Anyone else having periodic flashes of realisation of yet more things Trump is going to fuck up? I'm not going to list them as I don't want to make people feel worse but, yeah, every few minutes I think "damnit, that too".
I listed as many as I could think of as I fell asleep because I didn't want to be surprised by them.
There is a real possibility that I may just go to bed early and read my book (which in a weirdly disturbing, weirdly sort-of-reassuring way is reminding me that the kind of Bad that Trump could bring is just the latest version of Bad that we’ve seen and ultimately survived*
before), and then deal with whatever in the morning.
*Survived, but not without a lot of damage and injustice that we still haven’t truly recovered from.
H
It's going to be worse this time.
I know. But I cling to whatever shreds of hope I can.
It's perhaps cold comfort to remember that all dictators and tyrants sooner or later have one thing in common.
They die.
How's that working out in Russia?
Well, quite. As I said, cold comfort - but no-one lives for ever, and both Putin and Trump are in their 70s. Alas! they can do a hell of a lot of damage in the meantime...
How long in its history has Russia not had monarchical or autocratic government? What have been the conditions when other countries moved away from dictatorial government? What makes you think a new tyrant won't succeed Putin? Or Trump?
With respect, I'm not naive enough to suppose that new tyrants won't succeed the current lot. I merely look forward to the day when the unspeakable Trump and Putin are no more. Those who replace them may be an improvement.
I remember when we woke up to Tr*mp in 2016. There was surprise and confusion mixed in with the disbelief and distress. This morning, it’s a different cocktail. Disbelief and distress are back, but this time they’re mixed with disillusionment and bereavement, because as much as I hate hyperbole — and I do — it seems to me that something important, something essential and at one time even redeeming about America has finally died.
On that 2016 morning, I also remember reading a post on Twitter by the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. It was an open letter to his wife and daughters. In it, among other things, he earnestly urged them (and us) to respond with creative output. His answer to the advent of a Tr*mp presidency was to counter with overwhelming Art. As a musician, as well as a husband and father, I really appreciated that sentiment, and thought it was a worthy against what surely had been a horrible, horrible mistake. This morning, I don’t feel that way.
In many respects, it’s too late for my wife and me. We are already of a certain age and bridled with all kinds of restrictions and responsibilities. But, my young adult children are not, and rather than urge any kind of creative response on their parts, which both are capable of, I am urging them today, as earnestly as Aaron Sorkin urged his family back in 2016, to look abroad and leave. This is especially true for my daughter. I’m aware of the arguments against expatriation, and I understand why those positions are staked out. I used to hold them. I don’t any more.
In September of 1787, it’s said a Philadelphia socialite named Elizabeth Willing Powell asked Benjamin Franklin what form of government was being proposed for the new American country. “A Republic, madam, if you can keep it.” was his alleged reply. Opinions will vary, but mine is that this Republic has now slipped our grasp. Reacquiring and rehabilitating it are not prospects I expect to see in my lifetime. There are a number of European countries, none of them perfect, that I estimate remain far better destinations than the U.S. for young, aspiring adults. Hopefully I can help ship-off my kids, especially my daughter, to one of them.
I remember when we woke up to Tr*mp in 2016. There was surprise and confusion mixed in with the disbelief and distress. This morning, it’s a different cocktail. Disbelief and distress are back, but this time they’re mixed with disillusionment and bereavement, because as much as I hate hyperbole — and I do — it seems to me that something important, something essential and at one time even redeeming about America has finally died.
On that 2016 morning, I also remember reading a post on Twitter by the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. It was an open letter to his wife and daughters. In it, among other things, he earnestly urged them (and us) to respond with creative output. His answer to the advent of a Tr*mp presidency was to counter with overwhelming Art. As a musician, as well as a husband and father, I really appreciated that sentiment, and thought it was a worthy against what surely had been a horrible, horrible mistake. This morning, I don’t feel that way.
In many respects, it’s too late for my wife and me. We are already of a certain age and bridled with all kinds of restrictions and responsibilities. But, my young adult children are not, and rather than urge any kind of creative response on their parts, which both are capable of, I am urging them today, as earnestly as Aaron Sorkin urged his family back in 2016, to look abroad and leave. This is especially true for my daughter. I’m aware of the arguments against expatriation, and I understand why those positions are staked out. I used to hold them. I don’t any more.
