My Thoughts on the Future

It has been difficult to find news or information not related to the recent U.S. election.  I know that life goes on outside that sphere. but so much has been written, speculated, threatened, reported, and protested that it feels as though both traditional and social media have exploded with more politics and political coverage than ever before the election.

While I do have some hope that Trump will be an acceptable president, I do have a few real concerns about his term in office.  Concerns based on more than the size of his hands, his orange skin, bad toupee, and philandering ways.  Instead of quietly obsessing over them, I decided to share and see if anyone else feels the same way.

My Concerns about a Trump Presidency:

1.  Climate Change and the Environment

     I decidedly believe in climate change and that fact that humans have contributed and continue to contribute to this problem.  There is just too much scientific evidence to believe otherwise.  But Trump is a climate change denier, at least his public persona is.  The issue here is a conflict of interest.  Some big businesses need to alter their business practices if we want to counteract the human influence over the climate.  But these alterations are expensive in terms of time and money, so big business has a reason to deny human involvement in climate changes.  

     Does Trump have any businesses that directly impact the environment?  I don't know.  I also don't know if he has businesses that indirectly effect the environment or if he has friends who own businesses that effect the environment.  But I have dire concerns that he is compromised in this political arena.

2. The Supreme Court

     We already have one vacancy to fill on the Supreme Court, because the Senate decided not to do their job.  But there are potentially two more Justices who are old enough to either retire or die, which means that Trump can potentially pick three Justices.  Three out of nine Justices on the court that is the final say on the law in our country.

3.  America's International Relations

     To be fair, no one knows what it feels like to be a president before being elected and sitting in the Oval Office, so we cannot predict with absolute certainty how a person will behave.  With that caveat, I worry about Trump's behavior as president.  During his business dealings and his presidential campaign, Trump showed himself to be a consummate liar lacking in personal restraint who treats others with little to no respect but hypocritically throws diva-like tantrums if he feels slighted.  Trump acts like an old-man-teenage-drama-queen who admittedly believes it is perfectly fine for him to say what people want to hear and not mean a word coming out of his mouth.

     How will this play out on the international stage?  Will Trump threaten to sue other countries if he doesn't get what he wants?  Will he open up the U.S. for lawsuits for our actions?  Does he understand how to compromise to achieve the greater good?

4. Chaos of the Unknown

     During the Republican primaries, Trump admitted in an interview that he says what he thinks people want to hear but that doesn't mean he believes everything he says.  This particular behavior continues.  Trump promised to "drain the swamp" in the first 100 days, implying that he was bringing in people who aren't political insiders to staff his cabinet.  But his first appointment was Reince Priebus, a former leader of a swamp faction (to continue the metaphor).  In fact, the only names we hear for cabinet appointments are Washington insiders.  How is this draining the swamp?

    During his campaign speeches, Trump harped on the danger of Muslims, promising to ban all Muslims and maybe kill the families of terrorists.  That particular promise is now missing from his website and I have not heard of him talking about this issue since the election.  To be honest, I hope he has abandoned this position.

   Currently, Trump is involved in three lawsuits with claims about Trump University.  Trump appears in advertisements for Trump University, talking about how he hand-picked each person who works there and guaranteeing results.  But in depositions, Trump admits he doesn't even know all the professors.

I guess the point here is that we cannot believe a word out of his mouth.  Trump will say whatever, which means we don't know what's going on by his words, other by his actions.  And it might be too late to change directions if we have to wait for Trump to act to know what is going on.  I call this situation the chaos of the unknown, because I fear this situation will cause chaos within the government.

There are my biggest concerns about a Trump presidency.  What do you think?