via Daily Prompt: Folly

Every morning when I read a headline about another of Trump’s proposed appointments, folly is one word that comes to mind — that, plus “disaster”.

I could see a rational President-elect making a couple of seriously controversial appointments, plus some others that push the party platform and naturally draw disagreement from the opposite party. That is democracy. But this man is making appointments that are almost all seriously controversial and will generate much serious conflict, here and abroad, which is very foolish for the leadership of a nuclear superpower.

He does not have a mandate to upend eight years of public policy, let alone eighty. Contrary to the outright lies spread by him and his supporters in the most shameless way, he did not win the popular vote. He did not win by a “landslide.” A wiser man would feel his way toward the center of this country’s political beliefs, which is why a wiser President-elect would not make almost every single major appointment a lightning rod by picking someone who represents an extreme position. Ronald Reagan was very conservative, and he didn’t do that. He made some controversial appointments, not all controversial appointments.

The radicalism of Trump’s proposed appointments is unprecedented. It is making our allies and our antagonists around the globe very antsy, and antsy is not a good thing when we’re talking about countries with nuclear weapons. Some see advantage to themselves and will try to exploit it through aggression. Some see danger and will try to deflect it through aggressive, pre-emptive action. This is the kind of uncertainty and instability that can lead to war. War that is not confined to, say, the Middle East. War that is global. World war.

And in a nuclear age, global war is folly.