I think that's the least of our worries actually. I'm worried about 3 principle things:
1) That he'll actually try to build the wall, and thereby bankrupt the economy.
2) His gutting of the EPA and funding for climate change mitigation (which essentially means that we are certain to return the planet back to the Mesozoic era).
And above all
3) War with China, and possibly also Mexico while we are at it. If it goes nuclear, I predict it would flare up in the Korean Peninsula.
The more I think about it, the more it sinks in just how badly our political system has blundered...
*Original post detailing my predictions here:
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=258478.msg12770710#msg12770710Alright, we are now three weeks in, and this is the story so far:
1) As stated before, an internal memo by the DHS has already been released, detailing the costs of the border wall:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN15O2ZN?il=021.5 billion dollars (and 3.5 years) at minimum. Predictably, we already have Trump promising to bring the costs "way down":
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/02/11/trump-insists-he-can-bring-the-cost-of-21-6-billion-border-wall-way-down/?utm_term=.2a63082bc934No details given, as is standard for Trump

2) Scott Pruitt, Trump's pick to head the EPA, is already facing a lawsuit even before the confirmation:
https://thinkprogress.org/cmd-sues-for-pruitt-letters-8ec696b2ffe9#.qkpwdd6owThat Pruitt is a shill for fossil fuel interests is already well known. But even without this, his Administration is already considering shutting down its enforcement branch:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_589b9593e4b0c1284f2a7ab3And there are signs that his hostile attitude towards the EPA is impacting the ability of its scientists to attend conferences, in particular the most recent environmental conference in Alaska:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2017/0211/EPA-scientists-held-back-from-conference-Cost-cutting-or-something-more3) Here we are getting some mixed signals. On the one hand, Trump appears to be backing down on his idea of scrapping the One China policy:
https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/02/09/world/asia/donald-trump-china-xi-jinping-letter.html?_r=0&referer=https://amp-slate-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/amp.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/war_stories/2017/02/caving_on_one_china_shows_that_trump_is_a_terrible_deal_maker.html?amp_js_v=7But it is unclear whether or not this is just merely a tactical political maneuver. Steve Bannon otherwise seems dead set on antagonizing China (and the Middle East):
https://www.thenation.com/article/steve-bannon-wants-to-start-world-war-iii/Bannon is looking to have that confrontation happen in the South China Sea:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/02/steve-bannon-donald-trump-war-south-china-sea-no-doubtPersonally I am going to continue to bet that it will actually erupt on the Korean Peninsula. After all, North Korea is pressing onwards with its ICBM program, the most recent ballistic missile test being just today:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-38947451As for Mexico, Trump did make a veiled threat of a possible military invasion in response to their refusal to "pay" for the border wall:
http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/01/trump-threatening-mexico-military-invasion-deal-bad-hombres.htmlHowever I still don't think it is very likely that he'll actually send troops down there. My money is still on a war with China...