Is It Over For Trump And Can America Survive?

In 2020 I wrote an article about the Don McLean song American Pie, a metaphor for America's decline. Of course, that was before the January 6 conflagration was promoted as an insurrection.

Then in December 2022, I made my predictions for 2023. One of them was that Donald Trump would be indicted for inciting an insurrection. That is coming to pass as Trump said he got word it is forthcoming. I was wrong about DeSantis not running.

We know this is part of a seven-year political witch hunt engineered by the left. Whether you detest Trump or have an almost cult-like love for the man, indicting an ex-President for such a charge is unprecedented. It's the sort of thing you hear about in Third World dictatorships. If you want to hold on to power, eliminate your opposition.

Of course, this is just one of several charges against the ex-President. Trump could hug a child on the campaign trail and be accused of sexually molesting a child; that's the level of abuse in America now. Never mind that President Biden has been sniffing children's hair, illegally storing classified documents in his garage and being in a pay-for-play scheme with the Chinese. Biden and his corrupt justice department get a pass.

However, despite all these events, the reality is that Trump doesn't help himself. He opens his mouth one too many times, almost incriminating himself, probably to the chagrin of his lawyers. There are also reports from outlets such as Newsweek of prominent figures from within Trump's personal circle testifying before grand juries. There are reports that Trump supported fake electors in crucial states to replace the legal ones for the electoral college to overturn the election results. If true, this is serious and potentially puts Trump behind bars.

Trump is such a polarising figure with his rhetoric but do his actions jibe with his words? Remember "drain the swamp" during the 2016 election years campaign? No, the swamp drained him and continues to do so. Remember, "Mexico will pay for the wall"? They didn't pay a cent. What about "Crooked Hillary" and "Lock her up", a feature of the 2016 campaign. During one of the debates, he said, "If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation because there has never been so many lies, so much deception."

Well, Trump won, Hillary lost, and then he let it all go because he said, "She suffered enough". She was the one behind the whole Russia collusion hoax. So I wonder if Joe Biden will be so generous if Trump gets convicted during this Presidential term. Don't hold your breath.

So he did have wins In foreign and economic policy. However, Trump added more to the U.S. debt—$6.7 trillion over 4 years—than Obama's $8.6 trillion over 8 years. That's $1.07 trillion a year under Obama vs $1.68 trillion for Trump. Much of that increase for Trump was due to his Covid-19 policy. His Presidency was hijacked by the likes of Fauci. They not only shut down the U.S. economy, which lost tax revenues, but they handed out money like it was candy. 

On the other hand, Sweden didn't lock down, and their debt was pretty stable from 2018 to 2022. (Source: Statista)

Florida had a limited period of lockdown. It's debt went from $28.8 billion in 2017 to $24.8 billion in 2021. It actually declined during the Covid years. (Source: Statista) The other thing about Florida was that Governor Ron DeSantis held forums with his cabinet and highly acclaimed medical people such as Peter McCullough and Harvey Risch. They ultimately decided to not vaccinate children because of the known detrimental effects of the vaccine.

Unfortunately, Trump's biggest failing was Covid. The question is who ultimately dictated the Covid policy. Trump was the President. He can say he was duped, but he hired poorly in many areas of his administration. As President Harry Truman famously said, "The buck stops here". The problem is that to this day, Trump keeps touting the failed vaccines and all the lives he claimed they saved––he is wrong. In addition, he hasn't acknowledged the devastation the vaccines have done to so many people; hundreds of thousands dead and a few million maimed.

Now we have the drama of Trump with multiple indictments. Yes, it's unfair and political, and America has entered Third World territory. Let's say Trump gets jailed; what then? Do you think there won't be a movement for retribution? How much more polarized can America get?

The problem is that many people think with their hearts rather than their minds. I heard one woman who said she loved President Trump. But she said her country comes first and must consider the future. Is Trump the future? Even if he gets elected and pardons himself, he has limited time to achieve anything; he can only be in office for another four years.

Then you have Ron DeSantis, who is mocked by Trump and some others because of his lack of charisma. Let's look at what Desantis has done in Florida. He went after the sexualization of children by groups such as Disney, fired incompetent district attorneys, made Florida a free state where people could decide for themselves if they wanted the Covid jab or not, and was fiscally responsible.

In addition, DeSantis is 44 with a young family. He is the future. Rightly or wrongly, Trump is the past. He will be 82 when he leaves office if he gets another term. I contend that Trump's psyche is now tainted by the attacks on him over the past few years. You can hear it in virtually every interview that he gives. He is defining himself by having the election of 2020 stolen. He can't seem to let it go.

America will take quite an effort to recover from this dark road. It may not be DeSantis, but I believe someone other than Trump is the one to do it in 2024. This is a different world to 2016.