It’s hard to know where to start.
How to put things in perspective? So very much has changed in such a short space of time. Even when it was so very long in coming.
The financial markets have responded to Trump’s election with a thunderous roar of approval. The equity markets have been on fire – the Dow Jones is up 5% for the week and closed at a new high. Bonds got rocked with the yield rising to 2.12% on the 10-year Treasury in anticipation of future economic growth and inflation (bear in mind the Fed’s target rate for inflation is 2% – some inflation is healthy). Investors are cheering the prospects of actual economic growth – along with an end to the perpetual Federal Reserve quantitative easing – that comes with tax cuts, a fiscal stimulus plan and…regulatory rollback. There is the very real possibility that we will get a repeal of the truly awful Dodd-Frank Act.
Meanwhile President Obama is beginning to truly wish the Democrats had decided to move forward with a presidential candidate who wasn’t completely crooked. He really should have gone with Biden. Everything, and I mean everything, Obama put into place with his pen is ripe for repeal via President-Elect Trump’s pen. Obama had a pen and a phone. So does Trump – and his pen comes with an eraser.
Note to self: Never, ever, build your political legacy on Executive Orders.
Trump’s transition team is moving forward swiftly and what a transition team it is: The Heritage Foundation (you could stop right there and I’d be happy), economist David Malpass (I’m a big fan) and Romney veterans Bill Hagerty and Jamie Burke to name a few.
The days leading up to Mr. Trump’s assumption of the Presidency are going to be dizzying with cabinet appointments and overhauls of departments pending. The first 100 days of Trump’s presidency look to be an absolute whirlwind.
Consider this – the Department of Justice might actually become interested in Justice again.
Not all of this will be easy. The unraveling of ObamaCare will be tough – it was designed to make it difficult to repeal (too bad it wasn’t designed to work). But it will be repealed.
Literally one week ago the world was contemplating an end to the GOP. The Republican Party was almost written off and the only glimmer of hope was holding the House. Holding the Senate was possible but didn’t seem very likely – and was not expected to last.
One week later and Republicans hold the House, the Senate and have the Presidency. Hello Supreme Court. Calling all judges who look like a guy named Scalia.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party appears to be in shambles, utterly shell-shocked over what has befallen them. No less than Elizabeth Warren is calling for changes to the Democratic Party in response to voter revolt. Which makes you wonder – just how far left will the Democratic Party go if it’s being led by Warren and Sanders? It almost makes me smile – and helps to solidify eight years of Trump.
If I appear to be giddy – well, I am. Please forgive me. It has really been a tough eight years.
Here’s to eight new and better years. It’s going to be quite a ride.
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