By former USDA Secretary John R. Block
It’s a new day. Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. Washington, D.C. is in shock. It wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. Clinton was supposed to win.
A year and a half ago, Donald Trump opened his campaign, predicting “I will make America great again.” Throughout the campaign, the main stream media never let up on their criticism of Trump. No question about it, he said some things that got him into a lot of trouble. In spite of those mistakes, he stood up for the common man, and they stayed behind him. The “know it all” elite never let up on their attacks. With all the negative rhetoric, Trump’s loyal supporters remained committed and they voted.
Where do we go from here? President-elect Trump said that we need to “come together as one united people.” He intends to be “President for all Americans.” I think he can do this better than Hillary could have. Trump doesn’t owe anyone anything. He is not beholden to anyone throughout the campaign, and paid for most of it himself.
He is not an ideologue. Somehow, some way, the immigration issue will be dealt with. He will have a Republican House and Senate to work with. However, I do expect Democrats to have considerable influence. And I think Trump will try to work with them. He has always been a deal-maker. Trump believes in private enterprise, and not a bigger government.
He will nominate a conservative for the Supreme Court. He wants to kill the death tax. The Obama government overreach of regulations will come to an abrupt halt. The Trump Policy Team said they thought the next EPA Administrator should have a farm background. Wouldn’t that be novel?
Will Obamacare be repealed? Probably not, but it certainly needs to be changed. The change will be less government and not more.
On the question of trade and the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) – I don’t think it will be passed in the “Lame Duck” session now. Trump will insist that it be improved.
Who will Trump choose for Secretary of Agriculture? He has a powerful, impressive list of ag team leaders to choose from. As effective as the ag team was in helping to bring in the rural vote for Trump, I believe that agriculture will have a very strong voice in the Trump Administration.
I’ll close with what I think is the quote of the day by a main stream media expert – he said, “we can’t predict anything.”
John Block was Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1981-1985, where he played a key role in the development of the 1985 Farm Bill. If you would like to review his radio shows going back more than 20 years, visit johnblockreports.com.
