The other week, I made my opinion clear that I think Donald Trump is the best candidate for bitcoin in the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Aaron responded and after reading it, I feel like he's still missing the bigger picture. Aaron's main points seem to be that Trump is simply using Bitcoiners for his votes and that he will not keep his promises.
While I partially agree with the first point, I disagree with the second. Contrary to what I've seen some Bitcoiners say online, I don't think Trump has to be a hardcore bitcoin maximalist and cypherpunk to be a great bitcoin president. Here's why.
Trump needs all the votes he can get. Of course, he will try to appeal to our voters, especially when most of us already have right-wing political views. It makes sense for the Republican Party to embrace liberty money, given that they now lean more toward liberty principles, while Democrats have become more authoritarian.
So voting for Trump is a win-win for everyone. It gets more votes (some in critical swing states) and we get a better environment for our industry. It seems like a good exchange to me.
And that brings me to something I disagree with Aaron about. I believe Trump will deliver on most, if not all, of the promises he made when it comes to bitcoin. Because, well, most of the promises he's made seem like relatively easy things to implement. Not that he is alone on the issue: there are now many pro-bitcoin senators and congressmen who hold him accountable.
There is Senator Cynthis Lummis, who wants to create a bitcoin strategic reserve (using btc already owned by the government). There is Congressman Tom Emmer, who already wants x.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1836820300316479778″>fire SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and appoint someone better for the industry. you can go to StandWithCrypto.com to see the rest.
If elected, Trump would have many other, possibly more important issues to address. The fact that their policies would give bitcoiners a friendly regulatory environment to build in, and prevent anti-bitcoin politicians from further attacking this industry, all without Trump meddling, sounds like the perfect storm for innovation.
The fact that he has done things like x.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1800682561376764195″>bring bitcoin miners to Mar-a-Lago to better understand the industry is enough evidence to prove this point.
I think many are overly critical of Trump because he said he was not a fan of bitcoin in 2019. But that was a long time ago and everything has changed since then. There's no point in hating people for approaching bitcoin after not being a fan of it. (However, I think it's fine to criticize the non-bitcoin initiatives that Trump has promoted, such as World Liberty Financial, but even that is not worth losing all the benefits of his presidency.)
So why would Trump release Ross now when he's already had a chance to finish his last term?
In politics, as in bitcoin, it's all about incentives, and the incentives here are aligned.
This article is a Carry. The opinions expressed are entirely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of btc Inc or bitcoin Magazine.
