Donald Trump seems to be a teflon president. Less than half the nation’s popular support is enough to keep his travesties alive. But many think his teflon protection could not withstand recession.

Our journal has been editing the proceedings of a roundtable we held on how higher ed dealt with the Great Recession of 2008 and is preparing for the next one.

The discussion touched partly on when the next recession would come and whether it would be 2008-magnitude or “garden variety” (not that any recession can be diminished that way for those dragged down by it).

Having just published a piece on how school shootings are creating a generation of traumatized college students, I was especially struck by one roundtable panelist’s comment about trauma and recession.

“Kids who were watching their families go through the last recession may bring a separate set of anxieties with them if there’s another recession,” said Susan Whealler Johnston, president of the National Association of College and University Business Officers. “They may dial back what they think they can do even if the circumstances don’t require it.”

All the recession talk also brings me back to this 1974 Time magazine cover from my childhood. Before I knew Time was the mainstreamed righty news. A few months before that issue of Time appeared (cover price, 60 cents btw), a president, who also seemed teflon for a time, had been run from office.