Tomorrow's inauguration of our 45th President of the United States is on my mind like it is, of course, the minds of many people. My thinking has been the same since the election in November. A pragmatic perspective is from where I come.
That perspective was put to the test on election day and ever since.
I was in Europe on an economic development recruitment mission during the week of the November election. In fact, I was in Milan heading to Berlin when the election was called for Donald Trump.
As you would expect, the Presidential Election was a dominate side topic in the business meetings in Europe. At one meeting with an executive for a major financial services organization in Southern Germany, our contingent was asked to share our perspective on the previous day's election. I chimed in first.
It was not a time to give a partisan perspective. What would someone in Germany care for that?
It wasn't time for a negative perspective either. What would that serve?
So, I gave my pragmatic one.
I said that I believe time will show that a Trump presidency will be good for manufacturing and better for the Midwestern U.S. in general. I shared that one consistent thing that every first-term president has ever wanted is to get re-elected. Thus, the region that helped vote him in is important to him in the future--the Midwest matters to a Trump presidency.
The exec's response? "So yours is a not so pessimistic perspective."
Mission accomplished.
And I believe it.
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