Easy Sunday: Expect a circus

We are seeing the initials FAFO often now in social media circles. What is FAFO?

The clean version for the initials is "Fool Around and Find Out."

(The commonplace version is, "fuck around and find out.")

Actions have consequences. 

Democrats expect Trump to be a bad president. They expect him to make mistakes of over-reach. His "strongest weakness" is hyperbole. He had a born-salesman's gift for understanding what a great many Americans are thinking, and a blarney stone's gift for selling it. For a decade he has been the center of attention in our public life, the person who has driven the story of American politics. For four years he has said that everything is terrible, Biden crime family, worst economy in the history of the world -- and that he will fix things. He has made extravagant promises. He promises to keep every promise. And he seems to be going right at it full speed with his first appointments.

Democrats are debating. Should they resist at every turn? They will try but he has control of both houses of Congress. There is another school of thought: Let Trump be Trump. Give him enough rope to hang himself. Trump will self-destruct. Trump's former White House aides and cabinet officers were guardrails in his first term. Now he is appointing loyalists. He can do anything. He has immunity. The public wanted a destroyer? Let's find out how they like it.

If Trump does any more than five percent of his "mass deportation" promise, he will disrupt millions of families and cause immediate disruption in the labor market. If Trump succeeds in killing the ACA , millions of people will lose health insurance and be exposed to medical bankruptcy; rural hospitals will close. If Trump imposes new, higher tariffs, businesses will howl in protest and prices will rise. 

This week a Trump-nominated judge blocked expanded access to overtime pay to millions of low income -- but salaried -- employees across the U.S. This decision will allow employers not to be required to pay overtime on salaried employees earning over $35,568/year, the level set by Trump's Labor Department back in 2019. The rule involves four million workers. It moves the threshold from the higher Biden-proposed number, $58,656, back to the lower Trump figure. That is a blow to exactly the kind of working people who shifted their vote to Trump.

Trump has the curse of the super-salesman. Campaigns are the "fool around" phase of public communication. He sold benefits, not costs and consequences. Trump's greatest weakness is the reverse side his greatest strength. Some of the most vulnerable people in America will be hurt by Trump’s policies. They will find out. 

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[Note: Thanks to Dr. Mardy Grothe and his interesting and insightful Sunday morning newsletter for the phrase "strongest weakness." Grothe does not write about politics. He writes about literature, character, and living well. https://drmardygrothe.substack.com] 

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