If I told you I hadn’t experience shock and fear over the election of Donald Trump last week I would be lying. I have written a few gloomy articles on the topic and I suspect there are many more to be posted over the coming years. Today I wanted to look at one possible bright consequence of Trump’s election.

When the seventeen passenger clown car that was the 2016 Republican presidential field hit the road I like most Democrats feared a President Ted Cruz the most. Fortunately if the GOP establishment had listed their preferences in reverse order Cruz’s name would have been at the top of the list. Even though they used him in a failed stop Trump effort, perhaps the energy expended on stopping him helped Trump eventually triumph; they succeeded in preventing Cruz from being their nominee. For stopping Cruz the nation owes the GOP its eternal gratitude; for nominating Trump its condemnation.

Cruz is an ideologue who will sink with the ship before he will compromise. Democrats, (and I think more than a few Republicans), felt that while both were crazy at least Trump could be bought off. Negotiating with a controllable crook is better than trying to deal with a loose cannon. Trump is obsessed with his image and his personal fortune. Especially the latter provides an opening.

Progressives have been asking for a huge federal infrastructure program since the Great Recession. It is undoubtedly a great economic remedy for an economic recession. The timing was right because there was an abundance of labor and machinery at the same time that interest rates (particularly those paid by the federal government) were sitting at historic lows. Obama wanted it but the Republican Congress didn’t want to do anything that might make him look successful.

In January we will have a Republican majority in both chambers of Congress and a Republican (at least in name) President. The Republicans will be on the spot to produce something economically. Politically savvy Republicans (i.e. Mitch McConnell) will be very aware that voters will turn on them in 2018 and/or 2020 if they don’t get something they perceive as a piece of the pie. If they need to supplement the Republicans they can keep in line with Democrats that should be no problem. All they will need is the President’s signature.

Trump should go along with it for three reasons. First, it will be good for the country. That is irrelevant to The Donald so scratch that one. Second, it would be good for him politically since some of the jobs will go to Bubba. That may not matter because many feel he won’t even run again in 2020. The third reason is the charm. Trump can make money off it.

Trump is in the construction business and infrastructure entails massive construction spending. He refuses to place his assets in a legitimate blind trust so he can easily direct millions of dollars’ worth of contracts to concerns he owns and/or profits from. Other goods and services (i.e. insurance) are needed in projects like this. That money can also be directed to Republican financiers.

Call me cynical but doesn’t this scenario sound plausible to you? Trump won’t care about spending the government’s money as long as he gets a generous piece of it.

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