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New Orleans   Pinch yourself and snap out of it. The day has finally come no matter how much you lived in dread and denial. By noon, Donald J. Trump will be President, and Barack Obama will be out on the street like the rest of us. There’s no place to hide, the disruption has begun.

It may not be business as usual, but believe me, it’s going to be big business all the time. Of course it starts with Trump landing with his entourage in Washington, DC and hurrying off to party, of course he does so at his own new 236-room luxury hotel that many have noted will be a constant ethical millstone around his neck. Not that he will notice or particularly care, mind you, since he will just bluster and bluff over any niggling from the media or ethics lawyers.

Big business and their minions know how to make a deal with Trump. They may have held their nose up in the air during the campaign, and many withheld their contributions including brand name mainstays that usually funded the Republican conventions in the past for example. In a transactional town with a transactional Trump, they got with the program quickly. For the Inauguration, businesses, along with other favor seekers, ponied up $90 million, more than double the amount tallied for Obama’s last inaugural. If you didn’t buy early, you can always buy a piece of Trump later. For example for $500,000, they would get to attend a special access, candlelight dinner with Trump and his wife.

“You get what you pay for” is going to be the new motto for America now and will soon replace “in God we trust” on the dollar bill.

Of course every verse is the same as his first. Trump claimed that the concert in front of the Lincoln Statue was unique, while the papers had to point out that it was a common location. Trump claims the crowds coming in are going to be the largest ever, while estimates put the expected numbers in the medium range. In fact, the Women’s March on Washington the following day has now swollen to an estimated 400,000, double the original numbers, and of course not counting the likely millions that will be stepping in their own cities and states around the country. A road report I received from one of the first stops on the New Jersey Turnpike before inaugural day, said it was jam packed with young people already in route to DC.

We need to brace ourselves. As Trump has proven repeatedly to date, this is going to be a ready-or-not kind of affair. In a last minute move, fifty Obama top appointees, including an interim Secretary of State, were approved since only two Trump appointees have made muster through Congress. Of 660 executive appointments being tracked by an independent nonprofit, Trump has named only 29.

Here comes our future. He can’t be fired, and we have to focus on how to survive. Business has already learned how to buy-in, while the rest of us are hoping for a discount or a layaway.

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Please enjoy Easy Target by John Mellencamp.

Thanks to KABF.