Considering the last guy was Trump, who not only put in place various pretty-darn-unnecessary immigration restrictions (all of which were clearly done because of bigotry against either Mexicans or Muslims instead of any, ya know, logical reason) but is the reason the US got hit so hard by this pandemic (due to his catastrophic mishandling thereof)... yeahhhh.
The muslim ban was an interesting one, possibly could have been justified but wasn't really from what I saw (Arab spring and major fallout thereof was some 4 years earlier but ramping back up, almost as though knocking over governments and putting nothing in its place doesn't work so well). Restricting Mexicans seemed reasonable, illegal immigration having a demonstrable effect upon various labour markets (possibly crime but that is less of one), even if wall building is a silly idea. The general trend has been to make it harder for many years now as well.
What rights would I have lost or gained under Trump had I been there?
Ditto Obama?
Equally if they are different what could I have reasonably attributed to the then current el presidente as much as other things.
Despite threats on free speech from all sides it is mostly what it was 10 years ago.
Police can still steal my money/items, claim it was for criminal things and make me sue to get it back, and demonstrably still do make any number of very dubious calls there. Neither furthered nor ended.
Police in general still seem about as skull cracking as US ones ever were, though that is arguably a local/state matter for much of that. Not my idea of a good time but about what I would expect.
If I care about guns then things might well be more restrictive now than they were, and in arguably pointless ways.
Getting divorced is as much a raw deal today as was back in the 90s. The gay alphabet soup lot, something of a cause celebre in recent years, also seem to be able to enjoy marriage and not being kicked out of the job market/life in general and have done for a while now (no change under him anyway). Ditto skin colour if you go in for that one. The poor are pretty hard done by but always have been really, and are in most places.
Any major services or milestones and end results thereof?
Health and net insurance (never mind effective insurance) might be a fun one to ponder.
Infrastructure is always crumbling and everybody knows someone that hit a pot hole. Mostly seems to be new bridges that are collapsing though.
Does the economic outlook via various means* look better for [age ranges] as of last year (and this if you want to count this little pandemic business then go that as well).
*salary to home cost ratio, home availability, savings, debt utilisation (and nature thereof -- US student loans are unpleasant but have not really changed in character in a long time), education level attained, average salary (probably inflation adjusted), retirement and nature thereof, homelessness and nature thereof, unemployment trends (general and underemployment), child poverty... there are plenty to look at. The projected future trends for many of those don't look too pretty, however I am not sure I am inclined to point at presidential meddling on any count for those (student loans being backed rather than means tested and results based... yeah, home loans and bail outs... yeah).
You say his mishandling of the pandemic is something to note. Do go on. What could he have done (and governors, all these states having their own nice healthcare infrastructure and universities of their own to tap after all, could not have done -- most states seem to be doing their own thing quite happily for some time now) or not done that would have made all the difference or just a really notable one? I can't say it was a model to follow but I doubt the US ever could have been (infrastructure never centralised, standardised, no scope to mobilise a force like there is for all sorts of things for hotspots...) and not really that bad as a general trend.
Are my consumer rights really any better or worse than they were in 2008? Few places had cases in their local supreme courts to iron out some of the kinks and some finally wound their way up to the main supreme court (that toner refills one being a fun one). Seeing fewer bills really that done much of anything here.
Most big companies just as inclined to not respect rights and me as a consumer as they ever were. Said companies (and ones looking to rise up) often mired in red tape as well (though that is just as commonly from local/state levels).
Am I likely to find my home buried under a mound of toxic sludge or breathe smog on the way to work where I was not before?
At no point during the last 15 or so years have I wanted to live in the US (I like Europe much more), content enough to visit for long periods though without feeling like I was wading into a fallen country or warzone. Never really felt like it was a country in ascendency either. By similar token for any of those has any country massively eclipsed the US in possibly anything other than healthcare (the third rate nature of that being a long standing cause of amusement for most of the rest of the world) that the US could have done if they had wanted, or indeed something that is fairly obvious the US could have done that would have made things 10000 times better.
To that end this is the new sound, same as the old sound. Last el presidente was an unlikeable arsehole and surrounded by gaping arseholes, but that is just called being a politician and something you get to work with. New one looks no different, and that is without the lack of power available in the role (both generally and with the current setup being as generally evenly matched as it is) and need to spin many plates at once.
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BakerMan:
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K3Nv2:
