BloggeRhythms

Yesterday was the first in what will likely be a somewhat confusing period of adjustment, as people here and the rest of the world adapt to U.S. President-elect Donald J. Trump. 

An example came from Fox Business Channel's host Stuart Varney of Varney & Co, who interviewed guest Art Laffer, an economist who came to prominence as a member of Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board.

When Varney asked what he thought of Clinton’s defeat, Laffer responded that Tuesday’s election was “history” and there are far more important issues to discuss. Particularly, economic growth projected to be more than double present levels. Rebuilding of the nation’s infrastructure, increased full-time employment, tax reductions and resurrection of the nation’s middle-class.   

And, apparently, after a hesitant start, investors reconsidered and agreed with Laffer’s outlook.  

Adam Shell @usatoday.com, reports that: “The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 257 points, or 1.4%, after tumbling as much as 800 points in late-night futures trading. The blue chips are now 46 points and a fraction from an all-time record closing high.

“The broad Standard & Poor's 500 stock index, which was down 5% overnight and hit a trading halt designed to limit losses, erased its steep declines and climbed 1.1%. The Nasdaq composite also gained 1.2%.” 

Similar to Laffer, Martin Gilbert, CEO of Aberdeen Asset Management, said via email: “Traders also appear to be evaluating the potential economic benefits from Trump's plans to cut taxes and spend money on infrastructure projects that would put Americans to work. 

"The increased prospect of tax cuts and a generally pro-growth set of policies from Trump, aided by the Republican clean sweep of Congress, has seen some of the initial (kneejerk) reaction (to sell stocks) to reverse," Gilbert said. 

Which means, that although there will be considerable backlash and negativity across various segments of society that will resent and reject Trump’s win, the nation itself will continue to function nevertheless. And as far as rational analysts are concerned, the outlook seems quite positive.   

An indication of ramifications of Trump’s win for some came from Rush, who put together a montage of quotes from high-profile individuals delivered over the course of the entire campaign.  

“RUSH: We have a "smart people" montage here. Drive-Bys, experts, Republican establishment elites all saying Trump would never win, predicting a Hillary landslide.  This is a series of bites November 15th, 2015, through October 2016.

TIM MILLER: (8/18/16) Trump is gonna get killed in the general election.

ALEX CONANT: (8/18/16) Trump is gonna suffer an embarrassing loss this fall. 

RACHEL MADDOW: (7/29/16) Unless this election happens on Mars, Donald Trump will lose. 

KARL ROVE: (11/2015) Republicans are not going to win this next election. 

MARK CUBAN: (8/1/16) It's a landslide for Hillary. No question. 

EVAN MCMULLIN:  (8/14/16)  Donald Trump will lose. 

JEB BUSH: (12/15/15) You're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. 

RYAN LIZZA: (8/17/16) Trump is on his way to lose in the biggest loss since 1984. 

JORGE RAMOS: (9/1/16) His strategy is to win the White House without Latinos. I don't think he can do it.  

LINDSEY GRAHAM: (8/16/16) Donald Trump is destroying the Republican Party’s chance. 

TED CRUZ: (2/28/16) If we nominate Donald, Hillary beats him. 

DAVID AXELROD: (10/23/16) I don't know any consultant who privately believes that Donald Trump’s going to win. 

DANA PERINO: (8/18/16) Trump would very much be able to get 35-40% of the vote and not win.  

MIKE MURPHY: (8/8/16) He’s a demagogue and a neo-racist and I hope he loses. He deserves to lose. 

DIANE MACEDO: (8/15/16) A landslide defeat is very possible. 

LAWRENCE O’DONNELL: (8/15/16) Could be headed for a landslide defeat.  

BILL KRISTOL: (9/23/16) Donald Trump will just choke. 

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: (05/ 2016) I don't see how he can win. 

BARACK OBAMA: (2/16/16) I continue to believe Mr. Trump will not be President.

“RUSH:  That's Barack Obama.  We had in there Dr. Krauthammer, we have Bill Kristol, we have Mike Murphy and a leading consultant on the Republican side, Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC, Dana Perino, David Axelrod, Lindsey Graham, George Ramos, Ryan Lizza, Jeb Bush, Rachel Maddow, Karl Rove, Mark Cuban, all the smart people, and they were all predicting a Trump landslide loss.” 

Rush then played a bite of James Carville, talking to NBC’s F. Chuck Todd: “CARVILLE:  You gotta realize the Democratic Party had the least amount of power that you can imagine in this democracy.  The Republicans have like 30 state legislatures, governors.  We're gonna lose the federal courts, the Senate, the House, the presidency.  I mean, it is an utter disaster if you're a Democrat in terms of having any political power in the country right now.” 

And, in that assessment Carville is unequivocally correct. 

Next, Rush asked the same question as posted here yesterday: “All these people that donated gazillions of dollars to Hillary and Bill's foundation -- buying policy, whatever they thought they were getting by donating to Hillary -- what do they do now? Do they want their money back? What are they gonna get for it? Do you realize the angst that there must be?” 

Whatever the answer, the result should be something really gruesome to watch. 

Bringing us to another update on Bill Clinton’s wife, even though she doesn’t matter a whit anymore.

According to FoxNews.com: “Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Wednesday that a preemptive pardon of Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified information would "seal [President Barack] Obama's legacy as one of the worst presidents ever." 

"Then he should also pardon [Kristian Saucier] who’s spending a year in jail taking pictures of the submarine," Giuliani told Fox News' Bill O'Reilly on "The O'Reilly Factor". "And he should pardon Petraeus and he should pardon [Gen. James] Cartwright." 

“Giuliani, an adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, did not rule out investigating Clinton if named attorney general in a Trump administration. 

"There’s one tradition in America [which is] the election’s over, we forget about it. There’s another tradition in America, which is equal justice under the law. And it would depend on how bad the violations are." 

In this case, it’s a reasonable assumption that in time most people will forget about Bill’s wife as they go on with their lives. However, for many, especially those paying close attention to the presidential race and Clinton history, some form of retribution is surely called for. Particularly because of the magnitude of the infractions involved at the nation's highest levels.

It also would underline the premise stated by Rudy above, when he suggested that it would also "seal Obama's legacy as one of the worst presidents ever," whereas he certainly was. 

That's it for today folks. 

Adios