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Imagining an Alternate Universe
As we head toward the 100-day mark of the Trump Era, I think it’s fair to say we have elected the most interesting man ever to inhabit the White House. He has angered some conservatives; he has continued to enrage liberals; he has inspired marches replete with everything from vaginas to Form 1040s; he has caused major media outlets to explode with bile; he has bombed Syria and Afghanistan (in the latter case, finally allowing the MOAB designation to be removed from my 1989-90 CBS talk show); he has moved ships toward North Korea; he has upset his supposed BFF Vladimir Putin; he has shared Dover sole with Chinese President Xi Jinping, announcing, “We have developed a friendship” (with the President, not the sole); he has whiffed on Obamacare but homered on SCOTUS; he has — well, you get the idea. It’s been an interesting three months.
So while we pause and try to catch our breath, here’s a question: What would a Hillary Clinton administration look like at this point? Also, since this is strictly — and happily — a mental exercise, let’s assume the Republican Senate fell along with Trump (a reasonable assumption). What would be going on in the country and in the world? What would the media be writing and talking about? Who would be the power brokers? How would the Republicans deal with the internal warfare that contributed to the results? How would the next four or eight years be shaping up?
Of course, we can’t know any of this. Think of it as a Ricochet parlor game. Still, as we march closer to 100 days of Donald Trump, it might be useful to reflect on the alternative and think about what might have been.
Published in General
Even then, I might wait a week or two to see how this Kushner/Bannon war ends up playing out before declaring it totally risible. Just to be sure.
I suppose it’s unhealthy how much I enjoy tales of woe from the Left…
#DenyHillaryAndBatheInHerTears
Isn’t that what a lot of people were saying while they predicted Trump’s defeat? It was important to stop him to save conservatism. I wouldn’t expect “Happier”, but the crowing was already going on with all the polls predicting a massive defeat. They would certainly be talking about rebuilding conservatism and the Republican Party.
It would be trans everything, 24/7.
Same here! I had taken a break from Facebook in the days leading up to the election because my leftist friends were getting unbearable. I had intended to take a break for an indeterminate amount of time afterwards as well. As my husband and I watched the election turn to Trump’s favor, I was logging in about 1AM just so I could see the lamentations. I almost felt like a terrible person but it was the best entertainment I’d had in years.
The thankfully counter-factual Clinton administration, would frankly be not that different from the sadly factual Obama’s:
1 more “Under pants gnome” policies (Like 1> Bomb a dictator out of office. 2> ______________ 3> Stability in the middle east.)
2 less American leadership, the gas attack that sparked Trump to use missiles in Syria, would have gone largely unnoticed by a Clinton administration (and unreported by a friendly media) as would continued missile tests in Iran and North Korea.
3 Tax increases. Carbon tax, “Sin” taxes, estate taxes… every penny that could be pried from the people would be.
4. Economic stagnation continues, soon America has a lost decade. Having spent trillions on economic stimulus to little effect. (other than enriching cronies, paying off union support, and co-opting “independent” NGOs) All those scary 80’s articles about Japan being America’s economic future, will come true, and be scary for entirely unforeseen reasons.
5 Trust in media disappears. Stories like “wildfires in Oklahoma” or “Dam bursts in California” just dont make it into the news cycle anymore. After all its only 24/7, gotta make room to discuss that outrageous tweet from a dimwit. Less news about the real world, more time spent discussing less.
6. SCOTUS would be stacked. Garland would still not be on the court, he’d be dumped for a “La Raza” radical (and unknown) law professor from California. 1,2 and 4th amendments virtually disappear – or are so distorted no rational person would recognize.
Sorry, Pat, but I’m not going to bite. I’ll just say that the relief I felt, as Obama’s helicopter carried him away along with eight years of frustration and fear – that’s right, fear for the future of America – almost overwhelmed my emotions.
We won, and I have seen on Ricochet that even those who do not feel affection for our new President still acknowledge it is a much better White House than if the Cloud of Corruption that follows the Clintons everywhere had returned to the White House.
I’ll add on that anything I could imagine at this point would probably not come close to how bad it would really be.
-word limit-
7. Surveillance state becomes the norm. Political opponents, critics and independent thinkers are routinely hacked, tapped and leaked against. For both public shaming and framing.
8. Police state emerges. local and state police agencies are federalized and militarized, middle America feels occupied. Redress of police misconduct becomes almost unheard of, abuses like Chicago’s Homan Square become common. Civil forfeiture becomes viral, to the point that driving through some bankrupt counties is dangerous – as the police may seize your car.
9 Unified primaries. States are forced to unify the primary process, thus deny republicans, and 3rd parties access to the general election ballot. California already has this system, promoted as cost saving measure, it eventually becomes national.
10. Bonds begin to fail. First Puerto Rico then a few counties, then entire states like Illinois can no longer make bond payments. The first few maybe bailed out. (Puerto Rico definitely will be) But soon the debts will be forceably restructured. Thankfully the government already has the precedent of the GM bankruptcy to rely on.
Well if that dont cheer you up, I dont know whats wrong with y’all. Some of these things are happening anyway – I dont see how Trump can stop it all… But its just a thought experiment on how quickly an open society can be closed down.
Take your freedoms seriously, and never foregranted.
I cried on election night too. Once it was clear that Trump had won, I was so happy – I had one of my best cries in years.
