I wish I could but I have to assume it would go badly because people just don't like hard questions that might gore their sacred cow. So I came here in the hope that the audience is willing to consider the following and give me feedback to think about.
First off, if the choice is between Trump or the Biden regime, that is a no brainer. I'd obviously go with Trump as the Biden regime is either through stupidity or malicious intent, rapidly destroying America, full stop.
So here is focus of this thread. Trump is going to screw us, of that I am certain. I just don't know all the ways he is going to screw us. I assume the first big way he is going to screw us is by the lack of action on the COVID vaccine scam that has killed and inured countless people which Trump is clearly in denial of as per his recent interview with Megyn Kelly. Yes congress could act but unless we get several committed champions in congress that will go to war over the issue, I'm not hopeful there. In fact I think the Euro's might be a better bet on that score.
The next most obvious area he will screw us on is doing something corrective about the massive illegal alien invasion. I imagine that he will pull a Reagan 2.0 with amnesty. This is 100% unacceptable and frankly something I claim is treasonous. Anything short of rounding people up, and threatening their countries of origin unless they are taken back is not acceptable. I am not an egalitarian and I don't GAF about anyone's feelings.
So those are two big ones. I'm sure I'm missing some obvious ways and not so obvious ways Trump is going to screw us. What do you see? I just want to prepare my state of mind for when these things come to pass.
I just want to see the Regime de-legitimized, and the Regime spends a lot of political capital when it opposes Trump.
So I want it to spend all its political capital on opposing him, and I want it to go to such absurd lengths in rigging things against him that it makes North Korea look honest in comparison.
My take is that the thing to prepare for is Trump will absolutely never, ever, EVER be president again. Washington will never let it happen again. Currently, they're trying to keep him off the ballot. If they fail in that, the amount of fraud in the election will be absolutely insane (but still 40%+ of the country will blindly ignore it). If that still fails, they'll scream election interference and issue hundreds of lawsuits, none of which will get rejected on standing.
And if all that doesn't work, they'll just kill him. Yes, I am betting that Trump will get assassinated if that turns out to be the only way of stopping him. And if/when that happens, whoever does it will be hailed as a hero by much of the country, if not much of the world.
Trump winning in 2016 disrupted their plans and they clearly won't allow that to happen again. I just have to wonder what other consequences an assassination could cause. Not just among those who support Trump, but how other foreign powers like China might react too.
Here's the thing; Trump will probably screw us less than the others. The two aside from Trump who in theory I like the most, DeSantis and Vivek, are both utter snakes. They say and perhaps do good things, but I trust them much less than even Trump.
Secondly, I don't think he's that bad on immigration, which was one of your examples. Certainly not as good as he could or should be, but by modern standards he was pretty good. I wish he'd go harder, but it's not a dealbreaker.
Anyway, on to the meat and potatoes. I don't want Trump for policy reasons. I want Trump for what he'll do culturally and, more importantly, what he won't. Trump really shook things up, and the "MAGA" brand is the best - hell, about the only - good thing to happen to the Republican party in decades. Doesn't really even matter if Trump totally fucks up his second term, it's still better than giving the Dems the reigns, or giving the people who want to go back to a Bush-style Republican party reigns over the party.
I want Trump because he's the only one I think stands even a chance of pushing something resembling the "MAGA" agenda, and I think anyone else will not only not move in the right direction, but will actively move things in the wrong direction. Trump isn't perfect, he wasn't perfect, he won't be perfect. He doesn't have to be. It doesn't even matter if he's legitimate but misguided, or if he's just a grifter...his mere presence has moved things in a better direction, and given us a shot we haven't had in ages.
I want Trump to bully and shame the Republicans to be better. I don't need him to be God Emperor. To quote Michael Moore (ironic, and I love it), Trump's a hand grenade. I want to throw Trump at the establishment again, because they fucking deserve it.
Trump's biggest strength isn't in anything he will directly do. Its in causing his opponents to self destruct trying to get him, often in a way that cripples themselves to some extent.
Otherwise he will just continue to do milquetoast boomer rightwing shit. Some woke pandering here, some tax laxing there. Nothing you should get your hopes up for, and plenty of "Democrat going the speed limit" to be had.
Including - perhaps even especially - in his own party. My favorite thing Trump does is forcefully inject MAGA into the Republicans, and mocking and belittling the ones that won't accept populism. Democrats self destructing is simply the cherry on top.
I mean, even if he is mostly all talk, he did turn Ted Cruz from a scary, creepy serial killer into someone actually attacking people and policies in DC.
