My first reaction

This is  my initial reaction to the election of Donald Trump

Now  President- Elect Trump has to deliver on his promises. No excuses since he will have a Republican dominated Supreme Court  eventually,  and Congress. I fear for the economy...and if his policies do not solve the anger of rust belt and blue collar workers, there may be hell to pay in four years. I have no faith that reducing taxes on the rich will trickle down to the middle class nor do I think protectionism will bring back the jobs of the 20th century. If he  or his supporters act out his hate filled oratory  to supress minority interests and their civil rights, I fear there will be civil unrest. If he destroys our alliances, we will have to increase our military spending because we will be on our own to fight terrorism. If he opens the gate for Russian expansionism, we will no longer be the leader of the Western world. I am not optimistic that Donald Trump will be a successful president, but he has a chance to prove me wrong.

His greatest asset is that he identified problems and issues that truly bother enough citizens to elect him.  However, he should never lose sight that he lost the popular vote which means he does not have a clear mandate to do as he wants and he may be in danger of creating a populist  backlash if he does not consider their concerns. What is both an asset and a liability is that he offered few concrete solutions to fix the problems plaguing his supporters.   This gives him flexibility to be pragmatic and to come up with his own solutions without having to be beholden to GOP ideological orthodoxy.  This will also allow him to create coaltions with even Democrats  on specific issue such as infrastructure programs. The liability is that he seems to have little ability to understand either public policy development or knowledge of  how the democratic process works and the Constitutional restraints that will hobble his authoritarian inclinations and create many Constitutional crises.

But public policy is not the only challenge he faces.  It is the fear and loathing of those he insulted and disdained   Some are demonstrating their fears and anger. To dismiss them out of hand  as a political stunt would be a major mistake.   My  22 year old grandson posted a remarkable  passionate manifesto on his facebook page, channeling the fears of Hispanic, immigrants, his gay friends (he is straight) and if that racist approach continues, that is not a country or a president he can support. A cousin responded in words I do not want to repeat . However, the core was that she was no racist, had done Christian missions to Africa, Central America and had Black friends. She had voted for Trump because of agreement with his issues and his dislike of Hillary Clinton.  She later posted I (his grandmother) should be ashamed of his posting. Here is part of  my response. " Let us respect each others' views. (My grandson)  is devastated. He works as a supervisor in a major hotel chain and most of the employees with whom he comes in contact are people of color and Muslims and he sees the expression of fear on their faces" ,which I added is ..best expressed by Major Kahn' s father," is there a place for (his Muslim son and Iraq war hero)  in America."?  While you may not consider yourself racist, and you have friends of color,  nonetheless some of those who backed Donald Trump enjoy for once being politically incorrect and express openly racist feelings, which creates that atmosphere and supported Trump. You and I know who they are.  (We have a duty to witness as Christians).that will include the message ... found in my church's creed that .we  should " hear the voices of peoples long silenced,
and to work with others for justice, freedom, and peace."