As we weather the current bout of Trump-induced chaos, some who are inclined to live in the moment might wonder if the nation would have been better off had Harris won the election.
Another good one. I agree 100% with your list of what would have come out of a Cackles (Kackles?) presidency.
Agreed, I expected a Trump presidency to be a mixed bag. But some blunders are better tolerated, or papered over, than others.
If this current economic adventure turns out to be a disaster, my fear is that that list will become a reality in the next couple of election cycles. Administrations - and parties - recover from dubious cabinet picks and certain policy enactments. But economic chaos is the kiss of death, particularly if it can clearly be tied to the policies and actions of an administration. As someone once pointed out, it’s the economy, stupid.
So I fear for far more than the economy at the moment. It takes extra strong willpower to abide in these times.
Yes, a Kamalama Ding Dong presidency would have been a disaster, but we’re not out of the woods yet. While there is reason to be hopeful, the spending must be reduced, not just the growth in spending. If the dollar 💵 collapses, the national collapses, at which point everyone will need guns and gold.
Looking forward to your comments next week, though I fear your observation about lack of political will is accurate. Unfortunately, there are more babbling mouths in DC than there are spines.
Your list is highly accurate. Quoting the great Charlie Monger “nothing more to add.” Well honestly I do, but too busy working right now. Thanks for this!
To add to list - the federal government in concert with Big Pharma would have committed to push gender affirming care”, the sterilization and genital mutilation of minors.
Along those same lines - pushing the populace to accept via legislation that humans are not binary and that they can be one of many sexes based on a declaration. Forcing schools to teach children this then give them drugs when they listen.
Peter - don't hold back! Please tell us how you really feel about how things would be under Harris. All joking aside, I place on the other side the real concern that under Trump we are nurturing a dangerous threat to our constitutional Republic who will seek to become our first "President for Life".
That's not going to happen. No matter if he's trolling or actually would like a third term, doesn't matter. I don't worry about things that aren't going to happen.
I do find it interesting, as an aside, that the people who subverted democracy in countless ways the past few years (i.e. the Dems) were and are making all this noise about Trump being a threat to democracy. Classic projection and fear-mongering.
Two thoughts: for a sizable section of the population, there is not and can never be a Good Trump. The man could say sunshine was beneficial to public health and half the left would accuse him of promoting skin cancer, while the other half would invent sunshine deserts in which certain communities are disproportionately afflicted.
Second, it will eventually dawn on people - some much slower than others - that Trump is the reflection of a dysfunctional system, or at least one perceived as dysfunctional. It serves the insiders, the donors, and the moneyed interests quite well. It’s less beneficial for people outside those groups who see a govt that believes they work for it instead of the other way around.
The people who would curse Trump even if he personally cured cancer are not worth attending, because there's no reason to beat your head against the wall.
As to your second point, Sunday's blog post is about what Milton Friedman dubbed The Iron Triangle.
Thank God the old GOP won’t be coming back, and, yes, to some degree I didn’t fully interpret your previous column, but you still imply, as ever you have, that you are above the GOP fray because of your Libertarian political stance, which, in tone and in contrast, subtly irks me, a Libertarian at heart who has thrown myself behind the Trump GOP because this is the opportunity or the destruction with which I am politically faced in this, my lifetime. For me, policy is first and foremost, and here is what the leading Libertarian, someone you endorse as a meaningful Trump alternative, has to say as a policy response to Trump’s tariff actions via Chris Bray’s recent column: https://substack.com/@chrisbray/note/p-161047092?r=6uxj2&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Not above - apart. Libertarians are not a subset of Republicans, no matter what the strategists try to tell us, and I know some libertarians who have rather different views on this than I go. A lot of what I see from Republicans and from Democrats is IMO born of team loyalty, something I neither have (in politics at least) nor think is a good thing.
The link has this nugget, and it's accurate. "He’s doing what you gave him the power to do, and he’s not the first."
Something I touch on a bit in the next piece - Congress isn't going to fix itself any time soon. I recently caught a vid (forgot who shared it) from Cato where the case was made that the only viable path to meaningful cuts in government is via aggressive executive action, and it was compelling. I think that the situation is dire enough to prefer that imperfect and utilitarian path to wishing Congress would do what needs to be done.
It's frustrating that the Libertarian Party, which under the 2016 Gary Johnson candidacy finally posted vote totals beyond election night round-off error, has collapsed into dysfunctional food fights over a bizarre combination of anarcho-capitalist purity tests and MAGA flirtation. Where can I get my "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Chase Oliver" bumper sticker?
I gave up on the LP long ago. It's full of squabbling purists and "you're not a true libertarian" accusers, plus kooks. And, I think Duverger's Law is inevitable. So, my hope in blogging and in arguing is to move both Republicans and Democrats in the direction of more liberty.
If Trump had appeared in Russia in 1915 and opposed Lenin, and everybody knew what Lenin would do after 1917, the Social Democrats would still have voted for Lenin.
You didn’t specifically mention increases in crime and social disorder under a Harris administration.
But I agree with everything on your list. However, I lack the courage to share it on my personal page. My lefty friends would say, “What’s wrong with any of this?”
Nice photo of the President who isn’t, at least not yet. The empty desk denotes the fact that all work is being done elsewhere by others.
I'm of the belief "it had to be Trump" else there'd never again be a path open to a Libertarian. Or anyone else. Your arguments regarding economics notwithstanding, the Democrat party actively sought - and was complicit with - an executive branch that showed it was only too eager to permanently cement in one-party rule. A lesser Republican would not have had the stones to break the china shop. Then burn it down. Then excavate and dump the ashes at sea. We can survive this. We would not have survived Harris.
And I might add, you provided a quite thoughtful and thorough series of prognostications of a Harris presidency with or without a Democratic Party majority in Congress. It was wincing to read and ought to inform current administration critics about the actual gains obtained by a Trump win: No more that the last administration’s serial disasters.
I think many people tend to ignore "what might have been," both in the positive and in the negative direction, much of the time. It's a form of opportunity cost, again in both directions, and it's a reflection of Thomas Sowell's "there are no solutions, only tradeoffs."
This goes hand-in-hand with nirvana fallacies and psychological projection.
Isn’t it spelled *Kackles*? 🤭
Artistic license (and some historical use of mine that I shan't repeat hear).
Another good one. I agree 100% with your list of what would have come out of a Cackles (Kackles?) presidency.
Agreed, I expected a Trump presidency to be a mixed bag. But some blunders are better tolerated, or papered over, than others.
If this current economic adventure turns out to be a disaster, my fear is that that list will become a reality in the next couple of election cycles. Administrations - and parties - recover from dubious cabinet picks and certain policy enactments. But economic chaos is the kiss of death, particularly if it can clearly be tied to the policies and actions of an administration. As someone once pointed out, it’s the economy, stupid.
So I fear for far more than the economy at the moment. It takes extra strong willpower to abide in these times.
One thing to consider is how quickly all this is happening. For all we know, the trade war stuff will be a memory in 3 months.
Yes, a Kamalama Ding Dong presidency would have been a disaster, but we’re not out of the woods yet. While there is reason to be hopeful, the spending must be reduced, not just the growth in spending. If the dollar 💵 collapses, the national collapses, at which point everyone will need guns and gold.
Oh, indeed. Unfortunately, the political will to really tackle spending isn't there. Yet.
I have a glimmer of hope that DOGE will build some of the necessary momentum. More on that next week.
Looking forward to your comments next week, though I fear your observation about lack of political will is accurate. Unfortunately, there are more babbling mouths in DC than there are spines.
Your list is highly accurate. Quoting the great Charlie Monger “nothing more to add.” Well honestly I do, but too busy working right now. Thanks for this!
There's more, for sure, but it's a blog, not a thesis, so...
To add to list - the federal government in concert with Big Pharma would have committed to push gender affirming care”, the sterilization and genital mutilation of minors.
Along those same lines - pushing the populace to accept via legislation that humans are not binary and that they can be one of many sexes based on a declaration. Forcing schools to teach children this then give them drugs when they listen.
Peter - don't hold back! Please tell us how you really feel about how things would be under Harris. All joking aside, I place on the other side the real concern that under Trump we are nurturing a dangerous threat to our constitutional Republic who will seek to become our first "President for Life".
Americans (at least I, for one) will not stand for President for Life for one moment.
That's not going to happen. No matter if he's trolling or actually would like a third term, doesn't matter. I don't worry about things that aren't going to happen.
I do find it interesting, as an aside, that the people who subverted democracy in countless ways the past few years (i.e. the Dems) were and are making all this noise about Trump being a threat to democracy. Classic projection and fear-mongering.
I hope you're right.
Two thoughts: for a sizable section of the population, there is not and can never be a Good Trump. The man could say sunshine was beneficial to public health and half the left would accuse him of promoting skin cancer, while the other half would invent sunshine deserts in which certain communities are disproportionately afflicted.
Second, it will eventually dawn on people - some much slower than others - that Trump is the reflection of a dysfunctional system, or at least one perceived as dysfunctional. It serves the insiders, the donors, and the moneyed interests quite well. It’s less beneficial for people outside those groups who see a govt that believes they work for it instead of the other way around.
