Slate - "Stop Underestimating Donald Trump"

[NRaleighLiberal]

We can only keep him in check if we recognize his ability to do great harm.

By Yascha Mounk

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_good_fight/2017/01/stop_underestimating_donald_trump.html

At every turn, pundits and political scientists underestimated Donald Trump. When he announced he was running to be president of the United States, they laughed. When he led the polls for the GOP nomination, they predicted his popularity would be short-lived. When he became the Republican nominee, they celebrated. Against a Rubio or even a Christie, Clinton might have lost. But against Trump?

We’ve underestimated Trump over and over and over again. And over and over and over again, we’ve all paid a heavy price. And yet, many of the same pundits and political scientists who confidently predicted that Trump would never be president are now confidently predicting that his presidency will soon be tanked by incompetence and unpopularity.

According to a former spokesman for the Clinton campaign, Democrats will find it easy to stand up to Donald Trump: The “lack of support” for the president-elect, she argues, is so extreme that “his coattails look a little more like a T-shirt.” Bill Gross, a famous fund manager on Wall Street, anticipates that Trump’s tenure in the White House will be “a short four years.” Even Michael Moore, who was more concerned about a potential Trump victory than most throughout the campaign, has now turned into something of an optimist—predicting that Trump will not even be able to serve four full years. If you want to bet on Donald Trump getting impeached these days, you’ll only win $1 for every $1 you wager.

It is perfectly possible that the dim view of Trump’s ability to execute his vision will prove correct. But before we default to the kind of assumption that has led us astray before—the confident belief that the past is a reliable guide to the future; that most things will keep on going as they always have; that stasis is sure to win out in the end—we’d better take a moment to check our optimism."

snip - again, some real journalism and a good read.

[crosinski]

1. Also what Obama said about him in his last interview for 60 minutes.

'Don't underestimate him.'

Obama said it casually, like he usually underplays things, but it was a genuine warning.