My international friends want to know what the hell is happening in my country.

“Why did Hillary Clinton lose?”

Well, she didn’t win the electoral college.

That’s not what they’re asking. They want an analysis of what went wrong, but I’m not a big fan of post-mortems. We won’t learn anything from her campaign’s mistakes. Nobody ever learns from the errors of the past. That’s not how the brain works. We improve outcomes by considering what might go wrong and then doing the opposite.

And, besides, Trump is now president. Let’s figure out how he’s about to fail and work to prevent it.

First, I believe he and his comrades will come for women.

They always come for women, even when they say it’s not about women. The administration will focus on the family, which translates to a google search for “white + Christian + heteronormative family.”

Trump and his coalition will concentrate on restricting abortion and limiting access to affordable birth control. So, let’s create a strategic plan so that no woman is denied access to her constitutional healthcare options.

Women’s interest groups will continue to lawyer up, hire lobbyists, and invest in phone banks to secure hearts and minds. But regular women should volunteer, develop public speaking skills. Do your part to show that you can be pro-choice and pro-family, however the heck you define family. That’s possible.

The second thing Trump will do is act concerned about kids while overseeing the systematic dismantling of educational standards and funding.

Not that we have a lot of standards. I know that equal education in America is a joke. Do you know what else is a joke? Local charter schools with little oversight that care more about ideology than crafting a curriculum that allows American kids to compete in the global market.

Trump and his chumps will tell you that school choice is the answer. They’ll say that federal funding is best managed at the local level. And they’ll also insist that local values trump national standards.

I’m here to tell you that Chinese and South Korean kids kick our kids’ asses at math and science because they study math and science. There’s no local interpretation of math. It’s math.

You know what they don’t obsess about? Abstinence-only education.

If we flash forward and ask how Trump will have failed our kids, it turns out that you will have failed your children because you didn’t serve on a local school board and fight these Trumpian reforms.

Sit on a school board or curriculum committee for the sake of the kids. I know it sucks, but you had kids. Own it.

Finally, we know that Trump and his cronies will try to tell you that what’s good for business is good for America.

We have 100 years of data showing us that our jobs are trying to kill us. American workers are underpaid, overworked and our cholesterol levels are too high. Sitting is the new smoking, and smoking is less dangerous than working in one of those new Trump coal mines he’s promising that will change our economy.

Conscious capitalism can improve the world, but Trump doesn’t give a rip about changing the world. He doesn’t even give a rip about the business community. He cares about his balance sheet because nobody has a better balance sheet if you remember. The banks love his sheet.

Do you want to make sure our economy doesn’t fail? Don’t let him drag America down the path of bankruptcy. Improve your financial knowledge, don’t buy a home you can’t afford, and don’t let him “do deals” on behalf of America unless those transactions are 100% transparent.

So, yeah, it’s not hard to see a fundamental path of destruction with Trump.

But all presidents fail to some degree. We let them fail even though it’s not that hard to get involved and police the political environment for shenanigans on either side of the aisle. And we can prevent failure by envisioning it, planning for it, and, hopefully, leading our country to a brighter future.

You just need to raise your hand, ask better questions, and be willing to get involved.

Category: Work52 Comments

52 Comments

  1. As always, LFR, thank you. Today was day one of work (following yesterday’s shock, grief, and using nice cheese to fill the sadness). I emailed Lindsey Graham, with whom I disagree on many things, because he stood by his own principles, even when bullied by our president-elect, because I want him to see the face of my daughter, whose future he is working to protect, and because if I want him to represent me well, he needs my support. Nikki Haley will hear from me. Tim Scott will hear from me. Mark Sanford will hear from me.

    Locally, I am on the board for a foundation that will work to provide advocacy and a safety net for middle school boys — our area has great programs for high school and elementary school, but has this big gap, so my friend and I are working within the community and schools to close it. Women shouldn’t fight alone — we need men with us, so we have to raise boys who will fight for women.

  2. We need to go back to the basics like when I went to school. I am in the baby boomer generation and proud of it. I can hold a job, support myself, not cry because I didn’t get a trophy, I have integrity, a good work ethic, help others. The media just needs to report the news!!!

  3. Hillary Clinton losers should get over it!!! You lost, but millions of Americans feel the country won! Why don’t you wait and see how things are…..it can’t be any worse than the last 8 years. I don’t know of anyone who is better off except the elites and the Clintons. Go Trump/Pence and the new appointed Government who will hopefully make the much needed changes we are all desire.

    • Thanks for telling me to get over it. When Jackie Robinson integrated MLB, he faced enormous obstacles. People said the worst things — and progress was slow, but it eventually happened.

      I’m hopeful that you’ll look back and see that your fear is what slowed down the much-needed change in this country … but it won’t stop us.

