Donald Trump (R) is the President-Elect of the United States.
It still doesn’t sound right, does it? The election was nearly two months ago and yet its outcome is still somehow . . . unsettling. Don’t get me wrong; I am thrilled that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) didn’t win. I had the usual concerns about her policies and judgment, and about her dangerous and improper handling of classified material, but the deciding factor was my expectation that she would appoint decisively anti-liberty justices to the United States Supreme Court . . . a court that already has us hanging in the balance between freedom and subjugation. There is more on this in my presidential election endorsement.
And yet, as you can read in that endorsement, I am no fan of Trump’s. Though I am cautiously optimistic that some of Trump’s worst tendencies will be blunted by conservatives and libertarians in his administration and in Congress, I still fear that he will push the limits of executive authority, play fast-and-loose with the law, and operate well outside of the limits of the U.S. Constitution. So I celebrate that we will likely be spared—for now—a decisively anti-liberty Supreme Court. I celebrate the apparent end of the Bush and Clinton political dynasties. I celebrate the peaceful transfer of power. But I do not celebrate Trump’s win in-and-of itself. (And I certainly do not celebrate the absurd overreaction to the outcome by those on the political left, or their petulant efforts to de-legitimize the outcome of a [mostly] free and fair election.)
Eight years ago, I felt about the way I do today. Then, as now, we had a politically inexperienced president-elect who came to power in an angry, frustrated America. Then, as now, we had lofty promises of long-overdue changes, and a vow that the new administration would seek compromises and common ground across political party lines. Then, as now, we were promised that America would disentangle itself from foreign affairs and tend to our own house and our own people. And then, as now, even though I harbored a long list of disagreements with the president-elect, I welcomed him, and offered my hopes and prayers for his safety and success.
But now the hard work begins. Beginning next month, Trump will have to govern.
