10 Reasons Not to Despair About Trump’s Second Term

There wasn’t much talk of politics at my Thanksgiving dinner. Almost everyone there (like-minded Trump haters all) was simply too bummed out by the election to want to dwell on it. That left me to try to look at the (relatively) bright side. Yes, another four years of Trump madness is going to be awful for the country. But I console myself by gaming out all the ways in which his most extreme moves can blow up in his face. So here are 10 reasons not to despair about Trump’s second term.

• To begin with, I could argue that Trump’s election victory, in the long run, might turn out to be better for the country than a Trump loss — which would certainly have ignited another round of “rigged election” cries, legal challenges, and all-around chaos. Instead, Trump’s victory has, at least for now, silenced the election-denial movement. And I expect it will begin to fade away.  Trump’s claims of election fraud were always about his own ego, his inability to accept any kind of defeat. Will he have the same motivation in 2028, when he won’t be running, to help other Republicans? Not likely. (And no, he can’t run for a third term. Even Trump doesn’t have the power to overturn the 25^th amendment. )

• I’m coming around to the “let Trump be Trump” philosophy. With a pliant staff, majorities in both houses of Congress, and a friendly Supreme Court, let him try to make good on his wild promises; he’ll have no one else to blame when things go awry, as they inevitably will. If you really believe, as I do, that Trump is an incompetent narcissist who faked his way through the first term (until the pandemic exposed him), that will surely become more apparent in a guardrail-free second term.  Sometimes a disease has to run its course before the body finally rejects it. 
  
• Inflation was the issue that won Trump the election. But the policies he’s proposing — higher tariffs, more tax cuts — are almost certain to drive prices back up. And even if he scales back his plans … good luck waiting for prices to actually come back down.  How’s that grocery bill looking now, Trump voters?  

• Overseas, Trump’s promises to instantly end the wars in Ukraine and Israel will run into hard reality.  His solution in the first is essentially to force Ukraine to capitulate and give up the territory Russia has seized. (Democrats should be brushing off the “who lost Ukraine?” chants.) And as a no-questions-asked backer of Netanyahu, Trump will be stuck with the Israeli leader’s stubborn refusal to end a cruel and seemingly endless war. 

• On illegal immigration, I’m dubious that Trump’s hardline tactics — raids on homes and businesses, family breakups, mass detention centers — will play well once they are being covered every night on the evening news. Not to mention the blow to the economy that the loss of immigrant labor will cause. Bad optics and bad policy; a backlash is inevitable.

• Elon Musk will overstay his welcome. The billionaire’s promise to cut trillions from the federal budget will run into major legal and political roadblocks. And any cuts he does actually get made will almost certainly hurt ordinary Americans. Musk’s overreach will soon catch up with him — if Trump doesn’t get fed up with him first.

• As for gutting federal agencies and dismantling the “deep state” — good luck with that. A bird-flu epidemic, a water crisis in Flint, Michigan, another devastating hurricane — let’s see how the Trump’s depleted and mismanaged federal agencies handle the next disaster. One botched crisis will remind people that the federal government actually is there to protect us. 

• Weaponizing the Justice Department, too, is unlikely to play well with the vast majority of Americans. If Pam Bondi and Kash Patel really want to spend time and resources leading a Trump revenge tour, only the hard-core MAGA crowd will be cheering.  And one missed terrorist attack, or preventable mass shooting, or spike in fentanyl deaths, will expose the folly.

• Corruption and conflicts of interest in the new Trump administration — industry leaders running regulatory agencies, cabinet members cashing in — will become too flagrant to ignore. Billionaires lining their pockets while claiming to be fighting for you? Soon Democrats should be the ones crying “Drain the swamp!” 

• The worst will be over in two years. Given the GOP’s razor-thin majority in the House, and the usual gains by the opposition party in off-year elections, the Democrats are almost sure to retake control of the chamber in 2026. That will be help rein in Trump — just as a new crop of fresh Democratic presidential hopefuls gear up to kick the bums out and restore national sanity.  

Too optimistic? Possibly. But it’s the holiday season, a time to think warm thoughts.