      And thanks for reading my blog. I mean that.

      #bigly

    • The government can not please everyone but I have to say it was a sigh of relief for my family when my husband who is a cancer survivor can now get insurance even though he had a pre-existing condition. Just like every other bill that goes through the ranks, Obamacare was torn apart and a lot of the good was removed by the opposing side. This is typical in the government world and doesn’t matter which side you are on. You are right, everyone needs to give the other a chance and hope that just a little bit of good comes out of it.

  4. I see now the real intent and purpose of your blogs/articles is to push your own political agenda. I was hoping for a substantive, informative resource for HR professionals. Guess I will be going elsewhere for that!

    Thanks but no thanks, LFR.

    • Thanks for telling me thank but no thanks. I appreciate all of my readers. That’s 100% true. Come back for another topic, please? I bet we agree on more than where we disagree. #bigly

      • This blog is a complete joke and not worth any more of my time! Good luck with your rhetoric. I do hope it keeps you warm at night. That is all you will have, because the rest of the country is moving on without you. Maybe Canada could offer you something better? I would sure hate for you to gain successfully while under the Trump Presidency.

  5. He is going to succeed. He won’t be in jail like Hillary in 10 months. What an arrogant uneducated question. We can talk for weeks on how Hillary would have failed. Besides the fact she belongs in Jail.

  6. Trump was elected our President. I am a professional, educated women and I refused to vote for Hillary. I think Trump is a breath of fresh air. The worker bees in this country are tired of their jobs going to other countries, are tired that the public school systems failing our children as they do not have the tools needed to function as a employee or even function in life as they are coddled and expect everything for free; they are tired of our basic constitutional rights being toyed with; they are tired of the health care expenses going up; to name a few. Trump’s campaign manager is the first female to run a successful Presidential campaign.Why aren’t you supporting this? Trump’s management team in his business are made of up a lot of females and minorities. Why would you have a problem with this? I look at his daughters who are educated and able to function, and stand, on their own. Isn’t that what us professional women, or women in general, aspire to be? Chelsea is being paid by her parents’ foundation and gets paid a lot of money to speak. Why? Hillary’s treatment of a 12-year old rape victim, her treatment of all of Bill’s mistresses, and her treatment of many people around her is disgusting. She has made bad decisions that have cost people their lives as well as threatened the security of this country. Hilary is an advocate of women? No, she is an advocate of killing them before they are born. Don’t understand all of this backlash on Trump’s winning the election. None of this happened when Bush won over Gore. None of this happened when Kennedy won over Nixon, B Clinton’s win over Bush1, As an educated professional woman, I find this article embarrassing, attempting to tap into unsubstantiated fears, and factually inaccurate. Trump will become our President. We need to move forward like adults (like we have done in every since election since this great country was created). If we all do not move forward, as a nation, this nation will not survive. Has nothing to do with Trump.

  7. Why in the world is this article in HR Today? Your thoughts are presented in an antagonistic and presumptive way. Your words “comrade”, and “cronies” communicate disrespect and arrogance. Do you realize that you are communicating your concerns in a harassing manner to those that might disagree with your assessments?

    If you expressed concerns about his character, his behavior, etc, that is one thing. To assume everyone reading HR Today agrees with your politics is inappropriate.

  8. This is from my email: Name: Mark Wills

    Message to Laurie: I am surprised you have any credibility at all. First of All Trump is the best thing that has happened to the unemployed. Why? Simple we are going to lower taxes, especially on the rich. I hope he cuts taxes, why would we ever give money to a Government who cannot handle it and the track record is right in our face. think about it, they collect $3 or $4 trillion a year, and they can’t make that work? Why would we ever give them more money, what we need to do is TAKE AWAY THE MONEY! Not only do they take our money, they borrow, and they borrow $20 trillion dollars?? Tell me how the mis-spent funds to the toon of $20 trillion gives them any credibility to spend money?
    Not only do they take and borrow THEY Print!! The last part is not even on the books. When they do Quantitative Easing where does that come from? From the feds giving it to the banks, ALL done by the Republicans and by Obama!!! Really it is disgusting and for you to be a part of any kind of HR is hilarious. You of all people should know that only rich people hire poor people, some when you take more of the rich mans money, you also take the poor mans JOB!!! I would love to debate you one on one, give it your best shot, because what you espouse, A Hillary Clinton Presidency, would have continued the policies of Obama which has almost economically killed this country. Not only do you want to abort babies, you want to abort this country!!

    • Okay, Mark, I get that you love Trump. He’s gross and divisive in my eyes. We’re never going to agree.

      Here’s a writing tip: when you write something important on the internet, don’t use ALL CAPS. It’s the single biggest indicator that you can’t make an eloquent point and you need to shout.

