The pivotal question we all face as President Donald J. Trump begins his second term is will America go on much as it always has been or will it be fundamentally different. The reason I was in a total funk, even before President-elect Trump’s rambling jingoist press conference in which he refused to rule out the use of military or economic coercion to force Panama to give up control of the canal and to push Denmark to sell us Greenland, was because I genuinely fear that an unfettered Donald Trump will abandon various baseline values that have been at the core of who we are as a nation.  I believe his actions will be devastating domestically to all but the very rich and a disaster internationally to all freedom loving people. Donald Trump has never shown a scintilla of concern about lifting the fortunes of the less fortunate or about encouraging democracy around the world. He is driven by transactional self-interest considerations.  Make no mistake about it.  Donald Trump will take a “top down” approach to the economy.  He will seek to further lift the fortunes of the very wealthy and our nation’s biggest corporations by fully embracing widely discredited supply-side, “trickle down” economics which subsidizes the wealthy at the expense of the working-class. “Trickle down” economics is an ideology based on the false premise that by putting more money in the pockets of the super rich through deregulation and tax cuts, they will, in turn, establish new industries and create jobs.  Unfortunately, history has shown that the rich, by and large, do not operate in that fashion.  It is the very reason that American workers desperately need the presence and protection of potent labor unions.  And why we desperately need rigorous enforcement of environmental laws to protect our water and air from unscrupulous corporations seeking to reduce costs by disposing of manufacturing residues in manners that are harmful to our health. All too often, corporations try to wring-out as much profit as they can at the expense of their employees.  Working people and the middle class struggle to make ends meet while corporate CEO salaries go through the roof, shareholder profits escalate and little is invested in requisite capital improvements. To close the budget deficit I fear President Trump will try to eliminate key elements of the social safety net, reduce spending for Social Security and Medicare and trim spending for Obama Care which has provided medical coverage to 40 million Americans. The tax cuts that President Trump so wants to continue are due to expire in 2025.  According to historian Heather Cox Richardson, these tax cut added almost $2 trillion to the budget deficit and  “delivered an average tax cut of $252,300 to households in the top 0.1%, $61,090 to households in the top 1%, but just $457 to the bottom 60% of American households. The corporate tax cuts were even more skewed to the wealthy.” Clearly, they will do little for average Americans. On an international level, I expect the Trump administration, more so than at any time our nation’s history, to pursue an “America First” philosophy with regard to most situations around the world.  Israel will be the exception to this rule because Evangelical Christians, a key element of Trump’s MAGA base, are zealous supporters of Israel. Under Trump, I see America as no longer being a “defender of democracy” around the world unless there are direct strategic interests involved, e.g., have a military presence because of an airbase or because the nation is a key supplier of a product crucial to our national defense.  I definitely could see the Trump administration making it clear to Ukraine that unless they cut a deal with Russia, America’s continued support will not be there. I think it likely that the U.S. will urge Ukraine to give up some previously held land to  Russia for a cessation of the war. Likewise, I could see the Trump administration making it clear to NATO that our continued commitment is contingent on all members of the organization contributing more than they are currently paying. Getting them to “pay-up” is the kind of short-term transactional victory that President Trump revels in. Operating in a more transactional fashion on the international scene, with less regard to morality and more based on self-interest, will send an indelible message to freedom seeking people throughout the world that you are on your own with regard to dealing with oppression. If I were a citizen of Taiwan I’d be concerned as to whether the People’s Republic of China will be emboldened. In a second Trump term, without as many institutional and human guard rails, the U.S. will show less concern for working-class Americans and will no longer be our “brother’s keeper” when it comes to aiding those seeking to overthrow the shackles of tyranny. America will be a dimmer shining city on the hill for all who are struggling. Irwin Stoolmacher is president of the Stoolmacher Consulting Group, a fundraising and strategic planning firm that works with nonprofit agencies that serve the truly needy among us.