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I have a sad message for folks who were hoping that Donald Trump would end his life bankrupt and imprisoned: You lose.
Trump’s not going to be imprisoned: He’ll be president for the next four years, and he’ll be an 82-year-old man at the end of his second term. That’s no recipe for prison.
Trump’s not going to be bankrupt: You were hoping that COVID-19 had undercut the value of real estate and that Trump wouldn’t be able to make his debt payments. Nope.
Elon Musk, or someone else who wants to ingratiate himself with the president, will buy Truth Social at an inflated price. Trump will invest in cryptocurrency and then cause government to support crypto. Trump will be the center of power, with rich folks itching to pay top dollar to join Trump’s country clubs and rub elbows with him.
Trump is going to be rich and famous for as long as he lives.
You lose.
I also have a sad message for most of the folks who voted for Trump: You lose.
You chose not to vote for Kamala Harris because of the war between Israel and Hamas. You lose. Did you see who Trump’s appointing to posts in the Middle East? The Palestinians ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
You voted for Trump because he said that inflation was too high. You lose. Inflation might have been too high, but Trump has no plan to reduce it. Cutting taxes and imposing tariffs is a recipe for increasing inflation, not decreasing it. If you were hoping that inflation was going down, you lose.
You voted for Trump because he was going to stop illegal immigration. A military crackdown on illegal immigrants may help achieve that goal, but the disruptions to the economy and the ferocity of the resulting protests and the deportation of law-abiding noncitizens who’d been living in your town for years were not what you expected. You lose.
You voted for Trump because he was going to reduce the size of government. You lose. Once you get past the military budget (which Trump won’t touch) and Social Security and Medicare and repayment of the national debt, there’s not much room for cutting. And you probably don’t want Trump to cut what’s left; it helps you. You’re white and male and high-school educated: You lose.
You voted for Trump because vaccines suck. You lose. The Senate may confirm a Secretary of Health and Human Services who opposes vaccines, and red state governors may choose to weaken the vaccine requirements for kids entering school. If the vaccine requirements are weakened for the 2025 school year, then by 2026 and beyond, it’s your kids who will be coming down with measles and diphtheria and all of the other diseases that we’ve conquered. You lose.
You’ll be disappointed, and you’ll be able to take out your rage in the 2028 elections. But by then, Trump will have served his two terms, and pocketed the dough, and moved on to whatever’s next.
You’ll be left holding the bag.
And only then will you be certain: You lost.
Mark Herrmann spent 17 years as a partner at a leading international law firm and later oversaw litigation, compliance and employment matters at a large international company. He is the author of The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law and Drug and Device Product Liability Litigation Strategy (affiliate links). You can reach him by email at [email protected].
