Great Expectations

 In a recent thread regarding the incoming administration of our 47th president of these here United States of America, Craig asked a good question about what to expect.  I've been trying to give it some thought, but I'm not sure I can answer it quite in the way he expected it might be answered.  I'll begin with Craig's own words in italicized quotes:

"Now that Trump has won, and won convincingly can we talk about expectations?"

A most reasonable endeavor.

"Given the fact that it sounds like He's much more prepared and in control of his transition process, and that he's assembled a good group of people to advise him, is it unreasonable to have high expectations for at least the first 2 years of his administration?"

 Don't know how we can measure "high" in this context.  I would say that it's enough to simply deal with whatever expectations we might have.  In doing so, I will likely regard some as "high" expectations relative to other expectations listed.

"What should the expectations be, given his previous experience, team, and promises?"  

I'll get to this later.

"I feel like he's set the expectations high and that failure to live up to those could be damaging both for his administration and for whoever the GOP nominee is in 2028."

 I disagree in that what he's set is not much different than what he set back in 2016...which is to Make America Great Again.  He got more detailed in what that means, such as to Make American Healthy Again, Strong Again, Safe Again...but I think that overriding goal of "Great Again" remains. 

"I want to be blown away by what happens early in his term, but want to balance that with being realistic."

 I was blown away in his first year after the 2016 election.  I fully expected him to be less than wonderful as president.  I'll be happy this time just seeing evidence he's working toward his overarching goal of Making American Great Again.  Based on what we know of  the guy, that's pretty much guaranteed.

"Given that you've been much more positive than I, what do you expect?" 

Well, I wasn't positive he was going to win, given the history and character of the Democrat Party.  But I was positive (and still am) that he's the better man for the job.  Indeed, far more true than it was in 2020.  So what do I expect?

(Note:  it's been about a week or so since I began this post.  Since then, much has happened.  With that in mind, what I "expectations" I now have are altered by what has happened in that time.  Just sayin'.)

To begin, I have to note that there's a fine line between what one expects, and for what one hopes to see happen.  Expectations are such as a parent expecting the child to behave, when indeed, the parent can't rightly expect the child will without the child having a history of good behavior.  Even then, a rational parent knows the best child will have his moments.  So the expectation is really a desire.  With that in mind, I can't at this point guaranteed which will better define my offering regarding what's to come.  I'm not Nostradamus, so there will always be more hope and desire than knowledge of what will be. 

In the general, however, I think I can easily state with extreme confidence that, as was the case in Trump's first term, he will indeed improve the state of the union in tangible, easily identifiable ways.  But that's low hanging fruit, because unlike the first time, the damage done by his predecessor is more obvious, more acute, more widely suffered and experienced.  It's almost impossible to believe he could possibly make things worse.  He's just not as stupid and incompetent as Biden or Harris.  He certainly proved himself more capable than Obama!

I expect that Trump will actually act to fulfill his campaign promises, though I can see one or two which were just add-ons he didn't need to propose, such as no taxes on overtime.  I see that as a really bad idea if we're going to continue taxing income.  I distinguish that from no taxes on tips, since I don't think tips are as much income as they are gifts.  I would say income is what one receives from one's employer, be that a restaurant owner or the party with whom an independent contractor has contracted to perform a service.  The employer works for the consumer.  The waitress works for the employer.  The consumer appreciates the service of the waitress and offers a gratuity.  It's a gift, as what one receives from family or friends on a special occasion, like a birthday or a holiday.  I hate that the feds think they can butt into such an arrangement as if they're entitled to a piece of the action.  But OT is between a employee and his employer and is just wages.  Salaried workers often have to work the same long hours and get nothing extra beyond the salary upon which the worker agreed in taking the gig.  And when one considers the massive hourly wage of the typical union worker, that's a lot of revenues we're losing during a time of massive national debt.  One could say the same regarding tips, but again, more like a gift from someone not one's employer. 

But I digress, as I may throughout what follows.

I expect that while Trump works to fulfill his campaign promises, he'll have more support from his administration.  Being more of a political neophyte the first time around, he's keen on not making the same hiring mistakes he made the first time.  At this point, we're already hearing of really good choices for his team.  A potential downside regards those who currently serving congressional terms.  I'm unclear if there's some standard for replacing someone who steps down to serve in a new president's administration.  Does the governor of the state represented by the congressman or senator scramble to have another elected by the people, or do they simply select someone to serve out the remaining portion of the person's term of office?  I've heard both.  If the former, it would suck for those coming from states with moron Dem governors.  If the latter, those blue states who are losing a GOP rep might replace that person with a Dem (though it seems less likely at the moment given how many battleground and blue states went for Trump).  In any case, most everyone I've heard selected by Trump are Trump supporters and likely to be on board with his vision of what's needed to MAGA. 

