The contest between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris was a pathetic mudslinging farce. Neither candidate was worthy of victory. Trump was in an attack mode during most of the campaign. He denigrated Harris to an extent that it enabled him to decisively defeat the latest woman who dreamed of becoming president.

Harris on the other hand showered the electorate with platitudes and mumbo jumbo that voters could not relate to. She lost ground in almost every major voter category.

In the end, Trump won over 300 electoral votes, defeated Harris in every battle battleground state and won over large blocks of African American and Latino voters. It was not technically a landslide victory,  but it certainly was decisive. Weather it gave Trump a strong mandate is debatable.

As an aside, I voted but did not choose a presidential candidate, given that neither candidate was qualified, in my opinion.

It’s over, and Trump will move into the White House in a couple of weeks. But who will he choose to assist him and what will be the plan to Make America Great Again. Trump has already begun to select controversial individuals that will put him at odds with Congress. It’s going to be a tough process to say the least.

Will the Senate give Trump carte blanche and allow him to select MeToo violators. I guess it makes sense since Trump is an offender himself. Will the Senate rubber stamp his selections? Will the Senate allow Trump to pick cabinet members without a full public vetting? We shall see. It’s too bad that Trump has decided to challenge both his Democratic enemies and members of his own party. It seems like the man enjoys the sport of defying others, even when it is unproductive.

But let’s talk about some of the issues that Trump is focused on.

The economy. Trump has promised to fight inflation and bring the US economy back to where he left it four years ago. Unfortunately, Trump has been talking about doing things that may make his stated objectives difficult to achieve. Most importantly is the application of tariffs on exports from China and other countries that compete with the US. Ill-conceived tariffs will worsen inflation as foreign goods cost US consumers more to buy. Trump must be thoughtful in his decisions to impose tariffs. The benefits of hammering the Chinese economy must be weighed against the inflationary impact of higher prices.

Trump has taken aim at the Federal Reserve and its current leader Jerome Powell, an age-old tactic of US presidents who think they are economy experts. It would be unwise to demand Powell’s resignation as Powell is on the brink of managing the US economy through a dangerous time.

Immigration. Trump wants to do some very bold things to solve the immigration crisis. His strategy should be to first stop the flow of new illegal aliens across the border. This can be accomplished only with a large force of agents at the border. In fact, using U.S. military assets would make sense. The border should be closed until the US enacts new immigration policies, as difficult as that might be.

The next most significant issue is finding and securing the lost children of the immigration debacle. An unknown number of children are unaccounted for. How could the Biden administration overlook or ignore this situatuion. Sex trafficking and abuse are commonplace.

The third leg is to root out illegals that are criminals. No one knows how many interlopers are guilty of crimes back in their home countries. But we must find them, apprehend them and send them back to where they came from. Every day there seems to be new reports of illegal aliens committing crimes against Americans, which will put pressure on our lawmakers to take action.

And finally, the US must initiate a new policy for law abiding illegals. This will be the most difficult task and involve compassion, fairness and common sense. It could affect 10 or 15 million immigrants.

Israel. The US must support Israel without delay and at any expense. The failure to end the violence in the Middle East will soon have repercussions in America (terrorist strikes, for instance). The US must negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine. It must hunt down the agitators who encourage terrorism. The US must aggressively destroy the current regime in Iran that supports so much of the destabilization in the region.

Trump wants to negotiate a peaceful settlement of the issues that are causing so much death and destruction. Netanyahu will listen to Trump, and the latter must make all Israelis believe he will protect their sovereignty and security.

War with Iran, economic and political, is inevitable. The US should not delay severe economic sanctions that will bankrupt Iran. Without money, Iran will be unable to support radical elements in the Middle East.

Further, the US should retaliate in kind to every hostile activity by Iran. Targeting the country’s nuclear activities and conventional weapons must begin immediately before Iran develops a WMD that could be used against Israel and possibly the US.

Trump must continue to demand that all allies pay their fair share in dealing with problems globally. The US has lost credibility during the Biden administration. Hopefully, with the advice of his cabinet, Trump will be able to make America great again.

Trump has a unique opportunity to lead the world and help make it a more peaceful place. The first thing he must do is to try to relate to all Americans and our allies.

What are the odds that he will take this opportunity? Given the kind of man Donald Trump has proven to be, it is doubtful that he will try to placate his adversaries. But stranger things have happened.