The election was over two months ago, and the transition ends today. At 5pm Irish time, the Trump presidency begins. What happens next?
Like many people, I was shocked at the election result and its implications. Clearly, even allowing for the quirks of the American electoral college system, the election result was close but decisive. While the Democrats have many what-ifs about Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, so what? They lost, and will have to figure out how to convert a popular majority into an electoral one in the future.
Looking forward from today, I remain baffled and genuinely scared about what the Trump presidency will bring. I happened to watch him speak briefly at the Lincoln Memorial event last night, and he remains startlingly vague about what or how he intends to do. His speeches remain vacuous and his tweets even worse.
At the beginning of most of the presidencies in my memory, incoming presidents generally stood for something and were able to project pretty clear outlines of what they were going to do, irrespective of the parties they represented. With Trump, in my view there are - at least - three major concerns: his lack of qualification for the role, his competency for the political role and his personal behavioural traits. All three give rise to really serious concerns.
The other issue is this: does he really want it? I really feel it's taken a sequence of pretty weird events, not least the eventual incompetency of all of the other candidacies, that have led to today. Will he really live with the constraints of the office for the next four years? For such a wealthy and successful man, to be subject in his 70s to the oppressive constraints of the office cannot be something he would have aspired to.
In the end, I'm less concerned about Mexican walls or telling US CEOs to bring jobs back to America. Instead, what really scares me is that nobody has a clue what this man is going to do or say.
I'm not given to rash predictions, but for one, I have real doubts if this man will still be in office in four years’ time. But I haven't a clue as to how that might come about.
President Trump. Buckle up folks, it’s going to be a hell of ride.
Like many people, I was shocked at the election result and its implications. Clearly, even allowing for the quirks of the American electoral college system, the election result was close but decisive. While the Democrats have many what-ifs about Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, so what? They lost, and will have to figure out how to convert a popular majority into an electoral one in the future.
Looking forward from today, I remain baffled and genuinely scared about what the Trump presidency will bring. I happened to watch him speak briefly at the Lincoln Memorial event last night, and he remains startlingly vague about what or how he intends to do. His speeches remain vacuous and his tweets even worse.
At the beginning of most of the presidencies in my memory, incoming presidents generally stood for something and were able to project pretty clear outlines of what they were going to do, irrespective of the parties they represented. With Trump, in my view there are - at least - three major concerns: his lack of qualification for the role, his competency for the political role and his personal behavioural traits. All three give rise to really serious concerns.
The other issue is this: does he really want it? I really feel it's taken a sequence of pretty weird events, not least the eventual incompetency of all of the other candidacies, that have led to today. Will he really live with the constraints of the office for the next four years? For such a wealthy and successful man, to be subject in his 70s to the oppressive constraints of the office cannot be something he would have aspired to.
In the end, I'm less concerned about Mexican walls or telling US CEOs to bring jobs back to America. Instead, what really scares me is that nobody has a clue what this man is going to do or say.
I'm not given to rash predictions, but for one, I have real doubts if this man will still be in office in four years’ time. But I haven't a clue as to how that might come about.
President Trump. Buckle up folks, it’s going to be a hell of ride.
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