In What will be Trump’s legacy? Who cares. Garrison Keillor says,
Presidents are royalty and we measure our lives by their reigns, but their effect on the country in general is greatly exaggerated.
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The government that matters to me is local. I will always remember the day 14 years ago in St. Paul, Minn., when my daughter went into convulsions and I picked up the phone and in six minutes the rescue squad was in our living room, five uniforms looking after my girl and one uniform explaining to me about febrile convulsions. If you were in the midst of this crisis, Donald J. Trump would be the last person on earth you’d want to see come through the door. He would tell you all about how he won Michigan and bring in a podiatrist and give you a coupon toward one of his steaks. It’s going to be a long four years, people. Get back in touch with old friends. Take up hiking. Read history. But not books about Germany in the 1930s — it’ll only make you uneasy.
I’m not as sanguine as Keillor is, but I agree with his advice.
I say the same thing about our governments in the state capital Mumbai and the central at Delhi. For me, local problems far outweigh the major policy ones that are too far removed from me personally.
Unfortunately, The Donald could really mess things up. Fingers crossed that he doesn’t.
Presidents can have more of an impact than this article portrays — FDR’s new deal and the legacy of social security, the lives lost in wars directed by the politicians in Washington, or a stand-off that removed the threat of nuclear missiles just 90 miles or so from our gulf coast. Since the election, I have made a couple of financial decisions that probably would have been different if the election had resulted in a Clinton win.
Then there’s the invasion of Iraq that resulted in destabilizing the Middle East. I agree, presidents can do a lot of good or damage.
I cannot help but wonder at the frequency now of many ‘thinking’ people… from journalists to historians to just old joes in the coffee shops…
who are equating our current political climate to Germany in the 1930’s.
same economics for multitudes of people… blatant bigotry that people were being encouraged to act upon … and a bully type at the pulpit of it all who seems to have a large majority of people enthralled by his sheer audacity.
a dangerous combination I would think. not to be taken lightly.
and that old saying… if we don’t learn from history we’re doomed to repeat it.
I’ve read a lot about how the Nazis got control of Germany. Trump may mess things up, but I don’t think he will, or can, be another Hitler. The situations are a lot different. Obviously I hope I’m right!
Since I started reading Scot Adams blog I am not as scared. Keillor reminded us that Trump is not a dictator who can have things however he wants them.
We still have some checks and balances. All bets are off if we’re heavily attacked and get into a war of survival. That could change things, but no sense worrying about it.