USA TODAY International Edition
POSTCARD FROM TRUMP NATION, 2021
January 2021. President Trump “Made America Great Again,” and a grateful nation re- elected him. Here’s how:
President Trump in his 2017 inaugural address declared war on our rigged political system. Republicans retained control of Congress and responded enthusiastically. The Senate changed its rules to eliminate filibusters on Supreme Court nominees, and Congress made other procedural changes to speed up the lawmaking process. To further improve efficiency, Congress sharply reduced civil service protections, thereby making termination of government employees easier.
In the first 100 days, Obamacare was repealed, “winners” and “producers” got huge tax cuts, and much else on the GOP wish list was accomplished.
Congress approved Trump’s judicial and U. S. attorney nominees — in record time — despite some grumbling that many of these nominees had connections to the “alt- right” movement. Candidate Trump had warned of investigations and litigation against “doubters” ( like Jeff Bezos, The
New York Times and other “losers”). President Trump’s new appointees were quick to initiate those investigations.
BOW DOWN
Trump, as candidate, demanded that a special prosecutor investigate “Crooked Hillary.” The Trump administration appointed a special prosecutor to investigate not only Clinton, but also Barack Obama and the “elites” who had donated to Democrats. Thousands of people had to be investigated, so Americans learned not to criticize Trump.
In 2016, Trump’s spokesperson Omarosa Manigault predicted: “Every critic, every detractor, will have to bow down to President Trump” — and she was right. Domestic media broadly supported, or at least did not oppose, Trump.
Trump, as promised, renegotiated many international accords, leading to ( among other things) our withdrawal from NATO. This resulted in the collapse of the dollar, trade wars, and other economic and political dislocations. Trump’s admirer, Russian leader Vladimir Putin, moved quickly to maintain order in Europe — by annexing the Baltic countries.
In 2016, half of Americans believed that Trump would be willing to use nuclear weapons — and he did. Thankfully, the 2017 Nuclear War was short and contained to the Middle East, where President Trump authorized a pre- emptive attack on Iran’s atomic weapons program. This resulted in a few million dead in the region, a wave of suicide bombings against the U. S., and America becoming a global pariah state. The Trump administration proclaimed it a great victory.
The foreign news media reported that the U. S. unemployment rate was skyrocketing toward 25%. The international media also said America’s foreign policy was for sale, citing Trump’s many conflicts of interest.
With all the turmoil, Trump had to crush an attempted coup from elements within the Republican Party. The foreign media described these rogue elements as patriots seeking to impeach Trump under the Constitution. But the administration claimed these dissidents were “bribe takers, criminals, pedophiles, drug addicts and agents of radical Islam.” Remaining elements in the judiciary, Congress or military who did not support Trump resigned or were removed.
As the 2018 elections approached, Congress passed comprehensive election reforms, including a shift to a digital voting system ( which Trump outsourced to a Russian firm with huge experience). Where reforms had been adopted, the Trump- Republicans won decisive victories. The “losers and haters” rioted on a large scale about the election results, so the National Guard had to be used. When some officers and soldiers refused to shoot rioters and resigned, Trump replaced them with stronger people. In 2020, in the interests of consistency and to avoid any confusion about voting fairness, all states were required to use the new and improved electoral system. BUILDING THE WALL Some continued to resist Trump’s efforts to Make America Great Again. To prevent them from undermining his policies, many African Americans, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Hispanics and non- conformists were sent to labor camps for re- education and potential deportation. But Trump got it all under control. In the 2020 election, the president received 99% of the popular vote and 100% of the electoral vote. And TrumpRepublicans continued to control Congress.
Oh, and the Mexican government ultimately did pay for that border wall. The foreign media had the audacity to report, however, that Mexico did so to keep out hordes of starving and persecuted Americans.