What if Trump wins?

Donald Trump’s winning the most important job in the world doesn’t appear likely, but here are some things that could happen if he does.

Supreme Court   President Trump will nominate Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), an opponent of abortion and same sex marriage—or another candidate of similar views. If the Senate has a filibuster-proof Republican majority, the appointment will be confirmed; otherwise the Democrats will block the appointment at least until the next election. (The precedent for blockage and letting the court operate without its full number has already been established).

2020 Election   Paul Ryan’s posturing for the 2020 presidential nomination is no secret, but with a Republican POTUS, his campaign activities must be kept secret among a trusted few. What a target for WikiLeaks!

Hillary Clinton  No longer a candidate and receiving the slings and arrows of the last 25 years, Hillary will realize her incredible power and use it to (1) aggressively press for Pres. Trump to release his tax returns and (2) spearhead Democratic effort to regain the Congress in 2018 and the White House in 2020.

President Trump’s favorite initiatives

(1) Repeal Obamacare:  The Republican House of Representatives will pass a bill to repeal. (They have already done it several times.) But when sent to the Senate it will go to committee to evaluate what will happen to the millions of people who previously couldn’t get health insurance—and acceptable health care. What kind of a financial liability will the Government face? The bill will die in committee after endless debate.

(2) The Wall Across the Southern U.S. Border: The House will pass such a bill, but the Senate will refer it to the Congressional Budget Office for budget impact. The bill will go back to the House to re-structure for less deficit impact, and back and forth, back and forth, with no satisfaction until the bill dies.

(3) Ban on Muslims entering the Country: Not even the partisan House would carry this forward.

(4) Re-negotiate NAFTA: This of course can be done without going to a reluctant Congress. President Trump will assign a blue ribbon panel in his State Department to negotiate. When the panel is unable to make progress, Trump fires them and says that he will head the negotiations himself. He will finally abandon the effort when Canada imposes punitive new tariff on the United States for the bad will he created.

(5) The Trump tax plan: The administration will send to the House a hastily-formulated plan which reduces taxes on incomes over $1,000,000 but increases taxes for some middle income levels. The plan goes to the CBO where the revenue loss it determined to be gigantic. Speaker Ryan, fearing damageto his reputation for fiscal conservatism, will refuse to take the plan to a vote.

(5) Destroying ISIS:  President Trump will assign a select committee of admirals and generals to develop a strategy for defeating ISIS. When reviewing the details the decline of the terror group in Northern Iraq, the consensus will be to keep doing and strengthen what President Obama began. Trump will fire his committee.

It looks as though the Government might accomplish little except a few monument dedications during Mr. Trump’s administration. But then, many believe the old adage, “That government which governs least, governs best.”