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When Donald Trump took over the White House in 2017, an appalled opposition started "the resistance." Some may recall the massive Women's Marches and other anti-Trump demonstrations.
This time, past resisters say they're exhausted.
Eff orts to revive the women's protests have fizzled. But does that mean the opposition has gone into hiding? Hardly. The resistance has taken to their recliners with bags of popcorn. They expect grand opera as an administration run by billionaires for billionaires rolls over the working folk who put Trump in office. While Trump distracts the public with threats against Canada, he has Elon Musk and company plumbing the budget for over $2 trillion that can be chopped.
The few places not off -limits to cutting tend to be the health and other programs that benefit average Americans. How else could the incoming oligarchy cover an extension of tax cuts for their people?
Proposed widespread tariff s and new tax cuts seem set to explode deficits and supercharge inflation. Many of the former resisters are not displeased by what they believe will befall the MAGA rubes. There's already a lot of uncharitable told-you-so in their social media posts.
The reaction to Trump's reelection was summed up by fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. "At first, I was saying, 'Darlings, you know, meet me on Lexington Avenue with your muskets,'" he told the Daily Beast. But also, "How long can the chaos they sow last before it implodes?"
Trump talked a big game about squeezing tight the flow of immigrants taking Americans' jobs. After the election, however, he expressed enthusiasm for the controversial H-1B visas via the program that recruits foreign tech workers who are smart but paid less. An outsourcing industry already provides Silicon Valley with these less-expensive tech workers.
But an analysis by the Economic Policy Institute puts into doubt that there is a shortage of American tech workers. The 30 companies hiring the most H-1B workers took on 34,000 such employees in 2022 but laid off at least 85,000 workers that year and early in 2023.
To lower expectations for a Trumpian economic miracle, the president-elect complains that he's inheriting a weak economy. But Joe Biden is leaving office with another boff o jobs report. Biden created 693,000 factory jobs versus Trump's 425,000 before Covid hit. Inflation for groceries is now less than 1.6%. Incomes after inflation are higher than when Trump left the White House.
After candidate Trump promised to bring prices down, post-election Trump told Time magazine, "that's hard to do." By the way, egg prices are again going up largely for the same reason as two years ago − bird flu.
Then there's financial deregulation as the magic wand that will make all America richer. It would certainly make Wall Street richer for a time. In 2001, George W. Bush inherited a strong economy with a balanced budget from Bill Clinton. Bush then pushed deregulation that turned a housing bubble into a mortgage debacle and sent much of America into financial collapse.
Trump talks of deregulating cryptocurrencies. Many economists say crypto is already a dangerous bubble. Take cover.
Where has the resistance gone? It's gone to the show and the attendees aren't packing muskets.
Creators Syndicate
