A friend on Facebook asked:

To my friends/family that think Trump is going to destroy America, drive us off a cliff, or set us back 300 years…what, specifically, is it that you think he is going to do to unleash said catastrophe?

This was my response:

As with all things related to government, we are unlikely to see a big catastrophe, unless the US really does go to war either economically or militarily with China which I think is unlikely.

I think in the US as in the UK, we’ll see a number of small things that mainly lead towards entrenching the current divisions in the country as these benefit the richest people who can buy the politicians.

So in the US, I wouldn’t be surprised if disabled children lose their current right to public education, the mortality rate in poorest 10% rises and that the number of people needing more than one job to get by increases.

Similarly, in the UK, we’ll see the same thing. There’ll be more zero contract hours employment which will give the impression that unemployment is going down, but more people in the country will be materially poorer and living with the risk of being fired with no notice. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see NHS funding reduced more as our national income goes down and of course our taxes will go up indirectly even though there’ll be a headline income tax cut.

Whether or not you care about these things depends on how much empathy you have I think. Personally, I want society as a whole to improve, which is measured by looking at the rise in education, health and treatment of the disenfranchised and the poverty stricken. I want to live in a country that is embarrassed that food banks exist and that people have to choose between food or heating. I don’t see this measurement of our society improving in the next 4 or 5 years.

For me personally, I’m facing a significant tax rise next year due to the changes announced in the budget and I’ve noticed that it’s a bit harder to get new work which is worrying. Other than that, I’ll be fine. I’m educated, mobile, reasonably rich, and white, so am not in a demographic that the government or the media will target for defunding, punitive taxation or blame.