Friday, November 11, 2016

Some Takeaways From Trump's Victory

Here are some facts and consequences arising from Donald Trump's victory in this year's election:

As I've previously mentioned, Trump is the oldest man ever to be elected president, and this coming January, will be the oldest man to be sworn into the office.  He is also the first twice-divorced person to be elected president.  Due to his vast wealth, if he decides to accept his presidential salary, he will probably still be taking a very large pay cut (or as he would put it, a yuuuuge pay cut).

Trump will not be the only president to have not previously held any other type of civilian government office such as senator (like Obama and Kennedy) or governor (like Clinton and Bush the Younger).  However, most of the others with this distinction, as far as I know, had been military generals (like Eisenhower and Grant) before becoming president.  Thus, Trump will be one of the few presidents, if not the only one, to have no earlier service in any other government office, either civilian or military.

Mrs. Trump, the former Melania Knauss, will become the first First Lady to be born in mainland Europe, specifically Slovenia, and the second born outside the United States (or the antecedent British colonies), after Louisa Adams, who was born in London.   While her attractiveness is obvious, she also has enough smarts to speak five languages.  She will also be the first Slav that I know of to become FLOTUS, something that a part-Slovak part-Pole like myself can be proud of.

Since Hillary Clinton will not become president, we will be spared the problem of what to call her husband.  Would Mr. Bill have become the "First Gentleman" or something else?  (For the sake of decency, I will refrain from stating what I'd like to call him.)  Any would-be White House interns out there might be disappointed, or perhaps relieved, that they won't have the chance to run into this guy.

As Kevin Williamson writes in National Review, Hillary's defeat marks the end of "Clinton, Inc.", at least until Chelsea runs for something.  From time to time, I like to tease my fellow right-wingers with the idea that someday Chelsea Clinton Mezvinsky will run for president, with her opponent being George Prescott Bush.  But for the time being, maybe Bill and Hill can just fade away for a while.

Perhaps the most important result of this election is that we will be spared Hillary Clinton's agenda, including largely open borders, the importation of poorly (if at all) vetted refugees from various Muslim countries, left-wing impositions such as gun control, and the appointment of Supreme Court Justices who would distort interpret the Constitution, especially the First and Second Amendments, in a manner in line with her views.  Our civil rights may have dodged the proverbial bullet.

As for what I'd like to see from President Trump, this will be the subject of an upcoming post.  Four years ago, I was hoping to give Mitt Romney my $0.02, but was denied that opportunity by the reelection of Barack Obama.  But due to this year's results, I finally get to say something similar to what I wanted to say back then, taking into account how the world has changed in the meantime.  Stay tuned.

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