In September of 1787, it’s said a Philadelphia socialite named Elizabeth Willing Powell asked Benjamin Franklin what form of government was being proposed for the new American country. “A Republic, madam, if you can keep it.” was his alleged reply. Opinions will vary, but mine is that this Republic has now slipped our grasp. Reacquiring and rehabilitating it are not prospects I expect to see in my lifetime. There are a number of European countries, none of them perfect, that I estimate remain far better destinations than the U.S. for young, aspiring adults. Hopefully I can help ship-off my kids, especially my daughter, to one of them.
I remember when we woke up to Tr*mp in 2016. There was surprise and confusion mixed in with the disbelief and distress. This morning, it’s a different cocktail. Disbelief and distress are back, but this time they’re mixed with disillusionment and bereavement, because as much as I hate hyperbole — and I do — it seems to me that something important, something essential and at one time even redeeming about America has finally died.
This. I won’t attempt a list of things that will undoubtedly go wrong, but surveying the landscape is terrifying.
Because they chose not just him: he has a majority in the Senate and I think he’s getting the House as well. He has a stacked SCOTUS, with the probability of two more appointments. If he dies in office (or if they do a 25A on him at some point) we get Vance, a toady in thrall to billionaires, and he’ll be able to run for reelection. As @Ruth said, it will be worse this time. We are well and truly fucked, and not just for four years.
It's perhaps cold comfort to remember that all dictators and tyrants sooner or later have one thing in common.
They die.
I worry that Musk and other "techno accelerationist" billionaires are hoping that they will live long enough to either witness the discovery of a cure to aging and be able to afford it, or that they will be able to upload their consciousness up to a computer and spend the rest of their days either in a robot body on Mars once we have manage to make Earth uninhabitable or haging out in the cloud like Dave with HAL until he can be turned into a space baby made of light.
Trump probably doesn't let himself think of death because it's too much of a downer and goes against his Norman Vincent Peale philosophy. Given what he is purported to have asked ("What was in it for them?"*) to a general who had lost his son in war and referring to soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for their country, I doubt Trump probably values self-preservation at all costs (as long as he doesn't stop fighting for himself, hence his behavior when he was shot at) and would jump at the opportunity for immortality if Musk could give it to him (or if Musk could sell Trump on the idea).
* I imagine someone more introspective than Trump might ask the same question about the futility of war and perhaps the futility of life itself, but I doubt this was Trump's intent. General Kelly doubted it was as well.
How long in its history has Russia not had monarchical or autocratic government? What have been the conditions when other countries moved away from dictatorial government? What makes you think a new tyrant won't succeed Putin? Or Trump?
I worry that unlike in World War II and the Cold War, which was framed at least as a contest between liberal democracy and ideological totalitarianism, the current geopolitical rivalries that the US is facing is between the system we have (and may be losing) and a non-ideological autocracy of the sort that existed in most places for almost all of human history (at least since the development of large-scale agriculture). But the system we have now may not be that different than the norm of human history. I've just have it drilled into my head since infancy just how special and lucky we are. It's pretty devastating to see Trump and my country's election results prove that wrong.
In many respects, it’s too late for my wife and me. We are already of a certain age and bridled with all kinds of restrictions and responsibilities. But, my young adult children are not, and rather than urge any kind of creative response on their parts, which both are capable of, I am urging them today, as earnestly as Aaron Sorkin urged his family back in 2016, to look abroad and leave. This is especially true for my daughter. I’m aware of the arguments against expatriation, and I understand why those positions are staked out. I used to hold them. I don’t any more.
...
There are a number of European countries, none of them perfect, that I estimate remain far better destinations than the U.S. for young, aspiring adults. Hopefully I can help ship-off my kids, especially my daughter, to one of them.
My husband and I have the privilege of being able to move to Australia, his home country, although he would have to give up the job that is our main source of income and we would both need to find work there, which would probably pay considerably less (especially given the cost of living relative to salaries in Sydney). And although I admit that the march towards authoritarianism and/or the breakdown of social norms and cohesion that allow for a functioning democracy has progressed further in the US than in most of the countries US progressives might want to relocate to, I can't think of a country that isn't headed in the same direction, although perhaps further behind us on the path.
