The 2016 election is over. What now lies ahead?
Donald Trump traded in his Republican nominee title for the one bearing the moniker of president-elect. To say his election is a stunning surprise would be an understatement and the autopsy of the 2016 campaign will continue for the foreseeable future. What’s in question now is simple: Will President Donald Trump attempt to carry out his many campaign promises — some positive, some negative and many constitutionally questionable.
Trump has promised to use his executive powers to repeal Obamacare on Jan. 20, 2017. With a House and Senate comprised of Republicans, that goal is within reach. However, the logistics of such a promise are daunting at best, considering the open enrollment period for the program is going on right now. A more doable response would be a phase out of the program, not the budgetary strangulation Congress has in mind. It would be irresponsible to repeal a program that has insured 20 million Americans without a reasonable substitute.
The inner workings of the Affordable Care Act go much deeper than who is and who is not covered but into the very bowels of the health care system and is tremendously complicated. How do you unravel this Gordian knot without exposing the system to further financial stress and strain, not to mention the uncertainty that would be injected into a segment of the economy that was running 17.5 percent of economic spending in 2014?
Trump has promised to make the military great again. The United States industrial-military complex spends three times more on its military than does China which comes in at No. 2 in the world in military spending. America spends nine times more than Russia. Will Trump make good on his promise to make Europe pay for its protection and what will the repercussions of threatening such action? What of those NATO countries that are now left to wonder?
Will President Trump decide to ban immigrants, build a wall and round up illegal immigrants for deportation as he’s promised? All of these questions and more will start to be answered in the coming weeks as President-elect Trump’s Cabinet starts to come together. Will Trump’s style change? If his victory speech early Wednesday morning is any indication, we are hopeful. As president, he has the ultimate bully-pulpit and we’ve seen too many instances this campaign season where he’s moved off script.
What we can all be proud of however, whether a Trump supporter or not are his words after his election. “Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division, have to get together,” he said early Wednesday morning after his victory was sealed. “To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.
“It is time. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all of Americans, and this is so important to me. For those who have chosen not to support me in the past, of which there were a few people, I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together and unify our great country.”
Hillary Clinton’s concession speech Wednesday morning in New York hit a similar tone. Clinton said, she hopes Trump “will be a successful president for all Americans,” and that “We owe him an open mind and a chance to lead.” President Obama spoke from the White House shortly after Clinton spoke, said, “We are all on the same team” and he called the internal politics of the country an “intramural scrimmage.”
Probably the most important aspect of our democracy and a lesson, even in this bitter campaign, for the rest of the world to see is, how seriously America regards our process. Nowhere is that more apparent than in our peaceful transfer of power. Just days ago, President Obama was campaigning for Clinton. Thursday, he’ll host President-elect Trump at the White House to begin the transition process. Clinton said, “Our constitutional democracy enshrines the peaceful transfer of power. We don’t disrespect that, we cherish it.”
There are difficult days ahead. Elections have consequences, but we should face them all as Americans.
This story was originally published November 9, 2016 at 4:32 PM with the headline "The 2016 election is over. What now lies ahead?."