The United States could be heading into rough weather as a consequence of decisions taken by the White House.
Democracy is very different from a system which sees itself as needing to function only for billionaires with no thought of the others. In other words, rule by, of and for billionaires. Trump 1.0 ended in an electoral disaster for Trump owing to a variety of reasons, among them being a propensity of the President during Trump.1.0 to choose as part of his inner cabinet folks as wealthy or almost as wealthy as himself. Trump 2.0 marked a refreshing change, in that several of his Cabinet picks had built not individual fortunes but substantial reputations, such as RFK Jr, Peter Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard and Marco Rubio.
They have served him well, each helping to put into practice the agenda on which he campaigned this time around. Unfortunately, ultimately for himself, the President has chosen to design the present annual budget legislation by himself. The result is the presentation and passing by the US senate of a budget that would be political suicide for any US Congressperson who voted for it without major amendments. Believe it or not, the poor get sick even more often than the billionaires do, indeed, far more often.
Several from among the underprivileged voted for Donald Trump in 2024 because they believed in the courageous fighter when he spoke of ensuring an American Dream for all citizens. However, the ruthless manner in which the already meagre entitlements of needy citizens have been cut while billionaires have been sought to be lavished with yet more benefits stunned people from across the world. Surely, billionaires would be able to give to, rather than to get from, the state.
However, instead of the proposed taxes going up for the wealthy, they are sought to be further lowered from the present levels. Had President Trump and his close-knit and very supportive family had to pay more rather than less taxes, it would have added to the popularity of both the US President as well as that of his party. That the budget just passed makes the reverse is the case appears to make the prospect of a Democratic majority in the House as well as in the Senate during the 2026 midterms more likely, a change that would kneecap the White House agenda and handicap the Trump 2.0 Cabinet from fulfilling the mandate given to them by the US President. Nevertheless, in a country needing changes in its manner of functioning, Trump 2.0 has been a refreshing change from Biden 1.0, well intentioned though President Biden was. Perhaps the ubiquity of the wielding of the Presidential autopen during his term would explain such a contradiction.
An inquiry has begun into such misuse of Presidential powers, with several who were within the inner councils of Biden 1.0 becoming witnesses determined to ensure that the truth prevails in such an inquiry. Voters chose Joseph Robinette Biden Jr as their President, not his close aides, and a constitutional amendment is needed to ensure that misuse of Presidential powers through use of the autopen is made illegal. Should the President be incapacitated from carrying out his or her functions, his authority could have been handed over to the Vice-President rather than in effect to a yet unknown coterie of his aides.
Donald Trump has no need to get an autopen used, as his orders are usually signed by himself in full view of the television cameras. Given the vicious manner in which US politics is being conducted, it is all but certain that President Trump will issue a pardon to himself. As for Vice-President Vance, who exercised his prerogative of a casting vote in the US Senate, doing the same may have dimmed his chances for succeeding President Trump in the US Presidency, but for the fact that he has almost four more years to go to get over such a hiccup and recoup his chances for the Presidency.
In any event, voters will understand that whatever be his reservations about the budget he ensured was passed in the US Senate, he had no choice but to go along with the wishes of the President, whatever be his private reservations about the “Big, Beautiful Bill” that he ensured was passed by the US Senate through his vote in favour. Given his upbringing and his resilience, not to mention an accomplished spouse whom he has with reason loved, Vance could be a good President, and the Republican Party would do well to nominate him as their candidate in 2029.
The US could be heading into rough weather as a consequence of decisions taken by the White House, and if so, the country that would gain the most by far would be its only adversary in the effort to unseat the US as the premier economy in the world. The Cabinet picks of President Trump, as well as his loyalist Vice-President and his loving immediate family, need to ensure that the US continue in that position and not surrender it to China. That would be a disaster for the democracies, were it to happen.