I think the problematic part is that most Republicans are in districts like McCain, where they can do whatever they want as long as they have that R and are part of the group they like. Even if that's going a full 180 against the platforms they were elected on. So most of them don't have to take the bait and can remain static garbage.
Why are we even pretending that they'll let him back in the white house?
His statements recently have included talk about massive deportations
Will he live up to that? Based on what he did the first time, id say he'll try and probably be prevented, but there's a chance he'll succeed. It's a larger chance than him reneging imo
It may be easier to push that agenda this time around now that the blue "sanctuary" states are now dealing with the diversity. The TDS mind-virus is permanent so I don't see them voting for him, but I bet a lot of them privately wouldn't mind a "racist misogynist" clearing out their once-clean streets of foreign filth.
Gun rights - Already spotty track record there
War - Some of the GOP opposing Ukraine aren't anti-war. They just want to do that in Taiwan instead, but I'd be most concerned about Iran. Trump has been aligned with jignats that want war with them and whacked that Iranian general during his first term.
Police state - Trump betraying his base in big ways will trigger a lot of radicalization. The police state and private/government cooperation to censor will be the only way to contain it.
Have you ever tried pinning the blame on congress? They're the ones with the purse strings you know?
Yes tried that many times. It rarely works as they are generally more afraid of the media than their constituents.
has it ever escaped you that out government is multi branched system? Where is the president isn't absolute?
Thanks for the replies all. I appreciate and largely concur with the sentiments expressed. Unfortunately it appears that since not a single person pushed back on the COVID assumption, that there is a de facto consensus that Trump will provide no help there.
On the point of Trump being a weapon against the establishment, I very much want this to be true but I have to confess that I am not very optimistic about it. :-/ Anyway this assumes that he even gets to take the seat again...
Peace
It's a doomer concept. No person is going to be perfect but the damage he will deal to the uniparty is more important than doomer issues. It's his last term, so no concern about another, he can hit the establishment where it hurts which is what is needed most. One prible, at a time.
I’m seeing a lot of “trump will never be allowed to win posts”
I think trump actually might be allowed to win.
Like OP points out. Trump has proven to be pretty conventional on positions like COVID and immigration. Not necessarily as talking points go. But as actual actions go.
So I think the deep state knows they can still get 90% of what they want done. Trump will still try to find places he can “win” and make deals. Hell still be blindsided by deep state appointees, and unlike 2016 and 2020, both political years where his base was “fighting for their lives” as it were, I think you see a post COVID split on trump in the base. You’re going to have folks that worship him and go along with bad policy because he’s god emperor trump. And you’ll have folks like me who will never trust him again, but think he’s better than the alternative.
I don’t think trump goes scorched earth, and I think if he wins, it unites the democrat base and mobilizes the deep state into overdrive, while permanently fragmenting the republicans party beyond repair.
I think they could let him win.
Good points, this is exactly the problem I have. I want the wholesale destruction of the federal government. It is not salvageable and it is doing staggering damage to the American people. Anyone who thinks it is salvageable, is delusional in my view. So we either need a total dollar collapse or we need a massive wrecking ball on the inside.
I don't know if Ramaswamy is real or not and I definitely appreciate those who don't trust him, I'm still on the fence about that. But lets assume that he is for real and he means what he says. In that case I think he is the better bet than Trump. Not that it is going to make a difference because unless Trump is knocked out of running, he is going to take the primary.
I'd still like to see room made for both RFK Jr and Ramaswamy because if both mean what they say, the trifecta combination between the three men over twelve years should spell a real sea change in this government.
And if I can't have that, well it sure looks like we are still on course for a dollar collapse because no one in government is capable of doing math and geopolitics at the same time.
RFK and Ramaswamy do not mean what the say. RFK is an old school democrat who happens to have some overlap with the right.
Ramaswamy is an Overton window plant, who will ride whatever zeitgeist he needs to to advance his career.
Ron Paul 2024. Barring that, I’ll take trump.
Trump will never be president again. The regime will put him into prison where he will die.
This is a good way to put it but I'm picturing the scene from Casino where they're having guys executed, the quick "fuck you" they spit out before getting a bullet to the forehead. They're going to cheat this election beyond belief and nothing is going to change. They literally got a functionally retarded man elected (installed) in Pennsylvania rather than let a republican have the seat.
This is true, and they will go to those lengths to maintain power, but I don't think they want to have to go to those lengths.
The US is big, and every time FedGov does something like this it risks losing the "mandate of heaven" (ie. voluntary compliance with its dictates), which it depends on for things to function.
For every Waco or Ruby Ridge there are probably thousands of people doing the exact same thing, and they simply don't have the numbers to burn down all those peoples' houses.