Unbridled, unashamed rampant corruption of all aspects of government. Including, and particularly, the destruction of the opposition for the foreseeable future through the demonizing and criminalizing of speech and opinions deemed ‘hateful’ ( not liberal).
But please don’t imply the election choice was binary, them are fightin’ words ’round these parts!
My issue with this line of reasoning is that we are pushing men into some idealized vision of femininity and women into masculinity. Just because Obama was a pansy doesn’t mean Clinton would have been.
There is also historical analysis that shows female leaders are far more likely to go to war than male counterparts.
I think WWIII would be more likely under Hillary.
“If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.”
“he has continued to enrage liberals; he has inspired marches replete with everything from vaginas to Form 1040s; he has caused major media outlets to explode with bile;”
He hasn’t done this, they’re reacting to things rattling around in their heads and are being pointed by operatives and funders because they lost power and have to find ways to clammer back and reattach their shunts. None of their issues are real. Conservatives may have legitimate worries because he isn’t a conservative, but liberals?
What would a Hillary win have meant? Continued decline and stagnation, exactly how it would unfold would have depended entirely on how opportunities for parasitism, rent seeking, and power building presented themselves. We know how they behave but we cant know the future.
… for those caught in the elite bubble. Fortunately, ~90% of Republicans and substantial numbers of independents not only weren’t caught in any bubble, but had the foresight to make this particular debate possible.
Maybe. But the part about them being “happier” that Hillary won is wrong. At worst they’d be saying it’s a tragedy and blaming the Trumpists for trying to shove the least electable candidate down our throats. The fact that we were proven wrong on some (but by no means all) of our concerns has no relevance to the information we had at the time.
But I’m done trying to explain this. The inability/refusal of Trumpists to accept that a person could have believed that both Trump and Hillary were unacceptable at the time can’t be explained through anything other than bad faith at this point.
America would be drowning in waves of illegal aliens after she announced permanently open borders
Yes, we had the word of a life long New York Democrat who said some nice things but had no record of actually doing anything. Okay, he kept some of his promises, and in hindsight he turned out to be more trustworthy than we thought, but we had no way of knowing any of this would happen during the campaign.
It must be nice to be so able to trust politicians so readily. Personally, I stopped doing that when I was 15.
Probably shouldn’t use the word “sobriety” in reference to Hillary “Crown Royal” Clinton.
Were there more than two choices?
Yes.
Thus, not binary.
I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again, if making $32K a year shuffling papers makes me “elite,” the word has no meaning.
As I said… ;)
One of the Zeros in that film was flown by an uncle of mine. The planes were owned operated by members of the Confederate Air Force.
Agreed. I generally like such thought exercises, but Pat’s proposal is too terrifying to imagine. I voted for Trump reluctantly. Despite his occasional missteps in office, I only have to remind myself that the alternative was to elect The Worst Candidate in the Known Universe, who would have brought along for the ride her slime ball husband, the Prince of Darkness.
In the alternative reality:
There is a smarmy press secretary who spins half-truths and lies, and the press eats it up.
In contrast to MLK’s admonishment to judge a person based on the content of his character, the cabinet is carefully curated with regard to sex and ethnicity, with qualifications being a secondary consideration.
President Rodham is asked hard-hitting questions such as, “What has most enchanted you about being president?”
Chelsea is getting even more press, if such a thing is possible.
Bill is chasing skirts. (That happens in every alternative reality.)
More red lines would be crossed, and the world’s thugs would keep slaughtering, with no worries.
Much bigger increases on entitlements and new ones created, like “free college”, where magic tuition money falls from the sky.
Endless illegal immigrants continue pouring across the borders, including criminals, drug traffickers, etc.
Large donations would pour into the Clinton Foundation just because…..
Huma would turn the Lincoln Bedroom into a bed and breakfast.
The media would be gushing about increased funding for more abortion clinics, crappy art, and the new multi-gender, multi-spouse marriage rules – what’s one more mother-in-law.
More regulations would be added to business and energy sectors, taxes would go up, and the national debt would continue to skyrocket.
New Supreme Court judges would pass muster if promising to always be politically correct and legislate from the bench.
Cyber threats would increase and military funding would decrease. Veteran Affairs would remain unimproved, and IRS would continue to discriminate.
Inner cities would continue to decline and black lives wouldn’t really matter, especially in Chicago.
Healthcare and drug costs would continue to skyrocket, where only the rich could afford to be healthy.
Trump is only coming up on 90 days work, but at least he is attempting to tackle long standing problems that have brought our country down.
Nope – in a whole bunch of timelines, Bill drops dead suddenly (and inexplicably) the day after the Electoral College meets, and Hillary gets four solid years of “the strong but quietly suffering Widow Clinton” from the press, leading up to her second term after “you wouldn’t vote against a widow, would you?” becomes her campaign slogan in 2020.
Then, when Hillary’s health problems catch up to her, “Vote for Chelsea, she’s an orphan” sweeps her into office in 2024 and 2028, until the next generation of Kennedy brats start becoming available in 2032. In 2040, they just say “the hell with it” and change back to royal titles, just in time for Chelsea’s children to seize the crown after the youngest female Kennedy fails to produce an heir on cue.
Facebook has remained utterly insufferable ever since the election. Non-stop whining from the left.
I’d still rather see whining than crowing.
I have to be on Facebook for business reasons. I wish I didn’t.
I do block all stupid memes one at a time from political sites that get “shared”. I am now down to only about twenty a day……..
I had it figured for “Bill dies, and Hillary comes out as the first lesbian President”.