(c) Jen Sorensen
The Atlantic‘s Michelle Cottle told Al Sharpton on MSNBC (11/13/16): “This is a guy who will say anything on the campaign trail, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’ll start out like that.” Her reasoning as to why Trump won’t be as vile and dangerous as he promised:
I think he starts out knowing he’s got people watching him, and knowing that people are nervous, and until he has a reason to clash with folks, I think he’s going to try to moderate a little bit.
When Sharpton asked Michael Steele, an MSNBC political analyst and former Republican national chair, what happens if Trump bans Muslims and deports millions of people, Steele responded by explaining:
Well, first off, I don’t think that’s going to happen…. Exit polls showed that, you know, his supporters never took that seriously. The press took it literally. They never took it seriously. And I don’t think that’s going to be part of the agenda.
Apparently people who voted for Trump thought he was kidding, so not to worry.
In the worst-case scenario—that Trump actually meant what he promised to do on the campaign trail multiple times—that still isn’t a problem, Steele assured us:
If that’s the type of legislation that comes out of the West Wing, and presented to the Congress, yes, there are going to be some really strong thought lines drawn there, and some pushback.
More likely, according to Steele, Trump will transform himself into Bernie Sanders: “I really believe, Reverend, that you’re going to see Donald Trump govern as a pragmatic populist.”