The people who would curse Trump even if he personally cured cancer are not worth attending, because there's no reason to beat your head against the wall.
As to your second point, Sunday's blog post is about what Milton Friedman dubbed The Iron Triangle.
Thank God the old GOP won’t be coming back, and, yes, to some degree I didn’t fully interpret your previous column, but you still imply, as ever you have, that you are above the GOP fray because of your Libertarian political stance, which, in tone and in contrast, subtly irks me, a Libertarian at heart who has thrown myself behind the Trump GOP because this is the opportunity or the destruction with which I am politically faced in this, my lifetime. For me, policy is first and foremost, and here is what the leading Libertarian, someone you endorse as a meaningful Trump alternative, has to say as a policy response to Trump’s tariff actions via Chris Bray’s recent column: https://substack.com/@chrisbray/note/p-161047092?r=6uxj2&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action
Not above - apart. Libertarians are not a subset of Republicans, no matter what the strategists try to tell us, and I know some libertarians who have rather different views on this than I go. A lot of what I see from Republicans and from Democrats is IMO born of team loyalty, something I neither have (in politics at least) nor think is a good thing.
The link has this nugget, and it's accurate. "He’s doing what you gave him the power to do, and he’s not the first."
Something I touch on a bit in the next piece - Congress isn't going to fix itself any time soon. I recently caught a vid (forgot who shared it) from Cato where the case was made that the only viable path to meaningful cuts in government is via aggressive executive action, and it was compelling. I think that the situation is dire enough to prefer that imperfect and utilitarian path to wishing Congress would do what needs to be done.
Equivocating between Democrats and Republicans weakens your supposed Libertarian bona fides to the point of illiteracy. Something our allies and enemies alike know well is that the Democratic party is a terrorist organization: https://open.substack.com/pub/rightflank/p/scott-adams-the-democrat-party-is?r=6uxj2&utm_medium=ios
How am I equivocating?
Didn't I just run a massive list of how much worse things would be under a Harris Presidency?
It's frustrating that the Libertarian Party, which under the 2016 Gary Johnson candidacy finally posted vote totals beyond election night round-off error, has collapsed into dysfunctional food fights over a bizarre combination of anarcho-capitalist purity tests and MAGA flirtation. Where can I get my "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Chase Oliver" bumper sticker?
I gave up on the LP long ago. It's full of squabbling purists and "you're not a true libertarian" accusers, plus kooks. And, I think Duverger's Law is inevitable. So, my hope in blogging and in arguing is to move both Republicans and Democrats in the direction of more liberty.
If Trump had appeared in Russia in 1915 and opposed Lenin, and everybody knew what Lenin would do after 1917, the Social Democrats would still have voted for Lenin.
You didn’t specifically mention increases in crime and social disorder under a Harris administration.
But I agree with everything on your list. However, I lack the courage to share it on my personal page. My lefty friends would say, “What’s wrong with any of this?”
Nice photo of the President who isn’t, at least not yet. The empty desk denotes the fact that all work is being done elsewhere by others.
You can thank AI for the inadvertent empty desk :).
And, yes, the Left would be fine with all this. Which is why I spill a lot of digital ink decrying leftism.
Excellent analysis once again.
I'm of the belief "it had to be Trump" else there'd never again be a path open to a Libertarian. Or anyone else. Your arguments regarding economics notwithstanding, the Democrat party actively sought - and was complicit with - an executive branch that showed it was only too eager to permanently cement in one-party rule. A lesser Republican would not have had the stones to break the china shop. Then burn it down. Then excavate and dump the ashes at sea. We can survive this. We would not have survived Harris.
I'm inclined to agree, though I do think that DeSantis was not only electable, but would also have had the stones to act boldly as he did in FL.
Scores of aborted children and continued devaluation of life.
We’re still dismantling coal fired power plants. This won’t stop until more good people run for office and put and stop to it.
We really dodged a bullet here. Of course, Trump introduces another set of problems to confront. It is still welcome relief nonetheless.
Well said. I’d end it a little differently. Sorry, you aren’t going to get your old GOP back.
And I might add, you provided a quite thoughtful and thorough series of prognostications of a Harris presidency with or without a Democratic Party majority in Congress. It was wincing to read and ought to inform current administration critics about the actual gains obtained by a Trump win: No more that the last administration’s serial disasters.
I think many people tend to ignore "what might have been," both in the positive and in the negative direction, much of the time. It's a form of opportunity cost, again in both directions, and it's a reflection of Thomas Sowell's "there are no solutions, only tradeoffs."
This goes hand-in-hand with nirvana fallacies and psychological projection.