Trump couldn’t spell the word book.
The way I see it is as theater or spectacle.
Google “Trump spectacle Guy Debord” or the like. Here’s a good article:
Guy Debord, Donald Trump, and the Politics of the Spectacle
I’d like to see a rebuttal of that framing.
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Augments that use facts, figures, data etc. are a waste of time and energy. It all can be dismissed as fake news generated by the “deep state”. It’s all about theater and spectacle.
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My take - this is at the core of Trumpism
The 'American Dream" of if i work hard and do all the right stuff I will be rewarded faded in the 2000’s -
Those frustrated by this needed a villian to blame - and “them” “they” are always the best villians.
The core of Trumpism IMO anyway is - My US is changing and I can’t stop it, and “those” people are to blame. And Trump is the one who can save us from them. It is just economic frustration, pulling up latent racism, to generate fear - to exploit for power.
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Trump may be but the important question is how does it affect us in the maritime world?
I believe there are four levels of possibility:
IF TRUMP CARES
Topics that get on his radar and spark his personal interest will get pushed through. Conversely the left will fight hard against these.
One example that has gotten BOTH his attention and interest is the trade imbalance. This will have profound consequences for ports and foreign shippers but likely won’t affect US mariners
Shipbuilding is an example of a topic that’s gotten his attention but only low levels of his interest. He is aware… Question is will he become interested?
Appointments
The president can only do so much. Execution depends on who he appoints. Last round Mark Buzby was well received by most on both sides but ultimately didn’t move the needle too much. Will Trump appoint someone stronger to this and other positions like USCG? Unlikely but possible.
What’s slightly more likely is getting a secretary of the navy or defense who helps us. Mike Waltz has been a strong supporter of the merchant marine in congress and there’s a far outside chance he’ll get secdef. An ally as secnav is more likely but secnavs have limited influence today
Policy
Policy ideas don’t move the needle without leaders driving it. That’s what Project 2025 is… policy outlines.
The maritime policy section of project 2025 is brief so I don’t give it much chance of changing the dynamic much.
That said we could get dragged into policy changes at other organizations for example the closure of DHS could put the USCG in DoD which would change a lot for us.
Red Wave
Another outside chance is a red wave sweeping all congress. This possibility - along with the already red supreme courts- could give Trump the ability to make sweeping changes to the structure of government.
Again the most likely outcome is we get dragged behind policy
National Security Council
The last trump white house did have a maritime desk at the NSC. Problem was they got caught in the drama that was the administration and fought with marad and congres. Biden essentially closed the desk
IF trump reopens the desk and IF he gives it more influence/resources and IF the rest of the administration plays along and IF the deep state doesn’t scuttle it then there’s outside possibility of real change
Apathy
This is the democrat playbook. They just don’t care to be visible or active in us maritime affairs. Biden did make some progress with icebreakers, port congestion snd his secnav is doing fine work but mostly marad, dot and uscg have been asleep at the wheel
It’s unlikely a trump administration will be quiet about maritime affairs but it’s always a possibility. You can’t forget that it was newt Gingrich who closed the merchant marine committee and the neocons love moving our resources to the army and navy.
Big business loves apathy too because it doesn’t want a strong us maritime sector preventing the us of low cost foreign flags. Right now mist of big business is aligning behind Harris but there are exceptions and some could jump ship if trump wins
Bottom Line
I’m optimistic that Trump could bring positive change but I won’t hold my breath until I see his list of appointments.
If Harris wins we will probably slide further off DC’s radar unless a champion like Senator Mark Kelly gets a key role
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In 1969 North Slope Oil was discovered - If your maritime policy is dependent on cabotage preferences - you need cabotage cargo, with no other competative alternative. If you want to save US Shipbuilding using the Jones Act - you need to find more cargo like ANS Crude.
Not all of us applied for the silly thing, it doesn’t mean we weren’t there or that we feel left out or hard done by or whatever this nonsense is about.
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But we all want medals!!!