      Nobody listens to shouters.

      Thanks for reading my blog.

      #bigly

  9. What an incredibly biased piece and it continues with the divisiveness that is plaguing our country. Though not a Trump supporter, I do think it is my responsibility to at least give him a chance to do things right instead of writing him off before he starts in office. I didn’t vote for Obama but others did and I had to accept and move forward. We all should do the same for this President elect.

    • Yeah, Obama/Trump is a false comparison.

      Obama came into office wanting to give people healthcare. Whoa. Turns out, that wasn’t easy. Trump comes into office having said nasty and derisive things about minority communities he now plans to “represent.” He also comes into office having admitted to grabbing women by the pussy. His new chief advisor, Steve Bannon, was arrested for domestic violence and said horrible things about Jews. And they are doubling-down on asking Muslim Americans to register — like it’s 1942 all over again.

      Forgive my skepticism.

      (I can’t wait to be proven wrong?? That would be nice.)

      Thanks for reading my blog.

      #bigly

  10. What a narrow and limiting article. Trump wants to put people back to work. Remove restrictions so that pipelines can get built. I sit on a federal apprenticeship board in Ottawa. We recently listened to a representative from US (and Germany and Switzerland) apprenticeship, you have 10 times the population as Canada but only twice the apprenticeship numbers. What is with tolerating “Rape Malania” and “Assassinate Trump” language down in the States?

    • I love it when foreigners weigh in on my election. Yes, please, you and Putin can tell me how to run my country.

      Thanks for reading my blog, though. I mean it. I bet we agree on a lot of things. I want to put people back to work … but not in those crappy Trump jobs.

      #bigly

  11. Comment from Susan Christman:

    Your oped on “How Trump Will Fail” was sad, disappointing and leftis fear mongering. Do you realize they said the same thing about Bush, “he’s going to violate our bodies and make decisions for us.” That never happened and people who said this looked foolish. If you’re representing HR, you should consider a more positive response, hopeful, perhaps. Instead, you continue the hateful message which actually helped to get Trump elected. Don’t get me wrong, he was NOT my choice at all, yet I can remove the blinders and be honest about why so many of the American people voted for Trump. Also, if we can be open and honest here, Hillary too was an abhorrent choice for a presidential candidate. She has a very long history of scandals and deceiving the American people. Just her email scandal alone how she denied all of it, Comey came out and said just the opposite; Hillary continued her “I’m innocent of any wrong doing” narrative. So did we, the American people want a criminal elected as our first American female president? No, they were tired of the Clinton’s, and the dishonest media. Are you promoting someone who is still under FBI investigation for the pay to play while she was Secretary of State? Our government and our media is responsible for the awful choices we ended up as our next president. As uncomfortable I am with this decision, I will remain engaged with my right to fight for issues that are important to me and promote calm. I suggest you reflect on your message and how others will receive the ongoing message of doom & gloom. Respectfully, Susan Christman HRBP

    • Abortion access declined under GWB.

      But the good news is that access to birth control widened under Obama and teen pregnancies continue to drop.

      I’m actually pro-life in that I support people who are alive on this planet. And I’m not gloomy. I’ve got a little fight left in me. 😉

      Thanks for reading my blog.

      #bigly

    • Well, that’s too bad.

      I have some perspective, Arleene. I lived through 8 years of GW Bush — a president who wasn’t elected by a majority of Americans, didn’t have a mandate, blew 9/11, started two wars he couldn’t finish, and responded horribly to Hurricane Katrina.

      I’ll survive this presidency, too. So will this country. America is tough.

      I’ll miss you.

      #bigly

  13. I’ll be signing out of this as I don’t see you as having any credibility and from what I’ve read above, the majority of people don’t agree with you either. You continue to beat the drum about Trump but having given any balance to Hillary. So are we to assume you support for our country a pathological liar for the leader of our US of A? That’s pathetic, but you can do your one-sided blog. I have more positive things to do with my time and energy.
    Best

  14. Thanks for your opinion but it is only that… and is not the only one that matters. You lost a subscriber.

  15. Email from: Name: Debbie Mance

    Comment: I am highly offended by the slant and the content of your article. What if I am a Trump supporter and am Pro-Life? Should this not offend me? It seems to me that the liberal mind-set in this article does not encompass everyone’s views. You have condemned Trump before he has even started. I’m not sure what all of this has to do with “Human Resources” unless of course you assume that everyone holds the same view that you do. It seems more like politics rather than Human Resources.

    Your article does not give helpful advice to employers, it only continues to widen the gap. It really bugs me that those who are Pro-choice think that this is the only issue when those who are Pro-Life are condemned because they don’t want to continue to see the legal murder of babies and are criticized that they act as if this is the only issue.

