Hello Centerleftfl,
It is entirely possible Trump could end up destroying the USA. He has already destroyed the USA we knew. This new 'greater' USA seems a heck of a lot meaner and scarier. And on thinner ice. Has he done lasting damage? That, too, is possible.
Trump has alienated our national friends and befriended our national adversaries. It is unconscionable. Nations which have long looked to the USA as something secure that they could rely upon have been forced to look elsewhere. Is it possible to rebuild that trust or have they become aware that they cannot always count on the USA to be there for them? Time will tell.
The State department fired a lot of people who had built long standing relationships with counterparts in other nations. These relationships were built over many years and even decades. They lasted throughout many presidential administrations. These were not partisan people. They were professional diplomats. Gone. Just like that. How do we regain that?
One thing is for sure. We have a lot of work to do. We have to get rid of Trump, make certain he is branded as the failure of a leader that he is, and set to work rebuilding all which has been destroyed, and in so doing, build it better than before. It could take decades. He has set us back that far.
One thing which could hasten getting rid of Trump will also hurt us all. The Trump recession. (Won't that be the deepest recession you ever saw?) The market is artificially high. It is not supported with universal prosperity. It is built on wealth extraction and national debt. That can't last. The market is one Trump calamity (Trade Wars?) away from a massive plunge. When that happens, it will be a wake-up call.
Anybody can pretend they are rich, and spend on debt. Trump is doing it with the nation. That is going to come back and bite him/us in the rear sooner or later. The longer it takes, the deeper the plunge will be. And when that happens, it will have far-reaching affects that will hurt many. Unfortunately, it is usually the middle and poor who are affected the worst.
Wanna be scared? Here is one facet which is most bothersome to me. (Aside from the SCOTUS.) The national debt can be paid down during a good economy. It can't be paid down during a recession. There is no paying down the debt during a recession. Debt always rises during a recession. If you try to pay it down then, the recession gets worse, or could become a depression. It can only be paid down during a good economy. That is why the only piece of major legislation Trump and Republicans have been able to pass, the tax cut for the rich, and temporary tax cut for everybody else, is so irresponsible. The rich love it, but it screws everybody else. And sends the debt sky high. It is expected that there would be an immediate yet temporary boost to the economy from that. But it can't last. Underline the word TEMPORARY. We made the rich richer and the nation poorer, and we set ourselves up for a recession + really high debt. That weakens the USA, weakens the Dollar. If people thought the debt was bad after the Great Recession, we could be in for a no-win situation that blows that away with a debt far higher than national GDP. We could be looking at $30 Trillion, $40 trillion, even $50 trillion in debt. Trump has shown he is great at one thing in his life: Borrowing too much and going bankrupt over and over. It was tremendously unwise to put him in charge of our nation.
Step 1: Get rid of Trump!
