The good, the bad, and the ugly: 3 possible outcomes of a Trump presidency

Best-case scenario? A hands-off president. Worst-case scenario? Things could get very ugly.

Who will he be?
(Image credit: Composite Image | Images courtesy AP Photo/Seth Wenig, AP Photo/Mike Groll, Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Donald Trump is officially the president of the United States. Now that it's finally said and done, let's try to figure out what a Trump administration might actually mean.

Of course, this is harder than it looks, because Trump's personal style makes him unpredictable — and he likes it that way. According to the writer and Cold War-era spy Vladimir Volkoff, when the KGB planned a clandestine operation, the person in charge would have to write three memos to the higher ups: one outlining the probable case scenario, one for the best-case scenario, and one for the worst-case scenario. Using KGB methodology to ascertain a Trump administration seems somehow fitting, so let's try to do that. We'll call it: The good, the bad, and the ugly.

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Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry is a writer and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His writing has appeared at Forbes, The Atlantic, First Things, Commentary Magazine, The Daily Beast, The Federalist, Quartz, and other places. He lives in Paris with his beloved wife and daughter.