In the meantime, I expect that Dems will do everything they can to block the appointments where they have the ability to do so.  Matt Gaetz is clearly not a shoe-in.  Kevin McCarthy supporters will oppose him unless those supporters believe in the very real chance we have to make hay.  But I expect that Trump has second and third picks all lined up should obstruction be too tough to overcome for getting pick #1 put into place. 

We're already seeing Dems in government and the lefty media criticizing Trump picks, and that was easy to expect as well.  They also don't like the Hegseth pick, though given the people they tolerated in the Biden administration, we can easily pass of their objections as not a matter of judging merit, but of hating Trump and pretending his picks are problematic.  In the case of Pete Hegseth, my initial reaction was, "Huh?"  But then I was reminded of his background.  The lunatic left is aghast at this choice.  In the meantime, Biden picked a four-star general who's done nothing but degrade military readiness, pretending that recruiting fruits and nuts makes us a better fighting force.  How this asshat Lloyd Austin rose to the lofty height he did is beyond me.  Hegseth is smart and honest enough to know that women in combat roles does not make our military a better fighting force.  He knows the "woke" crap degrades us rather than makes us a feared military.  He knows our enemies aren't playing these stupid games.  To be sure, I believe all women who enlist should be trained for combat.  But to put them out there without a dire need to do so is suicidal (though with recruiting down due to leftist crap, we could be forgiven for regarding times as "dire" right now!).  In an article objecting to the concept of women in combat, Andrea Widburg provides a glimpse into the potential problems of women in combat.  Pay close attention to the excerpt from Ryan Smith's WSJ op-ed:

https://www.bookwormroom.com/2013/01/24/peeing-and-periods-straight-talk-about-women-in-the-front-line/

I would hope Hegseth will initiate a review of homosexuals in the military as well, since the reality is that it mimics the same sexual tensions of male/female situations.

Beyond that, I recall a story I read regarding military exercises pitting co-ed units competing against all male units.  I don't recall if it mentioned all female units.  What I do recall is that no co-ed unit fared as well as the all males units.  This was unsurprising to me.  Another story I read was from a female general who related the toll her combat training took on her female body...problems no man suffered as a result of the same training. 

So that's one area where I expect Trump selections will be opposed...and only for the fact that Trump proposed the people he did.

I expect Trump will extend...if he can't make permanent...his fantastic 2017 tax cuts. 

I expect Trump will seek to further reduce the number of unnecessary regulations which impede the ability of the private sector to thrive.

I expect Trump will restore his immigration policies which were totally f'd up by Biden.  His selection of Tom Homan as border czar is obvious in its brilliance.  Homan...steeped in the world of border issues...is the most obvious choice.  His duties will include both northern AND southern border security, as well as all areas of shoreline and I doubt we'll see too many Chinese "weather" balloons sailing across our borders at any point during the next four years.   This guy's the real deal and he'll do everything he can to implement border security policies. 

I expect we'll see peace between Ukraine and Russia.  Trump will negotiate (or broker) some agreement between the two nations and Zalensky would be compelled to go along knowing Trump's not going to shower money and arms without accountability, if he provides any at all.  Putin would have to pump the brakes on his own desires given the fact that Trump's energy policies will result in less funding from oil sales to carry on any annexation by force.  Given how close the two sides were to an agreement/treaty before Biden and Boris Johnson stuck their noses in it to appear tough against Putin, I don't see that it will be as hard as some might think.  But there's more hope in this expectation than in the others above.

I expect similar achievements between Israel and their enemies, and it's been said that certain concessions are now being sought by the offending parties of the extremist savages of the muslim world.   Obama and Biden made Oct 7 possible and the assholes know that Trump ain't like those two incompetents. 

I expect that the obstruction by Dems and other Trump haters will be greater than they were during his first term, but without the advantages they had over Trump during his first term given his inexperience in that world.  We'll see more lies and projections of evil upon him, as they have already predicted that should he be elected, he will never give up power after his term ends.  This crap ain't going away any time soon and despite having their collective asses kicked, they'll be needing ongoing beatings in decreasing support.  Trump doing what Trump does should make that a reality. 

Thus, I expect that in the end, the nation will be primed for more of the same, and a J.D. Vance or a Ron DeSantis will be our 48th president.

That's as far as I need to go at the moment.  I may have a part two depending on what comes to mind.