If I had to draw up betting odds right now on the gist of the Trump presidency:

40% he’s allowed to do his song and dance while other Republican leaders run most of the government. He tweets, he “saves” jobs by the hundreds. He tours and gets angry at the media, but he doesn’t make much policy. Everyone saves face by “doing what they do best”... this might have already been negotiated. Silver lining: only a crisis for the top job and the US position in the world… maybe even repairable… (hey I’m feeling pretty good now)

25% he’s impeached in the first two and a half years… I think there’s always going to be plenty of evidence if needed, so it’s really just whether or not enough Republicans distance themselves. I think those meetings have already happened and it will come down to public opinion. You can’t tell me John McCain and Paul Ryan don’t already have an exit plan. Silver lining: at least Mike Pence actually believes in his positions. I disagree with just about every one, but hey, it’s something.

20% he’s actually able to maintain full momentum and makes the country more like he’s promised. More like America in the early 20th century and 40’s – 50’s. This lines up with his focus on manufacturing, and xenophobia, but I can’t help thinking of robber barons and world war. Silver lining: This ignores history, but at least people get what they voted for.

10% The presidency just becomes another notch up the celebrity ladder. Publicity is what’s important, so not much happens that isn’t a big media focus. ACA gets repealed, because that’s the biggest story, construction on a wall starts (to be finished at some undetermined future time), but other than that we have four years of Russia-related news and innumerable photo ops and then he goes away to run his suddenly larger businesses. Silver lining: only 4 years?

5% Actually undeniably historically tragic. War, America being isolated, the use of nuclear weapons. Things like that.

Is that a crisis?

I don’t know how other people see this progressing, and I’d actually love to hear a realistic best case scenario that doesn’t make this at least a crisis for the presidency. I’m not saying the position was anything sacred, but it did feel like there was a certain esteem for the the president internationally that doesn’t seem to be conferred on Trump.

Ironic that 8 years ago many of the republicans were talking about how worried they were that Obama had very little political experience.