would have restrained the worst he could do. That said, I knew that he could and would take the entire list of executive actions Obama did and reverse them. That would have been very bad on the environment and on immigration. I also knew he would go for huge tax cuts because that is what Republicans do - opening a bigger deficit that would, according to them, not be important until a Democrat became President. Then, it would be the number one most important domestic issue that must be fixed ... but not be raising taxes.
Where I was wrong was on foreign policy - which typically changes at a snail's pace. There I assumed that the career people who have spoken out when they disagreed with any prior administration would be a factor and they would be heard out, even if the policy does not change to what they want. There, the tearing up of the Iran deal, as former opponents in Congress including people like Corker, chair of SFRC said it was better to keep it and top military and intelligence people admitted it was working, showed he had no respect for our allies and was more willing to risk a war, that some in the Middle East long wanted, rather than to try to build on that deal to address other problems with Iran. When he first was elected, I was hopeful that as long as Iran avoided anything violating the deal, he would leave it in place even as he whined about how bad the deal was.
Nothing prepared me for his actions setting us against our core allies. It was absolutely jarring reading tweets that near the same time flattered Kim Yong Un while trashing Justin Trudeau. In addition, I would have thought that the Republicans would have not let him start the trade wars he has started.
As to the immigration nightmare, I could NEVER imagine any American government ever doing what he is doing. Then, I never thought we would have trouble with the EU countries and Canada(!), and the President speaking approvingly of Kim Jung UN, the Saudis, Putin, and the Philippine dictator!
As to the future, where I had thought it would be bad in terms of US reputation, I figured that just as electing Obama was a huge step in repairing our relations, so would any Democrat replacing Trump. However, people like Kerry and Samantha Power have spoken of how Trump's actions have shaken their faith in the US. Samantha Power spoke of how their concern is not just Trump, but that nearly half of the country voted for him. Since WWII the US has been the leader of our side ... now we aren't.
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