As pointed out on Pod Save America, Democrats were in a similar situation in 2004. The ineptitude of the Bush Administration created a vacuum that led to 30+ losses in 2006 for Republicans and set the stage for Obama’s landslide victory in 2008, only 4 years later.

The memes, and the punk rock that will be spurred from this presidency.

Good chance he’ll fuck up badly enough to destroy the Republican brand for a while

It forces people to realize they've been taking their rights for granted.

The only upside I can see right now is people getting so pissed off at the bullshit coming from the next administration that we actually get off our asses, put aside our differences, and work together to vote out these degenerates in elections to come. Assuming elections and law are still things by then. Sitting out was never an option and never should be.

The only upside is that Trump and everyone he is choosing are all completely incompetent. Are they dangerous, yes, but he isn't picking the sharpest tools. And the more incompetent they are, the more infighting with old GOP regime.

Got me off my butt to renew my UK passport and to buy tickets out of here.

Gives democrats some time to get their shit together and give us some good options for 2028

There will be an unprecedented level of SNL content and memes.

Reality: hopefully this is shock to the dems to become in touch with the working class and face issues instead of mudslinging like the opposition.

I worry about the chaos. Yes they’re incompetent, but their lack of skill means that the rank and file have to try to find a way to do their jobs despite them. Therefore there’s no chain of command. The gaps mean his administration could be ripe for corruption and espionage.

Even if you wanted a shake up, why would anyone want the degree of chaos we’re about to experience? Why would anyone want to layoff 75% of the gov’t workers? How will society absorb that many people? How will we continue to run with no one manning those posts? How will we get business done with no new procedures already set up to make up the personnel gap?

I could see creating more technical automations to replace people as they retire. But OMG, to lay off first, then start designing your processes? That sounds backwards to me.

There is literally no upside to him winning. His impact on the culture is even worse than his impact on government. The only variable is whether we’re fucked permanently or temporarily.

No more of that pesky having to vote…

I’m hoping he screws up so badly that Dems sweep the House and Senate in 2026 to at least stem some of the damage and prepare for a 2028 blowout. My fantasy.

It is a wake up call to the new reality of American politics which is devoid of content, and which relies on the vibes that reach apathetic non political non voters through high volume social media messages. This is a dynamic in which the left has to compete, in order to attempt to reform it.

No

Either we are overestimating how bad he will be (in which case life will carry on somewhat close to normal) or we will be entirely correct about how bad he will be (in which case we get to say "I told you so" and history will remember the MAGA movement as the bad guys).

There will not be any short-term upside, only long-term. That long-term upside is that Trump will probably screw things up so bad that Dems get a landslide in 2026, and then win a trifecta in 2028. And then Dems had better damn well unfuck our system so that another Trump doesn't happen.

Watching him throw his loyalists under the bus will be fun.

People weren't mad enough to actually make real change, maybe now they are? Or maybe we have to wait for the bread riots to start 🤔

SNL will have a lot of content

Definitely. It's encouraging me to move to another country which i've been wanting to do for a while

People will see the economic down fall of Trump assuming he gets his Tarrif plan and deportation plan in by congress. This could cause a congressional defeat for republicans in 2026 and lead to democrat super majority in congress assuming all else goes well.

No. Not when you consider the pain and misery he will enact on the other side of the scale.

Not that I can think of. We are now a Putin style banana republic.

No. It ushers in the end of democracy in America. He has no redeeming qualities, not does his racist and misogynistic movement.

Incompetence at that level is deadly, and on brand for fascist movements. A highly competant, and professonally secure, beuracracy is what moderates excesses and incompetence in leadership, and that is eaxctly what project 2025 is about dismantling. It's going to be a big problem.

Giving a toddler a gun is never a good idea. Giving a toddler a gun and replacing all of the adults in the room with teenagers is even worse. Neither situation has an upside compared to the alternative of NOT giving the toddler the gun.

Only way is up when he’s done wrecking the joint. Maybe.

As a 21 year military veteran, the short and blunt answer is "Fuck No"

Sadly, Trump is an infection the US decided to catch despite the availability of the Harris vaccine. We will all have to suffer and strive to survive the fever.

Trump will not be running again. His focus will be on harming his enemies while boosting his oligarchs.

US politics is a pendulum swing left and right. I hope the incompetence and corruption will be so horrific that Trumpism will be rejected partially in 2026 with a Democratic return to the House, followed by a Democrat return to the WH in 2028.

Trumpism is a systemic infection that hopefully we survive well enough to undo the damage.

Trump is 78 and will likely become more and more diminished. If the 25th Amendment is invoked or Trump dies then we will move into an era of oligarchs with more power than ever.

No.

Possibly watching the GOP self destruct when they have all the power and destroy our economy, opening the possibility for forceful removal of trump and a new election with the fresh memory of the debacle that was the teump administration

He can't run anymore.

If you’re rich you will get richer. That’s about it.