Then why did he appoint their recommendations as federal judges?
The Heritage Foundation has been playing the long game and Trump was a useful idiot for them. He was and is a means to their desired end, that’s it.
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When Harris was looking for a VP running mate all the liberal political commentators & media outlets had the same 3-10 candidates picked out for her & sure enough, she picked one of them. Which one of those entities was it that made her pick Walz? Also, does that same organization also control the group think mechanism that made all the commentators/media to come up with a similar short list? And what happened to the Koch brothers? In previous election cycles they were the villians that Democrats said controlled the Republican nominee. Seems the Heritage Foundation bumped them out of the way this go around.
Probably the best brief explanation recently on this forum. The “American Dream” is gone for the current lower and middle class citizens with poor education who cannot find the manufacturting jobs of the past. This says something about the education in the US. Maybe the US should look at how other countries put resources into poor performing schools? Here’s another novel idea. Instead of damning immigrants and threatening to deport them why not imprison those who hire them? It is just logical. Why would they come if US citizens and companies refused to hire them, right? Why doesn’t any politician propose that? We all know the answer to that 
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Interesting that you tacked the photo of someone who has denied having anything to do with 2025. Meanwhile “the other candidate” continues the “lie” that 2025 is “all Trump”. Not advocating for Trump, I’m advocating for the truth.
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I think that is defined as an oxymoron on the heels of a deflection.
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Exactly! Whatever the heck that means. 
have a goodern.
mariners are a small minority, they are going to do whatever is benificial to those jackwads that engineer this, and (fuk yur feelings)
righteousness, practicality, loyalty to mariners, efficiency, all that krap is out the window, how can anyone believe your interests are a priority in the decision making processes?
JK, you are at the right wing political dinner table looking for scraps to fall off the edge in order to fulfill your desire for power. Keep it up, you may get the prize. In the mean time, decent Americans are not impressed and we will end this charade come November. At that point we can only hope Trump chokes on his hamburger steak, or goes to prison. And you can get off your holier than thou soapbox.
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I have been advocating this for decades!
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Wow the TDS is strong with you!
An earlier poster was right, if Trump supported Project 2025 he would be all about the marketing to make $. And if anyone thinks Harris, who got what? 0.1% of the primary votes in 2019 gives a shit about our industry, good luck there too. What is she going to fix that she has already had 3+ years to work on fixing? MARAD employees will continue to do their thing and not rock the boat in the hopes of the next promotion, and the war machine will continue to beat drums and make $ for the folks pulling the strings leaving all of us to fight over the crumbs and realizing too late we’ve been played as fools and turned on each other instead of them.
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What you are doing is called “sanewashing”. You are trying to pick through the ramblings of someone clearly losing their connection with reality at best and trying to convert it into some coherent policy statement.
You think the guy who said THIS has some coherent thoughts on the future of deep-sea shipping? Really?
“So I said, ‘Let me ask you a question, and [the guy who makes boats in South Carolina] said, ‘Nobody ever asked this question,’ and it must be because of MIT, my relationship to MIT —very smart. He goes, I say, ‘What would happen if the boat sank from its weight? And you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery and the battery is now underwater and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?’”
So I said, so there’s a shark 10 yards away from the boat, 10 yards or here, do I get electrocuted if the boat is sinking? Water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking. Do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted, or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted? Because I will tell you, he didn’t know the answer. He said, ‘You know, nobody’s ever asked me that question.” I said, ‘I think it’s a good question.’ I think there’s a lot of electric current coming through that water. But you know what I’d do if there was a shark or you get electrocuted, I’ll take electrocution every single time. I’m not getting near the shark. So we’re going to end that.”
If this was your uncle you would gently guide him back off the porch into the living room and make sure he couldn’t find the car keys. He’ll do whatever will make him a few dollars or whatever the sycophants of the week tell him to do and if China offers him some deal on cheap MAGA hats we’ll have Chinese crewed tugs on the Mississippi next week.
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