What a Difference a Year Makes--or Does It?

Saturday marked one year since President Donald Trump's inauguration.  My first thought was "are you sure it hasn't been three years?"  The second thought was "How would this year have been any different had Hillary Clinton won in 2016?"

Certainly, our political discourse would have been very different.  No late night Twitter rants, fewer fumbling statements about national and world issues and certainly a lot fewer golf trips would have made news the past 12-months.  But when you look at the major events the last year, I can't really see how anything would have happened differently.

If Hillary had won, would there have been no hurricanes last fall?  Would there have been just one or two storms instead of three?  Would they have somehow missed Houston, Florida and Puerto Rico?  And under a Clinton presidency, would there have somehow been more electrical restoration equipment just sitting around waiting to be transported to the island on cargo ships that we don't have right now?

Had Clinton won, would North Korea have fired off fewer missiles and set off fewer nuclear tests?  Yes, we would have had far less rhetoric between the two countries, but there was no sign from Kim Jong Il that they would have put a halt to their nuclear program just because Donald Trump didn't win the election.

Would there have been no California wildfires and mudslides if Hillary was President?  Did the Hawaiian Emergency Management worker set off the false missle alarm only because Trump was President?  Would all of the NFL players stood with their hands over their hearts and sing along to the National Anthem if there was a Democrat in the White House?  Would Aaron Rodgers not have broken his collarbone?

One thing that would not have happened if Hillary Clinton had won in 2016 is the "Me Too" and "Time's Up" movements.  Let's not forget that Harvey Weinstein was a major fundraiser for the Clinton political machine.  He would have been needed for a Hillary 2020 re-election campaign had she won.  But with her loss, he became expendable--and the decades of abuse that had been tolerated under the excuse of "Well, he's helping the Democratic cause" was made public.  Just think, If Hillary had won, Al Franken would still be in the Senate--and Alabama's special election would never have happened.

But most importantly, the average American's life would be in no way any different.  You'd likely be working at the same job and making about the same rate of pay.  Maybe you would be a little less annoyed by political coverage in the media and a little less entertained by the late night comedy shows.  If this year has proven anything, it's that no matter who sits in the White House, their control over your life is minimal--despite what all the talking heads and the other politicians might have you believe.