Giving Thanks: How It Could Be Today Under Different Management

Sometimes a fresh perspective is all you need.

Yesterday’s Substack Live had a repetitive theme. A few of the attendees in there circled back to the same question, which went something like this?

Are you feeling negative/dooming about what so and so has been saying on X?

I’ve hammered on the negativity aspects of the current political climate over and over again this month, so I rattled off my opinions about why there is so much of it around these days since Charlie Kirk was shot and the shutdown games began. Today, I’m going to do something a little bit different as we kick off Thanksgiving Week.

Imagine with me, for a moment, that after Donald Trump won North Carolina and got to his “Core 235,” then the Atlanta metro slipped a few points further left, denying Trump 16 electoral votes and the shortest pathway to an electoral majority if combined with Pennsylvania. Instead of a performance lagging Clinton in Philadelphia County, a Harris performance more like Biden’s there and in the collar counties, took away Pennsylvania’s 19. You’d then be looking at a scenario in which Trump would need Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin, and with Pennsylvania the furthest right of the “big three” in the Midwest, it is obvious Harris would emerge the victor in such a scenario.

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PRESIDENT KAMALA

With an unimpressive mental package to begin with, President Kamala would get to work with an understanding that the electorate would quickly tire of her, especially with her representing the second consecutive Democrat president. Her handlers, especially if the House and Senate remained in Republican hands, would have prepped her for bold executive action designed to do exactly one thing:

Ensure Democrat dominance of elections and key policy positions for the 21st century.

Even though Franklin Roosevelt, and later Harry Truman, were eventually replaced by Republicans, the New Deal agenda remains with us today and is something that must be worked around, no matter what ideologies are attached to any candidate. Imagine trying to get rid of Social Security today - you can’t. This is another reason why I’m not big on defending ideologies like “conservatism” and more focused on defeating the enemy and adjusting to present-day challenges.

What do I think President Kamala would have done by Thanksgiving in her first term? Let’s dive in:

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IMMIGRATION/BORDER

Ironically, Trump solving key campaign issues early has led to restlessness from his base. For the 2026 midterm campaigns, Republicans are going to have to pivot to finer policy points and dish out less red meat, because the electorate views immigration and border enforcement as under control. This was not the case 13 months ago, when everyone and their mother complained about how we couldn’t survive four more years of a wide open border.

President Kamala would have continued Biden’s reckless border policies, resulting in a mass run for the border that would destroy the border towns ravaged by illegal immigration. Instead of focusing on mass removals, we’d be doing the “humane processing” bit and negotiating with both chambers of Congress to end the “humanitarian crisis” by finally agreeing on the “immigration reform” bill that has taken many forms over the past two decades.

What we have now, instead, is the quietest border we’ve had in many decades and a public that no longer needs to hear any political speeches about the border. Take a look at traffic in Panama’s Darien Gap for a stunning visual:

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ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT