Dear Reader,
Mr. Trump has taken the presidential election of 2024.
The old berserker even seized the popular vote, despite all the angels and saints.
Thus I extend Herr Hitler — is that not what they label him? — my highest congratulations.
Yet I confess to a certain letting-down today. Why a letting-down? Being a somewhat malicious and mischievous fellow destined for Hell, I had yearned for post-electoral mayhem.
Imagine the way an energized child anticipates Christmas morning. In that spirit I anticipated election night.
If Mr. Trump won, I anticipated savage riots, equally savage counter-riots and additional rumpuses.
I anticipated legal cases assaulting and overwhelming the courts. I anticipated a Democrat-led House refusing to certify Mr. Trump’s election.
Yet I am denied my Christmas morning. Santa Claus failed to descend my chimney.
Chaos Is Thrilling
I anticipated post-electoral chaos. And chaos — though it is not uniformly positive — is thrilling.
And in this dull and mundane world, anything thrilling is precious. A fellow only gets so many thrills in a lifetime of largely gray and drizzle.
And here we may have been gifted two months of chaos. Perhaps even more.
It is not that I condone or recommend violence. I do not. Yet I do enjoy spectacle. And today there is none. Mr. Trump’s rout has seen to it.
All, alas, is peace.
Mr. Trump trounced his Democratic foe so thoroughly and convincingly… not even the stoutest Democrat partisan can dispute it.
He may moan about it, he may sob about it. Yet he cannot dispute it. He can only seethe in frustrated silence, smoke billowing from his ears.
Wall Street Voted for Trump
Who is not moaning or sobbing about Mr. Trump’s electoral success? Wall Street men.
They seized the fellow by his coattails today… and took a gorgeous ride with him.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up and away today over 1,400 points.
The S&P 500 rocketed over 130 points while the Nasdaq Composite enjoyed itself a 500-point spree.
Bitcoin, meantime, leapt some $6.600 at writing, to $75,820. Gold — conversely — endured a $74 whaling today.
How would markets have reacted to a Democratic victory? I do not pretend to know.
But let us direct our focus to the “big picture.” How will Mr. Trump’s second reign go? Will he Make America Great Again?
I am not half so convinced he can.
The Powerlessness of Politicians
“How small, of all that human hearts endure,” said Samuel Johnson, “That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.”
That is, a politician wields limited influence over affairs… even a president of the United States.
What influence he does yield is generally negative. His ability to harm largely exceeds his ability to help.
Thus the Hippocratic Oath should be the presidential oath — first, do no harm.
In Mr. Trump’s example, doing no harm requires taking on no additional debt.
Alas, the incoming president likes to spend money. The nation’s debt jumped and jumped in his first term… even before the plague.
He assumes the reins of a nation $36 trillion in debt. He assumes the reins of a nation groaning beneath a debt-to-GDP ratio of 124%.
Credible research indicates any ratio exceeding 90% is grim.
It indicates an economy overburdened with debt. Thus it is unable to push along very much… like an overswollen tick obese with blood.
Mr. Trump can only budge the thing so much.
Don’t Forget About the Deep State
It is true, he will have the House of Representatives and Senate with him — Republicans will rule Congress for at least two years.
He will also appoint more loyal men who will not plunge knives in his back as many of his previous appointees did. Yet do not neglect the obstructive powers of the Deep State, so-called.
The bureaucratic agencies that sabotaged his first term will sabotage his second term. They will maneuver against him and bottle him. They will mine the roadways and dynamite the bridges.
If Trump orders his understrapper to do such and such that the understrapper does not wish to do… the understrapper will say yes… then proceed to heave the order into his hellbox.
Or if understrapper number one passes the order along to understrapper number two, understrapper number two will heave the order into his own hellbox. So on and so on, down and down the line, clear through the bureaucracy.
How can this dictator accomplish anything in the teeth of such ferocious opposition? He cannot. He is a tiger neutered. They will tame him into a tabby — again.
He will be unable to deport 20 million illegal aliens. He will be unable to facilitate Vladimir Putin’s conquest of Europe west of the Dnieper River. He will be unable to recall the United States Army from Syria. He tried it once. And they would not listen to him.
It’s Too Late
I am reluctant to pour ice water on Mr. Trump’s parade on this, his triumphant day. And I do not slight or denigrate the man.
Yet the bureaucracies are simply too formidable to master. They are instead the master. In many respects Mr. Trump is simply a man out of his depth.
Yet a George Washington would be out of his depth today. The bureaucracy would have him by the ear in two minutes.
Even “Old Hickory” Andy Jackson would be cringing beneath the presidential desk on his first day, sinking a bottle of Tennessee’s hardest whiskey and sobbing for his mother.
The national rot is too deeply advanced for any one man to restore.
The termites have eaten too deeply into the floorboards beneath… and the rafters above. They have set out for the hard timber that remains.
Yet I wish Mr. Trump all the success in the world. It is my sincerest hope that he succeeds beyond all expectation.
It is my sincerest wish that he “drains the swamp” in his second go.
Yet it is my sincerest fear that he will not…
Regards,
Brian Maher
for Freedom Financial News