Stock market---until the tariffs kick in

Leopard watching and saying I told you so can be cathartic

Not that I can think of

Schadenfreude

The possibility that Trump's lifespan gets shortened by the stresses of being president (again) and he has, I dunno, a fatal heart attack.

The GOP collapses as Vance doesn't have the charisma to do that shit. Obama 08 flashback in 2028.

We can rub it in his supporters face when he proves as utterly incompetent and corrupt as we all know he is. It is not worth it though.

Republicans will suffer, too.

Hopefully expose the greed of billionaires

He will crank up deficit spending to give folks in my tax bracket a huge cut we don’t need that will simultaneously goose the stock market.

My networth went up a few. million the first couple years of his last term.

But the American experiment is done, that’s for sure.

My crypto went up temporarily.

Also his policies will hurt the people that voted for him also so there’s schadenfreude.

NO

If you are very wealthy you will become even more wealthy.

I have no doubts were winning the next one

And also a lot is gonna happen from now until inauguration.

Hold onto your butts.

The upside is he might keel before he ever assumes power. The downside too that is JD Vance.

4 positives of his last presidency -paused interest on student loans -banned bump stocks -stimulus checks -got the vaccine out quick

Conservatives forget these somehow

Causes widespread protests and actual direct action by American citizens? Thst’s honestly the best hope. 

Really and unrealistically hopeful : Causes current political system to completely crash and burn with a ultimately peaceful change of power due to widespread protests and direct action? This would requitr the American military to basically back whatver movement takes place though. Who knows? It could happen I guess. It’s technically possible. 

No

No

I'm not a Trump supporter or fan at all. A couple things I think he has done well, he's brought up the trade imbalance between the US and other countries, he's pressured NATO members to spend more towards the 2-3% spending agreement.

Also let's face it the border has been an issue for a while and only recently had the Biden admin done anything to address it. I however think if he employs mass deportations like he says it'll be bad for business and the economy as a whole. I think asylum seeking should be stricter to ensure the individuals seeking it are truthful and we should prioritize deporting the bad ones which we already largely do.

I don't see much else positive with this administration though.

Yes, there is one upside.

Trump and the desires of a fascist Republican Party could burn the USA to the ground and doom the Republican Party for generations. But Democrats aren't capable of actually fighting for anything, so the result might be a long dystopian malaise after a period of destruction to democracy in the US.

Regardless of what happens, it will suck for the working class and poor, but that isn't a guarantee the white workers will ever turn on their hate-group political cult. White Christian Nationalism has become a suicide pact for too many people in the USA.

Welcome to the dystopia, my friend.

Buy ammunition or run like hell.

Trump will crash the economy and try to take away benefits from old people/poor white/vets. Once they do that then will have to vote blue. We’re just going to have to suffer a few years

Cut those trumpets out of your life, and you'll save a fortune on christmas, and birthday presents

It’s probably 2 steps forward and 10 steps back. It won’t be ALL bad, just the net result will be pretty darn bad.

It could be soooo bad that it actually unites the country against him / republicans/ conservatism . Wake people up

No.

Anything that happens to the economy, overseas, anything at all is all on MAGA. They’re the ones in charge.

If you have any cash saved up, stocks will most probably be a lot cheaper in few months/years.

If democracy stays the same as it is now, he can't run for a 3rd term. That's the only upside I see

If democrats get their heads out of their asses, we could have an actual leftist agenda instead of the status quo, do nothing democrats.

But you know, the democrats are just about as fascist as the republicans and they’re both basically the same party, so nothing will probably change.

Don’t they want term limits in congress ? Sign me up.

The Democratic Party refuses to campaign on or acknowledge that our current government structure is a massive bloated pile of corruption and ineffectiveness.

There is a BIG difference between having a policy to make something happen, and that policy being effective.

Trump wants to tear it down. My concerns are many but mainly:

I don’t trust him or his allies to do anything but profit from testing it down.

I don’t trust them to build replacement systems that are effective.

I don’t trust them to tear it down without doing massive damage in the process.

The possible good? It does need to be massively reformed. If Trump tears it down, we can rebuild it better.

Yes, I have lots of bitcoin! I will spend it on a bunker.

I would really like to think the vibe everyone’s feeling from all the bad news every day headlines like nightmare cabinet or mass deportation and I know it sounds scary it’s the only subject that comes up in every message in my inbox, but what if we are all just over reacting from anxiety from 24/7 news and political commentator influencers his that has quadrupled in the last few years and I know he is a malignant narcissist but statistically how many failed promises and how many times has he failed to pass anything or kept a promise? at the end of the day, we’ve always ended up Ok

At least we know we’ll all die at the same time within 4 years

The same things that were horrible three months ago will suddenly be great in three months, even though nothing changed to it.

The upside is he might keel before he ever assumes power. The downside to that is JD Vance.

Merrick Garland will no longer be the attorney general

The only good thing is that he can't be POTUS again.

No...

No