What Next?

BASICS

The problem with Donald Trump’s Presidency is not Donald Trump.

It’s us.

An America which in its 250th year seems angry with itself…frustrated…a little fearful of the present and worse when it thinks of the future.

Threatened by an inanimate object like Artificial Intelligence which we now know has a life of its own capable of overwhelming us because it is smarter beyond anything known to human beings.

Despite a first term in office, with an unexpected victory over Hillary Clinton, which saw him looking lost about the very essence of government, worried how he would make any money, surrounding himself with military men because he thought they would see him as Commander in Chief – but was very wrong – and then, completely visible to us on TV, a total inability to deal with Covid.

Don was reelected defeating the image of a broken President Biden. The last minute choice of Kamala Harris, who wasn’t ready and never had a chance, he once again defeated a woman to serve a second term.

This time Donald was ready because he had someone to tell him what to do every day on the job – and a Vice President who was there to make certain he did it.

The Heritage Foundation wrote the script in 922 pages and Mr. Trump followed the bouncing ball turning the Republican Party into MAGA with the boss of the Foundation sitting just a quick walk from the White House.

The Republican Party as we have known it before and after Ronald Reagan changed it from a party with a broad base of legislative beliefs into the conservative image of the 1920’s and 30’s – the Robber Baron era – is not the same.

Then, money talked first and foremost and most of the country could only listen. All that money-talk turned into the Depression and the Democratic Party’s liberal-based government took over under Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

But like the present Republican Party which remains buried somewhere under MAGA, that Democratic Party no longer exists as the champion of the middle class and the blue collar worker.

Despite what has just taken place – the Blue Wave and the Tsunami of a Democratic midterm election wipeout – no one who truly understands politics believes that today’s Democratic Party has found a genuine identity.

Everyone seems quite content to accept the idea that Mr. Trump’s MAGA produced a government of incompetence on many, many levels with the result producing demanding high prices everywhere, another war nobody wanted (and we have lost again) and the personal behavior of a very uncomfortable Donald J. Trump who knew months ago that he would lose the House. Watching him spend weeks campaigning for Republican Senators in red States he often seemed beyond erratic into something else which no one wants to talk about.

And so by and large we have a younger group of Senators and Congress people – bringing the average age of the Senate now to 63 ( really) – more and more women at the highest levels of government and just a smattering of those who consider themselves “progressive” some favoring the Democratic Socialists.

[ We want to again remind you that the founder of the DSA in 1983 believed that America would never be socialist and wanted the organization he created to simply be the left wing of the Democratic Party in New York City. He used the word socialist to honor his mentor and friend, Norman Thomas, who ran for President of the United States four times as a Socialist and was a frequent guest of TV conservatives because he was smart, certain of his beliefs and as a Presbyterian Minister quite able to hold his own.]

While Bernie and Elizabeth Warren often represent the approach and ideas of the DSA they use it sparingly and carefully. The organization itself is run by a group of 20 year olds who understand that young people today feel best when they are in a crowd of themselves working together and knocking on doors as a group so it is all a really fun thing to do. It is and it has worked.

What we also have is a President who must live with two years of serious investigations into corruption on many levels within his administration. Trump lives in a world in which he still hears his Father telling him there are only two kinds of people – winners and losers and now he is a loser.

And so it is no surprise that he has made one last mistake – naming Stephen Miller as his chief of staff and has done so because Miller, long by his side, pledged his undying loyalty much the same as another Trump loyalist – Roy Cohn.

Roy Cohn – Trump’s mentor in his 30’s – taught him that lying works and that never retracting a statement he has made, works too. Selecting a smart, openly cruel believer in an all white America – Stephen Miller – lets all know what the possibilities of the next two years may be.

Miller, in charge of the Trump immigration program, has focused on getting rid of 50,000 immigrants every week. That goal keeps ICE alive, in trouble and getting into one problem after another as it simply scoops Latinos and other brown people off the street to get rid of them – often to countries that they have nothing to do with.

Looking at Miller – just look at him – shows you a side of Donald Trump that most of his fans don’t like to see and too often ignore with all their might.

The VETO on his newest red hat – tells us all he can personally manage in these moments when his Father’s voice rings in his head.

CHANGE AGENTS

The Democratic Party now has the chance to rebuild its image into something Americans can identify with and genuinely support.

Clearly no one really believes that the Democratic Party as it exists today is the reason for its midterm success – but that no longer matters.

A Democratic led Congress needs to go back to work and hopefully will focus well beyond investigations into the Trump Administration talking about that ol’ devil “impeachment”.

Briefly, here are some of the areas which will let America know there is a government which is really about what concerns them.

Immigration: throwing people who have decent jobs out of the country because they arrived here illegally years ago is simply absurd and destructive. If we had done that with the Irish and Italians at the turn of the 20th Century, we would never have become the World’s greatest power by mid-century.

Healthcare: Something has happened to both Medicare and Medicaid which must be corrected. Medical institutions get all the money they need from Medicare — physicians do not which is a reason we see so many people from India and South Asia in our hospitals and medical groups and even in physical therapy.

Taking 10 million people off Medicaid speaks to the insistence of the current Administration that brown people don’t belong in this country.

Education: When will we get smart enough to know that if we simply do not educate our children generation after generation will no longer be smart enough to maintain what was once the most powerful and influential country in the World.

Despite promises that have not produced, we are no longer that – not even close. In America today there is an economic war of AI providers to become the World’s most powerful. This has led to a ferocity in building staggeringly large AI Data Centers despite the negative cost and environmental factors that impact communities across the country…problems our communities fear.

Did Elon Musk contribute half a billion dollars in this election because he is a nice guy with money to burn or because he wants his AI to obliterate all the other companies fighting to control this field?

Ask a friendly Texan and you will hear it is the enormous growth of these data centers across the State that really helped produce a Democratic Senator and Governor in that State.

In China data centers are no longer necessary because its AI is able to produce more working AI without them. What does that say about their progress, their focus and their increasing capabilities?

Our Gen Z has a bad enough reputation. Now recent college graduates this year are being ignored because they are believed to be no better. Only 5.7% of 2026 college graduates have jobs.

Our educational system needs a significant change which has not been forthcoming. There are studies indicating how that can happen.
It must.

Universal childcare: Women work. That future is here in abundance. We need to develop a system which provides the kind of child care which not only helps women but is spectacular for the children as well. We don’t have it. We need it. “Make believe” K2 programs are insufficient and no substitute is possible unless it really works.

Building Homes: the cost factors involved and the demanding provisions for building permits combine to produce a clear shortage of housing for people of moderate means in States all across America.

A new approach that can become national in scope would provide an enormous relief in what has become an overly expensive country for millions. Unless we have lost all ability to do anything, this must change. It is challenging but that makes it exciting and clearly worthwhile – unless we have given up and simply want to be entertained.

The Supreme Court: We are either a country of laws or we are not. The obvious political decision-making of our Supreme Court can only come to an end when changes are made that will end it. One such thought is to increase its numbers. Another thought is to end its lifetime term of office. Another is to change its political roots so that one party can not block the nomination automatically. Whatever change is made will be a step in the right direction.

The extraordinary thing about the history of America is that no matter what, there is no country like it. The changes, the ups and downs, the good and bad all mix to become a very special soup which in all its flavor changes can still be tasty and nutritious.

If we will work now to improve the current mixture, we will make it better.

There is no question that we must.

There is every belief that we will.