J. David Cox Sr., president of the American Federation of Government Employees. (Photo by Keith Mellnick)

What a difference a victory makes.

Before Donald Trump’s win last month, American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) President J. David Cox Sr. was a fierce critic.

Trump’s federal pay freeze proposal “is more evidence that he is unprepared and unfit to be the next president of the United States,” Cox said in October. “He has no clue how critical public servants are to caring for our veterans, protecting our communities, ensuring hard-earned benefits are delivered, supporting our Armed Forces, and much more.”

“Donald Trump would run the country like he has run Trump Enterprises,” Cox said in September, “shortchanging working people, failing to honor his agreements, and putting his own self-interest ahead of everything else.”

“Donald Trump embarrasses some of even the most right wing Republicans … precisely because he IS (original emphasis) the modern-day GOP stripped of its dog whistles and taken to its logical extreme,” Cox said in July.

On the possibility of any Republican primary candidate winning the White House, “God help us all,” Cox said in February. “This country will be in a serious, serious situation.”

Trump did win, but now the situation doesn’t seem so dire to a more sanguine Cox, who hosted a year-end luncheon meeting with reporters Wednesday.

Taking the Trump victory in stride, Cox, a strong supporter of Democrat Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, said his general view is “we have been here and done this over and over.”

Rather than the calamity someone who is “unprepared and unfit” might bring to the White House, the leader of the nation’s largest federal union now describes a Trump presidency in terms that sound more akin to a nuisance that happens every few years.

There are “ups and downs,” Cox said, discussing changes in political parties. “I’ve been on this merry-go-round before. This union has been on this merry-go-round before … We’re still going to have a federal government. We’re still going to have federal employees.”

On that point, there’s the question of how many federal employees there will be under Trump, who has called for a hiring freeze within his first 100 days in office.

Cox isn’t worried.

He predicted a freeze would generate “an outcry from the American public” because government services would suffer. “We’ve seen those tactics used before, but they do not work very well.”