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Back in the year 2000 my conservative friend was all excited about the incoming George W Bush administration. Eight years of peace, prosperity and a balanced budget under Bill Clinton was just more than he could stand. After all, he had sex with an intern and had a D after his name.
I warned him that George W Bush had never succeeded at anything in his entire life and such people don't make good presidents. You know the rest of the story. The worst terrorist attack on American soil, two endless unwinnable wars, torturing prisoners of war, an ill advised tax cut to the rich, hurricane Katrina, the worst economic collapse since 1929 and trillion dollar annual deficits.
America paid a huge price for the George W Bush presidency but it doesn't end there. Under the Obama administration the economy would recover but that wasn't enough for a certain segment of the American people. A con-man with bad hair and clown make-up came along promising to MAGA. Despite his multiple bankruptcies, fraudulent university, fraudulent charitable foundation and outlandish promises the American people were once again taken in by the con-man. They felt that at last someone was "listening to us". Actually it was the other way around. The American people were listening to Trump and he was feeding off the attention.
Once Trump won the election his followers didn't care that they were paying for the ridiculous wall and not Mexico. They didn't care that children were separated from their families, some never to be returned. They didn't care about yet another tax cut for the rich or the plundering of environmental regulations. The economy was growing and adding jobs at the same rate as President Obama but Trump was MAGA.
The first three years Trump had a relatively easy ride on President Obama's economy. Then he had to face his first crisis. He started by downplaying the coronavirus. He told us he did a great job because we had 15 cases and soon it would be down to zero. The virus would miraculously disappear when the weather gets warmer. As the cases started building Trump pivoted to conspiracy theories. It was the latest "Democratic hoax" and it was a "Chinese virus". He has lied about the availability of tests, vaccines and cures.
Rather than meet this challenge head on, Trump delayed for critical weeks early on. Now it will cost an additional trillion dollars in borrowed money on top of the trillion dollars we borrow every year because Republicans believe that the rich shouldn't have to pay taxes. Forget about funding much needed infrastructure, education or healthcare. All that is out the window thanks to Trump’s mismanagement of a serious crisis. Thanks to Trump we are no longer concerned about the economy growing too slowly. We are concerned about a recession reaching depression-like levels.
There's no telling how long this will last. The question is will America ever be the same again.