    There will be a day that we stand before our Creator and account for not only our views toward life and His creation but also for our words.

    • On Hardball, Trump told Chris Matthews that there has to be consequences for women who get abortions. That’s over 30% of American women. That doesn’t feel like a compassionate, Christian response to me.

      And, although they’re just words, his words about women aren’t very Christian. And he said he loved war. How is that pro-life?

      So, yeah, I’m going to condemn his rhetoric and hope he proves me wrong.

      Thanks for writing.

      #Bigly

  16. I think you are biased against Trump….rather than predict failure you should get behind him like most Americans and support his efforts to improve this country. I am discontinuing my subscription to your emails…if this is an example of the trash you put out.
    I won’t waste my time reading your articles.

  17. I’m very disappointed you would have a writer (Laurie Ruettimanm) who expresses very biased and negative views such as this article Trump Will Fail on your site. She is singing the same negative song that the baised media which clearly alsogot the election wrong. She will be proven wrong in time too. This is supposed to be an HR news source. As HR professionals we should always remain objective and not takes sides like this. I am going to unsubscribe from your site and news correspondence.’

  18. Thank you for a thought provoking article. Action is always better than inaction and is helpful to anyone not satisfied with a situation. HR encompases many areas, one being the engagement of employees. If employees are disheartened with the outcome of the election, then giving them tools to engage outside work will positively impact them inside work. I agree with your sentiments. I will forward your post to several other HR folks who would benefit from your article. Thanks!

  19. This is a ridiculous blog. I don’t understand why Clinton supporters feel they have a right to continue to bash our president elect. Nobody wants to hear it as it is very selfish. Most HR professionals know that change means leaders need to help support change and move on and act like strong Americans. It is absolutely amazing to me this blog would be part of an HR read! This attitude is not how we as Americans will succeed. Honestly, you need to just stop all this as it is simply seen as self-promoting.
    I will also unsubscribe .

  20. In your opening paragraph you stated that “Nobody ever learns from the errors of the past.” Nobody? Ever? So, no one has ever learned from a mistake? Sorry, I think we all learn from our mistakes.
    Not sure how your biased article was supposed to help HR professionals.
    #unsubscribed

    • That’s good point and I’d love to talk more about it. This kind of discussion we’re having about failure? That would help HR professionals a lot. #bigly

  21. I’m disappointed that this became more of an opinion blog than a true professional resource for those practicing in Human Resources. Regardless of what side you are on politically this is not the platform to voice the personal opinion and incorporate your futuristic beliefs into the HR profession. I will be unsubscribing. There is enough bashing right now from every angle and at some point we need to put the differences behind us and give our President elect the opportunity and support. Because if this President fails then we all fail as a country and I don’t believe that any true American will want to see that happen.

  22. I appreciate that you gave us ideas on how to survive the next four years. Trump is already backing down on many of his campaign BS that he spouted off about during his campaign. He is nothing but a bully that thinks that if he pushes the hardest and lashes out at all people he will win in the end. He looks pretty nervous about what he has gotten himself into. The way to succeed in education is not a business model. You need to understand where the state of education is heading and teach kids with high expectations appropriate for their learning style. No Child Left Behind was also a joke. For those of us that did not want Trump we will deal but always nice to hear some strategies as many of the rights and choices we now enjoy will be dismantled.

  23. In your opening paragraph you stated that “Nobody ever learns from the errors of the past.” Nobody? Ever? So, no one has ever learned from a mistake? Sorry, I think we all learn from our mistakes.
    Not sure how your biased article was supposed to help HR professionals.
    #unsubscribed

  24. What are you doing to bring unification? You have a voice–use it to help and inspire rather than bring negativity. How would you like it if someone wrote an article called “How will Ruettimann Fail?” At best, you could skip the topic or choose to remain neutral. Seriously, how is this helpful to HR or to anyone, really?

    • I think it’s really interesting to see how rigid HR professionals can be. You know, more than half of the US electorate voted for someone else. If I feel this way, chances are that your employees feel this way. I hope you’re more inclusive at work then you are on my blog. #bigly

  25. Thanks for your post Laurie.
    How any HR person could have voted for Trump is beyond me. The tenants of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 are not just words on a paper to me, but deeply held belief or tolerance and inclusiveness. Trump built his campaign on hate speech and targeting minorities and women. This runs contrary to the laws that govern our work place (and the constitution) and should not be minimized. He also just appointed Steve Bannon as his chief strategist, who is known to have made discriminatory remarks against women, people of color and other non-Christian religions. He is a member of the white nationalist party. Appalling and dangerous to the Republic and our democracy. This is not a dress rehearsal folks…time to stand up against misogyny, in tolerance and hate. Speak up and protect the work place from these bigots.

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