Trump, Our 45th President — Believe It or Not

Donald Trump will be, on Jan. 20, the 45th President of the United States of America. I finally wrote it. This is a very painful sentence to write.

Registered Democrats, thoughtful Independents and reasonable Republicans are extremely anxious if not downright disturbed about what the next four years will bring. The country, as we all know, actually chose Hillary Clinton. She received 2.8 million more votes than Trump. But because of some vestigial organ called the electoral college, the loser was declared the winner.

The first thing the 115th Congress should do is do away with the electoral college and repair democracy by instituting a system in which the person who gets the most votes wins. Send this major and essential change out to the states and have 38 states ratify this constitutional amendment in record time. Then our new, improved and truly democratic system will be ready for the 2020 presidential election.

The issue of conflict of interest as it applies to Donald Trump’s financial dealings will haunt this president for his entire time. It is hard not to believe that this alone will trip him up at some point. It is not too far-fetched to envision impeachment proceedings, conviction and removal from office. Or a resignation “a la Nixon.” Then we will be talking about President Pence.

For the purposes of this column, let’s assume that Trump serves a full four-year term. The first thing he should do is stop tweeting. His words may be wildly misinterpreted and we all could be the victims of his un-presidential utterings.

Second, the new president should take up reading. I don’t expect him to be a scholar, but policy should not be formulated and decisions of global importance made by watching “the shows.” His initial personnel decisions for the cabinet and other high offices seem to have only one thing in common: you must be rich. Fabulously rich.

The U.S. Senate hopefully will reject some of the most odious choices (Sessions at Justice, DeVos at Education, Puzder at Labor, Price at Health and Human Services). We will soon find out if there are any “Profiles in Courage” on the Republican side of that august body.

Finally, Mr. President-elect, surprise me and the entire country and make your inaugural speech inclusive, uplifting and inspiring. Jimmy Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton and even George W. Bush will be there. Class up your act!

*Political analyst and Georgetowner columnist Mark Plotkin is a contributor to the BBC on American politics and a contributor to thehill.com. Reach him at markplotkindc@gmail.com.*