WHY A 2nd TERM FOR DONALD TRUMP WOULD BE A DISASTER

…What should be the Trump’s White House Portrait

As expected, as a re-election candidate, Trump has failed the re-election candidate interview

If you are over 50, you may remember when Ted Kennedy attempted to run as did both of his older brothers, John and his other brother Robert, who both ran for the US presidency.  

Of course, John had won the position and if Robert had not been killed, he was headed toward winning that same position.  It was later pretty much expected that this third brother, who was also involved in US politics, that he might also eventually give it a try.

But what happened early on to Ted when he decided to run, was similar to what recently happened to our current president.  This occurred while the president was being interviewed by one of his favorite supporters, Sean Hannity on Fox News.

First, I will give all of you the story about Ted. 

After he had announced that he was planning to run for president, it was time for all of the major American media outlets to interview the announced candidates.  Ted Kennedy was the favorite to be nominated because the current president, Jimmy Carter, was very unpopular in 1979, as he was up against astronomical gasoline prices from the Arab states of OPEC, and he was dealing with the Iran Embassy Hostage Crisis. 

Ted’s first interviews back in 1979 was with the well-known CBS reporter, Roger Mudd, and Roger started the interview by asking Ted the very simple question, “Why do you want to be president?”

The answer that Ted gave was what eventually became known as, “The day Ted Kennedy lost his chance to become the US President.”

Ted was totally dumbfounded by the question.  He then began to talk and he rambled on and on and basically never answered the question.  It became obvious that because he was the brother of two very successful politicians, one that was a loved president, another a brother that was expected to be as good as his brother John.  But it was obvious that Ted had never sat down and put together an answer to the basic question of why did he want to be president.  He obviously had just believed, “They did it, so can I.”

Needless to say, after that interview, his potential candidacy went nowhere. 

Ted Kennedy did go on to be one of the most successful, and long-term US Senators of Massachusetts, but there was never again an opportunity for him to be considered as a presidential candidate.

Now, you ask, how does that compare to Donald Trump, who already is the US President?

Well, in all re-election campaigns, presidential campaigns are often characterized as an extended job interview.  Imagine if you were interviewing a candidate for a job, you would probably asked him what he wanted to accomplish in the newly offered position.  In this case, the question to Trump was: “What would you want to do in your next term?

But when Trump answered this question from Sean Hannity who did ask him, “What are your top priority items for a second term?”  Trump reacted just as Ted had reacted to Roger Mudd’s question.

He rambled on an on without answering the question.

Here is what Trump said:  “Well one of the things that will be really great: You know, the word “experience” is still good. I always say talent is more important than experience, I’ve always said that. But the word “experience” is a very important word.

It’s a very important meaning. I never did this before, I never slept over in Washington. I was in Washington, I think, 17 times, all of a sudden I’m president of the United States, you know the story, I’m riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our first lady and I say, “This is great.”

But I didn’t know very many people in Washington, it wasn’t my thing. I was from Manhattan, from New York. Now I know everybody. And I have great people in the administration. You make some mistakes, like you know an idiot like Bolton, all he wanted to do is drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to kill people.”

Yep, that was Trump’s complete response to Sean's question.

If this were your job applicant, and this was his answer when you asked him, “What would you want to do if you got this position?”  Your reply to an answer like Trump’s would probably be something like: “Well, thanks for coming in, but don’t call us, we’ll call you.”

Through Trump’s hodgepodge stream of unconsciousness, there isn’t even the slightest attempt to answer the question of: “What does Trump want to do with a second term?” No one has any idea of what he said because the president himself doesn’t appear to have any idea.

While the president himself may not have much of a clue what he would do in a second term, the wannabees and grifters he has surrounded himself with, they certainly do. For instance, on the same day Trump held his so called “town hall” with Hannity on Fox News, his administration filed a brief urging the Supreme Court to nullify Obama’s Affordable Care Act.  This is an action that would take health coverage away from 23 million people in the middle of a pandemic.  It would also strip away everyone’s protections for pre-existing conditions and throw the entire American health-care system into chaos.

Even if that lawsuit should fail, a second Trump administration term would continue to undermine America’s health security.  It would seek to remove as many people as possible from Medicaid by establishing many onerous paperwork requirements.  This would make it more difficult for people to enroll in the Obamacare exchanges.  It would also advance Trump’s vision of a system as cruel and unforgiving in which people with means have coverage, as the middle class would live in a state of constant anxiety.  All poor people would be shown by the Trump administration that they were morally unworthy and they would be put through vigorous programs of suffering and humiliation.

While Trump himself may personally find that all pleasing, he only has the vaguest sense of the details of that agenda which is designed and executed by his far-right “worms” whom he has installed in many government agencies. In a second Trump term, we’d see all that nonsense play out in department after department: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would be promoting more pollution, the Labor Department would be working to destroy collective bargaining and today’s workers’ rights, the Commerce Department would be continuing its effort to manipulate the census, and so on, and so on.

The Supreme Court could have a 7-to-2 conservative majority at the end of a second Trump term, along with lower courts populated with hundreds more young far-right judges who could serve for decades.

Trump would just as enthusiastically pursue his adviser, Stephen Miller’s vision of a re-whitened America, and so much more.  Now that we have basically closed doors to asylum seekers and refugees, why not simply shut down immigration entirely? Or at least keep it to a small number of people coming from northern Europe.

And of course, in a second Trump term, the president would be more sure than ever that he could get away with anything. He wouldn’t need to ask foreign governments to help him win reelection, so why not ask them to simply pay him in cash?  If China wants a good trade agreement, perhaps they could give him a billion dollars, and funnel it through a new Trump casino in Macau.

Seriously, who’s going to stop him?  Mitch McConnell, or any group of GOP US Senators?  I don’t think so.

Certainly not Attorney General William Barr, who would no doubt stick around for the entire next four years.  He would intervene in every case that involves one of the president’s many criminal friends and associates, and he would purge the Justice Department of anyone who shows troubling signs of real integrity.

One thing a second Trump term would not feature is any real legislating.  Republicans would surely try to pass another round of tax cuts for wealthy people and corporations, but that would be difficult if they don’t have complete control of Congress.

And they won’t. 

If Trump does win in November, it will not be in a landslide election that sweeps Republicans in on his coattails. It will be by a hair.  In fact, chances are that if he were to win, it would once again be by squeaking out an electoral college victory while millions more people vote for his opponent, just like they did for Hillary.  Democrats would hold the House and could win the Senate, and if not in 2020, then in 2022.

The Democrats would continue to investigate him, and he would continue to act as though Congress were inherently illegitimate and had no right to subpoena the administration, demand documents or ask for any testimony.

America’s influence and image in the world would continue to go into the toilet, making it far more likely that China would become the world’s superpower.

Throughout the country, social unrest would likely increase as Americans grow more and more frustrated with Trump’s toxic rules.  And of course, he would do everything in his power to increase division and promote hatred.  Not because he needs to in order to win another election, but because it’s just who Trump is.

His total mis-management of the Covid-19 pandemic will result in the deaths of a quarter-million or so of us long before the virus is brought under control.   If we’re lucky, there won’t be another crisis of that magnitude for him to screw up just as badly.

Back in 2016, Trump predicted that when he became president, “We’re going to win so much that you’re going to be sick and tired. You’re going to say, ‘Please, please, Mr. President, we’re sick and tired of winning.’”

Well, Trump was right about one thing: “We are certainly sick and tired.”

Now, can you just imagine how we’d feel after four more years.

I don’t pray that often, but I do for this to not happen.

Copyright G. Ater 2020