Forgive me for US-splaining. I'll let Brits, Canadians, and Europeans speak for themselves. My Aussie husband agrees with me that even Australia, which does not share the US' history of the Atlantic slave trade (although it certainly had convict labor and then blackbirding) or the Civil War, still has a populist right that looks like it will grow with time and appeal to more and more recent immigrants and their descendants (especially white and/or Christian ones) as they become settled, think of themselves as Australian first, and begin to share the prejudices of some other Australians against new immigrants that they view as different than themselves and indigenous Australians (as the results of the Voice referendum indicate).
Australians can feel free to tell me to shut up. My point is that even if we move to Australia, Europe, Latin America, or elsewhere, phenomena similar to those that gave rise to Trumpism here are likely to follow us.
Could one of our US shipmates inform us Brits what is likely to happen with the lawsuits faced by Trump now that he is POTUS. Will they just go away?
No, the lawsuits will not go away. Most civilian lawsuits are in state courts, not federal. He still has to pay the judgements.
Question is, what about the felony convictions from New York? They still stand.
I believe he is scheduled to be sentenced after the election but before he takes office. But he probably will not have to serve any sentence or pay any fine before he exhausts his appeals, which is not likely to happen before he takes office, which might freeze the process (even though the prosecution is in NY state court and therefore not under Presidential control).
His two remaining other criminal cases (over trying to overturn the 2020 election), including the one in Georgia state court, are not likely to make it to trial before he takes office, and I can't see a sitting president being put on trial, even in state court, but more and more of the norms of American government seem to be going out the window, so who knows? I don't know what will happen to the statute of limitations if he isn't tried while in office, and whether they can try to put him on trial when he leaves office.
Why the bloody hell didn't they lock him up when they should have done?
Because trials in the US take a very long time after charges are filed before they even begin, especially if you are very rich and powerful (and have rich and powerful friends who have not distanced themselves from you like the associates of Bernie Madoff and Sam Bankman Fried did) and can pay to have your lawyers find ways to delay and delay things, and even moreso when prosecutors and judges have to be very careful not have the trial or sentencing occur in the months immediately before an election.
Could one of our US shipmates inform us Brits what is likely to happen with the lawsuits faced by Trump now that he is POTUS. Will they just go away?
No, the lawsuits will not go away. Most civilian lawsuits are in state courts, not federal.
Lawsuits are, by definition, civil, not criminal. Whether they’re in state court or federal court is irrelevant as to whether Trump can make them go away—unless the plaintiff is the United States Department of Justice, a POTUS can’t direct a plaintiff to take a dismissal of a lawsuit.
As POTUS, he can direct USDOJ to drop any criminal charges it has brought against him. He cannot direct a state prosecutor to drop state criminal charges against him, but whether the court can move forward may not be a straightforward question, especially given the SCOTUS ruling on presidential immunity last summer. Courts can dismiss such charges or stay a case while he is in office.
Harris is extremely unlikely to be the nominee in 2028. The Democratic party doesn't re-nominate losers, and there are plenty of other options who did not throw their hats in the ring to challenge Biden or Harris and thus preserved their ability to say they were good soldiers this time and deserve a shot in 2028: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Illinois Gov, J.B. Pritzker, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, outgoing North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, and I might be missing one or two more.
It's way too early for this IMO. Anyone *not* planning for 12 years of MAGA-GOP rule is kidding themselves. Hell, we could have a 8-1 SCOTUS sooner than later.
It's way too early for this IMO. Anyone *not* planning for 12 years of MAGA-GOP rule is kidding themselves. Hell, we could have a 8-1 SCOTUS sooner than later.
The thing is, we just don't know. There are people planning for 2028, and there are people who are saying it will be the work of at least a generation to claw back American democracy.
When the time comes, there is an interesting debate or at least consideration of experience to be had between this prospect and our shaky attempts to re-establish humanity after 14 years of torydom under various toxic clowns. This has not been good for our society or body politic either.
It's way too early for this IMO. Anyone *not* planning for 12 years of MAGA-GOP rule is kidding themselves. Hell, we could have a 8-1 SCOTUS sooner than later.
