Like the rest of the Daily Kos community, I was torn over the results of last week's presidential election. I thought that Kamala Harris had a real shot, and I was devastated to learn that Mango Mussolini swept every swing state including my home state of Michigan. I could not believe it. That next Wednesday was an incredibly rough day at work; I almost could not function that day. I was low on energy. When I tried to discuss my feelings with a couple of colleagues, they did not want to talk to me because they felt the same way. For the rest of that week, my bones and muscles were numb.
Now, not so much. I am starting to chuckle a little bit. Why? Because of the Orange Dude's new Cabinet picks. This new "administration" is already shaping up to be a massive failure right from the start, possibly more so than Trump's first term. A Fox "News" pundit for secretary of defense? Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy for the heads of a department that does not even exist? And, for Christ's sake...Matt Gaetz for attorney general?!? WOW, are you f***ing kidding me? Most if not all of these people are not going to have the slightest clue what they will be doing. I would like to think that the world was grieving with America (especially Harris voters) in the four to six days following the election, and now they are starting to laugh and snipe at us all over again. Perhaps even Putin, Orbán, Xi, and Kim are snickering at this right now, not because they are happy with the Orange Dude winning the election, but because of how stupid and incompetent he is for an authoritarian.
So, what will happen?
Right now, I am seeing four years of continuous infighting, a bunch of internal chaos, and a whole lot of nothing getting done. It's already looking to be another giant mud-flinging contest between a horde of screaming toddlers. As for the Senate and House? Well, it certainly does not look like Republicans are going to be getting the majorities they were hoping for. They have just a six-seat advantage in the Senate (53 to 47) and their majority in the House does not look better (possibly 222 to 213). I am envisioning another largely do-nothing Congress.
A TIMELINE OF EVENTS
Below is a possible timeline of events. It is just a hypothesis, however, so it is not something to be taken seriously. It is next to impossible to predict exactly what will happen, but this should be a good start.
2025
- The new Trump "administration", assuming that it gets confirmation by the Senate, is going to f*** things up so badly in the first six months or less that half of the 75+ million that voted for him are instantly going to regret their decisions.
- Trump may engage in a new trade war with the world and impose massive tariffs on foreign goods, which will raise prices on products and make inflation worse here at home.
- Trump may try to engage in a large-scale deportation effort, but how successful it will be has yet to be seen. It will likely impact jobs and the economy along with the availability of domestic products.
- Americans could start feeling the effects of Trump's tariffs and deportation scheme by late 2025 into 2026, assuming these measures are successful.
- An anti-Trump/Vance, pro-democracy revolution may start as early as this year. It may consist of voters and politicians alike. It could play a vital role in elections/campaigns as well as shaping our government and our nation's policies for the next several years. It may also lead to a surge in new voter registrations and changes in party affiliation.
2026
- Trump is going to turn on his administrative staff. He may fire half or more of them, causing even more internal chaos. He may not even find any new people to replace them.
- The United States economy may start collapsing sooner than expected.
- Democrats will win control of Congress in the midterm elections. They also could be in control of as many as 30 state governorships, maybe more. It may be a blue wave similar to what we experienced in 2006 during Dubya's second term.
2027
- MAGA will be a dead movement.
- Something is bound to happen to Trump in this year. It could be impeachment or being forced to resign by Democrats and even members of his own party. Some type of physical health issue such as a heart attack or stroke, rendering him incapable of "leading", is not out of the question.
- JD Vance may get a promotion from vice-president to president.
2028
- Vance will be running for president on the GOP side.
- The economy and inflation will not have recovered, and probably will be worse. Vance, assuming he is in charge, is not going to be able to "fix" it in time for the presidential election and will have a devil of a time defending his and Trump's abysmal record. (If it's not Trump or Vance, any other candidate will experience the exact same problem.)
- Assuming that Democrats run some decent candidates, and voters choose an energetic and influential candidate in the primaries, we are bound to win back the White House at the end of the year. The results may be similar to 2008.
A FEW EXTRA WORDS
Trump's Health and Age: The guy has a poor diet. He constantly feasts on ultra-processed garbage like fast food burgers and fried chicken. He is morbidly obese. He is mentally ill. It is speculated that he has dementia and is in cognitive decline. As for his age? He is going on 80 f***ing years old. He does not have the physical or mental capability of being a true authoritarian. Alexander Lukashenko, the dictator of Belarus, for instance, was in his early 40's when he rose to power in 1994. Vladimir Putin was in his late 40's when he was elected in 2000. These two, when first elected, had the physical energy, strength, intelligence, and carefully thought out blueprints to design their dream authoritarian regimes. Mango Mussolini does not. He failed in his efforts to turn America into a fascist regime in his first term, and how he is easily almost twice the age of Lukashenko and Putin when they first took over. For these reasons alone, I cannot see him being an effective "leader", holding up to all of his promises, and turning the United States into a full-fledged dictatorship. The guy is dumber than a box of dirt and rocks.
Project 2025: Look, everybody. I get the fear of Project 2025. It does have a ton of scary ideas in it. But, they are just what they are...ideas. It is not necessarily something to take for granted. Not now at least. Currently, I am looking at it as 900 pages of a ginormous Christmas wish list riddled with illogical, non sequitur arguments and fear-mongering. Nothing more. In fact, Demar Sheffey, a politician who ran as a Democrat for Senator of Ohio in 2022, feels mostly the same way. In an article for The Euclid Observer, he writes,
With 50 states and the federal government, America operates under a complex web of 51 different governments. Implementing a sweeping set of reforms as envisioned by Project 2025 across such a diverse and multifaceted system is no small feat. It's more like a Christmas wish list than a pragmatic roadmap for immediate policy changes. Each state has its unique needs, laws, and political dynamics, making uniform implementation highly improbable.1
Our republic has survived for nearly two and a half centuries. In reality, it would take decades upon decades of a continuously elected loyalist movement with energy, strength, determination, and the proper level of intelligence in order to undo our government system completely. Tearing down a democracy like ours takes time and cannot be done in four years. The 50-state system makes it more complicated to put Project 2025 into effect. One of my colleagues at work, who is an economics college instructor from Egypt (a true dictatorship), told me that he read the 900-page manifesto and admitted to me that it is impossible to implement it.
CONCLUSION
Overall, I am expecting another four years of Trump's first term, except that the infighting, pointing of fingers, and corruption are going to be considerably worse. It's going to be like a bunch of goons who have been put in charge of running a train only to cause the train to derail and become a huge mess of twisted metal after falling off of a cliff. They may succeed at causing moderate to large-scale damage to our federal government institutions and quite possibly our relations with our world allies, but I cannot see them getting away with undermining our elections the way Lukashenko or Putin do to elections in their countries. I doubt that Orange and his team will have the competence to do so. So, please, I beg you...do NOT feed into the narrative that there will be no elections in 2026 or 2028 (or beyond), and please stop spreading this! It is becoming just as toxic as any pollution spewed from a MAGA's mouth. The 2026 midterm elections will be here sooner than later, and they will take place. The same goes for 2028. By that time, we will have a golden opportunity to start taking our government back from the Orange Dude and his minions' greedy clutches.
NOTES
1. Demar Sheffey, "Project 2025: A Conservative Perspective on Scare Tactics and the Future of American Democracy," The Euclid Observer, August 1, 2024, https://www.theeuclidobserver.com/articles/project-2025-a-conservative-perspective-on-scare-tactics-and-the-future-of-american-democracy/.
