The 45th president of the United States of America

Esteemed friends and colleagues around the world,

Today, 2017.01.20, at 1700 hours UTC, Donald J. Trump became the 45th president of the United States of America.

I remain hopeful (not to be confused with optimistic) that, under the leadership of President Trump and his administration, the United States of America, and all its citizens (and resident aliens) will continue to be safe, healthy, and prosperous.

To my many friends here in other countries who heard Donald Trump's first campaign speech of the 2020 presidential campaign (given just after he was sworn in as president), you know that, as far as he is concerned, you are on your own.

I am not religious (to say the least), yet I have no problem in closing with:

God bless the United States of America, of which I am proud to be a citizen.

And the entire world, of which I am proud to be a citizen.

Best regards,

Doug

Doug Kerr said:

Esteemed friends and colleagues around the world,

Today, 2017.01.20, at 1700 hours UTC, Donald J. Trump became the 45th president of the United States of America.

Doug,

I remain hopeful (not to be confused with optimistic) that, under the leadership of President Trump and his administration, the United States of America, and all its citizens (and resident aliens) will continue to be safe, healthy, and prosperous.

To my many friends here in other countries who heard Donald Trump's first campaign speech of the 2020 presidential campaign (given just after he was sworn in as president), you know that, as far as he is concerned, you are on your own.

I am not religious (to say the least), yet I have no problem in closing with:

God bless the United States of America, of which I am proud to be a citizen.

And the entire world, of which I am proud to be a citizen.

Best regards,

Doug

Click to expand...

I appreciate your stoic optimism and I concur. We have a peaceful transfer of power. Yes? The per duly may swing but then it marks how society steals its way forward, with occasional corrections that the people direct, one way or another. Paradoxically we can tolerate error as they will eventually be corrected.


Like a giant Mac Truck, this vehicle had resilience and its springs and shock absorbers in a well conceived self regulating democratic structure recognizes inherent imperfections of all human controlled construct.

So I am optimistic.

But I do hope that we do not withdraw from the world stage as there are too many countries at risk by expansionist neighbors.

We cannot just trust in God and not do our part.

Asher

I'm optimistic but surprise myself for being hopeful. Why?

I'm optimistic that mobile phones and the social media have empowered people. Who can believe that anyone but the most callous would now join the American military in order to kill kids across the world because someone like LBJ set that agenda for that day? As a lad from a blue-collar background, I'm optimistic that the President - seemingly alone among American politicians - resonated with voices of (what he termed) the 'forgotten' rather than to those of self-interested activists and lobbyists. I'm optimistic that after a President (Clinton) who bombed more countries than any President before him, followed by a President (Bush) with more than half a million Iraqi lives on his conscience (if he has one), followed by a President (Obama) who dropped 50,000 bombs on Muslims during the past couple of years, the incumbent-since-yesterday intends to focus on homeland safety rather than the spread of American ideology. I'm also optimistic that the economies of America and my own countries may benefit more from Trump's presidency than from those of his rivals had any of them won. However, the preceding are correlates of, not reasons for, optimism. Optimism has more to do with personality than circumstance, whereas hope is more reactive to the latter. Consequently, optimism may persist even when reasons for hope are unfounded.

I surprise myself for being hopeful because most of friends and colleagues consider America an exemplar of a sick country on a downward spiral. However, my observations about Trump include his effective use of hyperbole to win the biggest prize in the game, examples of which rival Jonathon Swift’s mastery of satire in bygone times. Implicit in both are statements not meant for literal interpretation. An irony is that Trump's 'forgotten' people understand the reasons for his hyperbole, whereas his critics interpret it as bigotry, lying, narcissism, etc. Consequently, my optimism makes me hopeful that my reasoning about Trump's competence is correct, with implications for a presidency with positive outcomes. But if my reasoning is wrong, and my hope unfounded, I’ll remain optimistic whatever happens.

Cheers, Mike

Mike,

A lot of wisdom!

My late father in law told me that in business, making things was secondary to actually locking the contract for sale. Movie producers might not even have read the script. Their job is to convince those with money to commit and the director to be enthusiastic and the actors to sign up. So he says anything to recruited all the components. There is a book, "Hello I lied!" by Linda ??? Who says that all the hyperbole is simply a necessary lie and "Get used to it!".

Anyone can potentially make something, (if the resources exist and it can be made), given the sale is locked in!

So that is what Trump has done.

But remember, Hitler said "Deutschland Uber Alles" when he actually meant it with every fiber of his being!

The Turks said they had to solve the "Armenian Problem" and the Armenians thought, "How illogical! We can't actually be under threat. After all, we make all the food, machines, bridges and music, they must be just using hyperbole"

So now back to your note of hope. It's reasonable to think that Trump will try to make his promises come into reality. The danger for hom is that Mike Pence is his perfect replacement for the "Christian" "Right",......... (in behavior they are paradoxically neither "Christian" nor "Right", LOL!).....as they know he's insincere about his claimed religiosity and would love to roll back Gay Rights and Abortion Rights and directly fund religious schools!

I am cautiously optimistic! But he might have sealed his fate by giving his enemies a ready pretender for the throne to rally behind if need be!

Asher