The thing is, we just don't know. There are people planning for 2028, and there are people who are saying it will be the work of at least a generation to claw back American democracy.
Well, let’s hope the people planning for 2028 aren’t the ones who planned for 2024.
He can't run in 2028. The 22nd amendment to the Constitution established term limits for the president. As for reversing the amendment, see the following, from which I quote::
The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. . . . Since the President does not have a constitutional role in the amendment process, the joint resolution does not go to the White House for signature or approval. . . . The Archivist submits the proposed amendment to the States for their consideration. . . . The Governors then formally submit the amendment to their State legislatures or the state calls for a convention. . . . A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution as soon as it is ratified by three-fourths of the States.
It's perhaps cold comfort to remember that all dictators and tyrants sooner or later have one thing in common.
They die.
That gives me no hope, knowing who the new vice president is.
Just picked this up. ISWYM, but Vance may never become President, even if he is a candidate in 2028.
I think it unlikely that Trump will serve four years. Even if he lives that long, his dementia is progressing pretty rapidly, and they may invoke the 25th amendment (or just prop him up in front of the cameras while Vance runs things behind the scenes).
He can't run in 2028. The 22nd amendment to the Constitution established term limits for the president. As for reversing the amendment, see the following, from which I quote::
The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures. . . . Since the President does not have a constitutional role in the amendment process, the joint resolution does not go to the White House for signature or approval. . . . The Archivist submits the proposed amendment to the States for their consideration. . . . The Governors then formally submit the amendment to their State legislatures or the state calls for a convention. . . . A proposed amendment becomes part of the Constitution as soon as it is ratified by three-fourths of the States.
Read all the posts. I was refering to Vance in 2028
The spectral 'Special Relaionship' has induced our Prime Minister to invite Trump to visit the UK again. This implies that our former Director of Public Prosecutions, and possibly our King, will be obliged to shake hands with a convicted criminal. That a once-proud nation should come to this!
The spectral 'Special Relaionship' has induced our Prime Minister to invite Trump to visit the UK again. This implies that our former Director of Public Prosecutions, and possibly our King, will be obliged to shake hands with a convicted criminal. That a once-proud nation should come to this!
To be fair, as a former barrister the PM will have shaken hands with plenty of criminals. And the King's work with the Prince's Trust is also likely to have brought them into contact with him at times.
Plus, as Yes, Prime Minister noted, a lot of the early post-colonial leaders were people we'd once imprisoned.
A former barrister will not have shaken hands with criminals after they have been convicted. Until then, his client will have been a defendant, and his contact through an instructing solicitor. And Sir Keir, as DPP, is unlikely to have shaken hands with such a person. His client will have been the 'Crown'.
It's perhaps cold comfort to remember that all dictators and tyrants sooner or later have one thing in common.
They die.
That gives me no hope, knowing who the new vice president is.
Just picked this up. ISWYM, but Vance may never become President, even if he is a candidate in 2028.
I think it unlikely that Trump will serve four years. Even if he lives that long, his dementia is progressing pretty rapidly, and they may invoke the 25th amendment (or just prop him up in front of the cameras while Vance runs things behind the scenes).
I think it unlikely that Trump will serve four years. Even if he lives that long, his dementia is progressing pretty rapidly, and they may invoke the 25th amendment (or just prop him up in front of the cameras while Vance runs things behind the scenes).
Even before Trump takes the oath, he is a lame duck. He cannot run again. His physical and mental health are questionable. I think--hope--core Republicans will start pulling away from him. While many will have gotten into office on his shirt tails, they will no longer be available, especially after the next midterm election. There is no doubt in my mind, this is the last hurrah of the boomer generation. I just hope it will be quick.
Even before Trump takes the oath, he is a lame duck. He cannot run again. His physical and mental health are questionable. I think--hope--core Republicans will start pulling away from him. While many will have gotten into office on his shirt tails, they will no longer be available, especially after the next midterm election. There is no doubt in my mind, this is the last hurrah of the boomer generation. I just hope it will be quick.
Yes, but ISTM that there is even more danger in having Vance (or Musk ?) running the country, should Trump's health finally fail him, as @Ruth points out.
Trump as the lesser of two evils is a frightening thought.
