These stories (like this) have no effect not because I'm such a fan of Trump.
No. I know he is basically a Democrat who is willing to say what he thinks are conservative things because he is a populist with no real fixed moorings to guide his thinking.
I despise the man. I have no respect for him and think he is a clown (or Clown American, if that is more acceptable. American of Clowniness? Whatever).
And if the Democrats had put up a different candidate, my calculations might be different as a result.
But Democrats didn't do that. Indeed, they weren't even close to doing that considering the second place Democratic candidate is a socialist.
And the winner of their contest is Hillary! Is she better prepared to be president?
Sure. She's been preparing all her adult life to be the most corrupt president in our history, propelled into the Oval Office by lady bits that are supposed to make us forget about how corrupt she is.
So what choice do I have? The only way I won't vote for Trump is if Michigan (where I vote) is so obviously going for either candidate that my vote for president just won't matter. Then I can ease my conscience by not voting at the top of the ticket.
But if Michigan is in doubt, I have to vote for Trump.
A Trump presidency, I believe, in all its clowny glory, will be constrained by the anti-bodies of the government and press.
The media will discover investigative reporting.
The left will discover the joys of separation of powers within the federal government and between the federal government and the state governments.
Congress--under control of either party--will shape legislative proposals from the president to make them better and deny them when the president does not want to compromise. And I think he would compromise to get to the signing ceremonies, not caring about the details--lacking fixed moorings this will not bother him.
The Supreme Court will similarly vote against presidential pen and phone powers where in the last 7 years they seemed to have no problems finding reasons to support them.
The civilian bureaucracies can delay and stall bad decisions or decisions they don't like.
The military can stall, too, and disobey unlawful orders.
Both can leak to a suddenly confrontational media class.
At least parts of the Republican party will work to contain and direct the man in better directions.
And we will cope.
If Hillary is president, none of those constraints will apply. And she will extend the corruption that has been the hallmark of her family to our government in ways that will harm our country economically and abroad.
Oh, there will be one constraint on the Clinton II government--the "deleted" emails that the Russians almost certainly stole before Hillary's team could wipe their servers. The Russians will constrain Hillary's efforts abroad even when she is interested in opposing Russian foreign policy.
Although funny enough, this leverage will be less than Putin hopes for because the Clintons are shameless and the media will cover for whatever the Russians reveal.
So that's my stand in the worse presidential election I have ever experienced.
It has to get better in 2020, right? Right?!
UPDATE: Funny enough, the French might again say "we are all Americans, now" given their 2017 choice:
So the next French election could well boil down to a choice between two failed presidents who are viewed with disdain by a majority of French voters, and Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Front.
"It would be election by elimination," says Thomas Guenole, a political scientist and co-founder of consulting firm Vox Politica. "The choice facing French voters would be: who do you hate the least?"
Yeah, it sucks.
