No, we will look today at how President-elect Trump will direct his efforts at infrastructure backwards at the 20th century, or 19th, rather than investing in what this country will need for the future.

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Start with chief ‘strategist’ Stephen K. Bannon’s odd promise to rebuild “shipyards” and “iron works.” Shipyards suggest nothing but globalization(!), but iron works? What can that even mean? Wrought iron railings? More likely leg shackles and prison bars for opponents, such as editorial cartoonists. And then the further Bannon promise to just “throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks.”

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Throw it up against the wall and see if it sticks. Now there’s strategizing for you. But why would you analyze actual future needs when you have just written yourself a $1 trillion check and are looking for supporters to hand it over to? Especially when considering future needs will just lead you to inescapable realities like we NEED TO BE TRANSITIONING TO CARBON-FREE ENERGY. That just won’t do. It conflicts with ideology, which is another way of saying it conflicts with the financial interests of Trump backers.

Another aspect of the future that they won’t think about, but ought to, is the fact that transportation is already beginning a massive transition to driverless vehicles. Might this have a bearing on what we build? Who cares? The Trump administration sure won’t.

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What will they care about instead? That’s easy. And here is what to watch for throughout the Trump administration. Trump and his team will use their time and efforts in office to build a public-private partnership, all right, but it won’t be about infrastructure needs. It will be a web of interconnecting interests that extend and solidify the Trump family’s position of wealth and power. Just a guess! But it’s an analytical foundation you can watch to see if that’s what Trump constructs his administration on.