Now What?

The unthinkable happened early this morning with the victory of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton for president of the United States.  Individuals, organizations and companies have to come to terms now with a president-elect whom they did not support.  But, that is true every four years.  Trump is different in that he made few promises other than to build a wall on the border of Mexico and to make America great again — (whatever that means.)   Trump is helped by low expectations for his governance.  Anything positive he does will have a significant upside for his image.  Anything negative will affirm the poor reputation he has already.  From a PR perspective, the Republican party must accommodate him whether it wants to or not.  Congress can put the brakes on him by refusing to pass legislation it considers inimical to the public.  It is hard to accept such an untested leader, but we must remind ourselves that the current president was a novice as well when he stepped into the role.  He hasn’t done badly over eight years but last night’s election was a repudiation of him, which must hurt deeply.