What?

Trump presidency?

Benefit?

How can I be looking on the rosy side of what would be an absolute disaster for the country? For the world?

Actually, I’m not the only person from the progressive school of thought—not the only “rational” to whom this thought has occurred. I’ve heard it expressed by other people who’ve given this some consideration.

This idea arises out of the frustration—maybe desperation is more accurate—of conscious Americans who recognize the lunacy in our political system is a symptom, not a cause of this country’s disease. Not all conscious Americans, but a few us are entertaining the idea that this might be the time
to let the serious ailment run its course.

We can’t cure the disease as long as money plays such a  critical role in shaping our values, not as long as the festering infection of racism distracts and confuses us and saps our strength. We can’t treat the illness as long as so many Americans suffer in indolent poverty and limited access to effective education. Or while so many fellow citizens are so busy gobbling up the mind candy extruded by the media that we can’t distinguish between fact and fantasy.

And we can’t put America back on the path that our founding fathers envisioned as long as a sizable portion of our citizenry confuses “the Donald” with a character in an action movie who saves the world from impending destruction right before the closing credits.

If enough of us step into the voting booth, our lizard brains engaged, and comforted by the hopeful feeling that Trump’s magic thinking will cure all that ails us, we may soon get a much-needed education about the importance of what is referred to as “critical thinking.” Perhaps that’s the only way we’ll learn first hand, why dealing with our complex problems using logic and careful analysis is preferable to mindlessly choosing simple solutions because they’re easy to understand and they…well, just “feel right.”   Some of us who wonder what issues should really concern us, and what’s the best way to address them, might realize that those “egghead intellectuals” with their more complicated and nuanced approaches, may actually have a better idea.

But as of right now, many of us listen attentively to a speaker telling us what we want to hear, and because we have absolutely no understanding of the issues, and don’t know what we don’t know, the words seem to articulate our poorly formed opinions. We digest the oratory and applaud “telling it like it is.”

Many of us may learn, under Trump leadership, that someone who tells you what you want to hear, rather than what you need to understand, should not be believed and cannot be trusted. Many of us may come to realize that the problems we face as a nation will not be solved by solutions explained in the form of slogans. It might occur to some of us that simple sounding problem solving is only appreciated by a simple minded audience.

The benefit of a Trump presidency is that many of us will discover we were fooled. And having learned that lesson, we will be careful not to get fooled next time.

If there is a next time.