On a tangential note, I see that our government has refused Nigel Farage's kind offer to act as an intermediary between the UK and Trump, although it appears that Trump will be permitted to address the UK parliament some time next year. O deep joy. Not.
Comments
Yeah, but Vance has 40+ years left in him.
I listed as many as I could think of as I fell asleep because I didn't want to be surprised by them.
Well, quite. As I said, cold comfort - but no-one lives for ever, and both Putin and Trump are in their 70s. Alas! they can do a hell of a lot of damage in the meantime...
On that 2016 morning, I also remember reading a post on Twitter by the screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. It was an open letter to his wife and daughters. In it, among other things, he earnestly urged them (and us) to respond with creative output. His answer to the advent of a Tr*mp presidency was to counter with overwhelming Art. As a musician, as well as a husband and father, I really appreciated that sentiment, and thought it was a worthy against what surely had been a horrible, horrible mistake. This morning, I don’t feel that way.
In many respects, it’s too late for my wife and me. We are already of a certain age and bridled with all kinds of restrictions and responsibilities. But, my young adult children are not, and rather than urge any kind of creative response on their parts, which both are capable of, I am urging them today, as earnestly as Aaron Sorkin urged his family back in 2016, to look abroad and leave. This is especially true for my daughter. I’m aware of the arguments against expatriation, and I understand why those positions are staked out. I used to hold them. I don’t any more.
In September of 1787, it’s said a Philadelphia socialite named Elizabeth Willing Powell asked Benjamin Franklin what form of government was being proposed for the new American country. “A Republic, madam, if you can keep it.” was his alleged reply. Opinions will vary, but mine is that this Republic has now slipped our grasp. Reacquiring and rehabilitating it are not prospects I expect to see in my lifetime. There are a number of European countries, none of them perfect, that I estimate remain far better destinations than the U.S. for young, aspiring adults. Hopefully I can help ship-off my kids, especially my daughter, to one of them.
That gives me no hope, knowing who the new vice president is.
Because they chose not just him: he has a majority in the Senate and I think he’s getting the House as well. He has a stacked SCOTUS, with the probability of two more appointments. If he dies in office (or if they do a 25A on him at some point) we get Vance, a toady in thrall to billionaires, and he’ll be able to run for reelection. As @Ruth said, it will be worse this time. We are well and truly fucked, and not just for four years.
And "fuck".
You're all in my prayers.
I worry that Musk and other "techno accelerationist" billionaires are hoping that they will live long enough to either witness the discovery of a cure to aging and be able to afford it, or that they will be able to upload their consciousness up to a computer and spend the rest of their days either in a robot body on Mars once we have manage to make Earth uninhabitable or haging out in the cloud like Dave with HAL until he can be turned into a space baby made of light.
Trump probably doesn't let himself think of death because it's too much of a downer and goes against his Norman Vincent Peale philosophy. Given what he is purported to have asked ("What was in it for them?"*) to a general who had lost his son in war and referring to soldiers who had sacrificed their lives for their country, I doubt Trump probably values self-preservation at all costs (as long as he doesn't stop fighting for himself, hence his behavior when he was shot at) and would jump at the opportunity for immortality if Musk could give it to him (or if Musk could sell Trump on the idea).
* I imagine someone more introspective than Trump might ask the same question about the futility of war and perhaps the futility of life itself, but I doubt this was Trump's intent. General Kelly doubted it was as well.
I worry that unlike in World War II and the Cold War, which was framed at least as a contest between liberal democracy and ideological totalitarianism, the current geopolitical rivalries that the US is facing is between the system we have (and may be losing) and a non-ideological autocracy of the sort that existed in most places for almost all of human history (at least since the development of large-scale agriculture). But the system we have now may not be that different than the norm of human history. I've just have it drilled into my head since infancy just how special and lucky we are. It's pretty devastating to see Trump and my country's election results prove that wrong.
I'm beginning to come over to your camp too.
US shipmates will no doubt have more to add, but this seemed a fair summary:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/06/trump-election-criminal-cases-status
Because the Republican politicians didn't allow it.
I feel for you all. I'm sorry.
No, the lawsuits will not go away. Most civilian lawsuits are in state courts, not federal. He still has to pay the judgements.
Question is, what about the felony convictions from New York? They still stand.
My husband and I have the privilege of being able to move to Australia, his home country, although he would have to give up the job that is our main source of income and we would both need to find work there, which would probably pay considerably less (especially given the cost of living relative to salaries in Sydney). And although I admit that the march towards authoritarianism and/or the breakdown of social norms and cohesion that allow for a functioning democracy has progressed further in the US than in most of the countries US progressives might want to relocate to, I can't think of a country that isn't headed in the same direction, although perhaps further behind us on the path.
Forgive me for US-splaining. I'll let Brits, Canadians, and Europeans speak for themselves. My Aussie husband agrees with me that even Australia, which does not share the US' history of the Atlantic slave trade (although it certainly had convict labor and then blackbirding) or the Civil War, still has a populist right that looks like it will grow with time and appeal to more and more recent immigrants and their descendants (especially white and/or Christian ones) as they become settled, think of themselves as Australian first, and begin to share the prejudices of some other Australians against new immigrants that they view as different than themselves and indigenous Australians (as the results of the Voice referendum indicate).
Australians can feel free to tell me to shut up. My point is that even if we move to Australia, Europe, Latin America, or elsewhere, phenomena similar to those that gave rise to Trumpism here are likely to follow us.
I believe he is scheduled to be sentenced after the election but before he takes office. But he probably will not have to serve any sentence or pay any fine before he exhausts his appeals, which is not likely to happen before he takes office, which might freeze the process (even though the prosecution is in NY state court and therefore not under Presidential control).
His two remaining other criminal cases (over trying to overturn the 2020 election), including the one in Georgia state court, are not likely to make it to trial before he takes office, and I can't see a sitting president being put on trial, even in state court, but more and more of the norms of American government seem to be going out the window, so who knows? I don't know what will happen to the statute of limitations if he isn't tried while in office, and whether they can try to put him on trial when he leaves office.
Because trials in the US take a very long time after charges are filed before they even begin, especially if you are very rich and powerful (and have rich and powerful friends who have not distanced themselves from you like the associates of Bernie Madoff and Sam Bankman Fried did) and can pay to have your lawyers find ways to delay and delay things, and even moreso when prosecutors and judges have to be very careful not have the trial or sentencing occur in the months immediately before an election.
Just picked this up. ISWYM, but Vance may never become President, even if he is a candidate in 2028.
As POTUS, he can direct USDOJ to drop any criminal charges it has brought against him. He cannot direct a state prosecutor to drop state criminal charges against him, but whether the court can move forward may not be a straightforward question, especially given the SCOTUS ruling on presidential immunity last summer. Courts can dismiss such charges or stay a case while he is in office.
Do you think Harris would beat him in 2028?
I have no idea. US Shipmates may have their own thoughts, but such speculation is best left to them.
Yes. Apologies for having raised 2028, so to speak. My bad.
The thing is, we just don't know. There are people planning for 2028, and there are people who are saying it will be the work of at least a generation to claw back American democracy.
Well, let’s hope the people planning for 2028 aren’t the ones who planned for 2024.
Well, most of us couldn't imagine an alleged rapist, thief, swindler and liar being elected president, but there it is.
He can't run in 2028. The 22nd amendment to the Constitution established term limits for the president. As for reversing the amendment, see the following, from which I quote::
I think it unlikely that Trump will serve four years. Even if he lives that long, his dementia is progressing pretty rapidly, and they may invoke the 25th amendment (or just prop him up in front of the cameras while Vance runs things behind the scenes).
Read all the posts. I was refering to Vance in 2028
To be fair, as a former barrister the PM will have shaken hands with plenty of criminals. And the King's work with the Prince's Trust is also likely to have brought them into contact with him at times.
Plus, as Yes, Prime Minister noted, a lot of the early post-colonial leaders were people we'd once imprisoned.
"He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas" has been attributed to Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard's Almanack.
That point hadn't occurred to me.
Is that good news? 🤔
Yes, but ISTM that there is even more danger in having Vance (or Musk ?) running the country, should Trump's health finally fail him, as @Ruth points out.
Trump as the lesser of two evils is a frightening thought.
On a tangential note, I see that our government has refused Nigel Farage's kind offer to act as an intermediary between the UK and Trump, although it appears that Trump will be permitted to address the UK parliament some time next year. O deep joy. Not.