Tighten your seat belts for a rough Trump ride
George W Bush was dubbed the imperialist president when America invaded Iraq. By using faulty intelligence in the overthrow Saddam Hussein, he was left with a broken Iraq which he had to own and rebuild, as his then Secretary of State, General Colin Powellhad warned him. Thus began a long period of urban guerilla warfare and the rebuilding of a country as an occupying force for which America was not prepared or suited.
Enter President Barack Obama, who was dubbed King George, the monarchical president, by his detractors. This unwelcome moniker was largely the result of the many executive orders which he had to issue, which many of his critics interpreted as governance by diktat. Given the obstruction he faced from the recalcitrant Republicans in Congress, and their lack of legislative support, his supporters argue that he had no choice but to govern in this way if he was to get anything done. He was accused of disobeying the law and some of his orders were subject to adjudication in the courts. Like George Bush before him, Obama was accused of stretching the boundaries of the presidency to dangerous levels. He was even dubbed the unconstitutional president.
Enter President-elect Donald Trump. On Friday, January 20, he became the 45th US president, thus becoming unarguably the most powerful person on Earth. No one knows for sure how he will govern, but there are strong suggestions that he will be a president unlike any in recent memory. In his inaugural address he waxed warm about his glorified concept of making America great again — read make America first again.
During his campaign for the presidency he questioned and even derided international alliances and treaties that America has carefully nurtured over the years, and which have served the global community well. All of this was done while he seemed to court the friendship of America’s erstwhile enemy, Russia. On this score he questioned data from his intelligence community, which was uniform in its denunciation of Russia’s attempt to influence the country’s presidential elections.
The picture he painted in his address was that of a strong and powerful America militarily and of the country’s willingness to go it alone. By doing this he sent shivers down the spine of his European and Pacific allies and caused consternation among countries like China and Japan as he sounded isolationist and seemed to defend a nationalism that would lock America away from the rest of the global community.
It is clear that when Trump rode into Washington he entered as a third party. He seems to regard himself as a party of one. He has no regard for the Democratic Party, which he lambastes for being responsible for all that ails America. He dispensed with any niceties or diplomacy that would be offered to former presidents, especially Bush and Obama sitting just a few feet from him. His speech also dripped with disdain for the Republicans whom he savaged in the campaign as being part of the corrupt Washington establishment. Unsurprisingly, many did not support his candidacy.
So, having no regard for both parties, Trump has become a party of one. He has shown himself to be someone who is not easily moved by the opinions of others. He does not need to be given daily intelligence briefings because he has more faith in his own instincts. He is committed to Twitter through which he can speak to millions of his followers without having to depend on the traditional media to get his word out. For good or ill, the country has already seen the dangers and possibilities of this approach.
Part of the danger of his Twitter obsession is his attempt to marginalise the traditional media, which he has described as dishonest. Like other political leaders before him who get uncomfortable with press comments that are unfavourable to them, Trump realises that the press is indeed his greatest obstacle to say or do as he pleases. This is emblematic of Putin’s behaviour in Russia, where his push against press freedom is well documented. Thus Trump demonises and harasses the press. There is even talk of “alternative facts” emanating from important members of his White House team. The de-legitimisation of the media seems to have become a psychological weapon of choice in the Trump Administration. But this strategy will not work and is destined to backfire “bigly”.
So if Bush was the imperialist and Obama the monarchist, expect Trump to be the anarchist, the one who follows no discipline other than his own, whose opinion is the most enlightened, and who knows what is best in any situation. By governing in this vein it will not be long before he stubs his toe against the legislative process in Congress and the judiciary. He will find the wisdom of the founding fathers in distributing power equally among three branches of government to be a humbug. He would then become, in my estimation, the president who will receive more overridden vetoes than any other.
I say this because, although Trump’s party controls Congress, he should not make the mistake to think that they will then be beholden or supportive of his every wish. Congress is not as monolithic certainly as Trump would want it to be. Congress is answerable to constituents that have become more demanding of good governance.
He will discover that he cannot conduct the government like he does his business empire. If he brings what appears to be a blend of narcissism and authoritarian he will meet opposition. And some of that opposition will come from members of his own Cabinet, such as Secretary of Defence General James Mattis. There will be those who will genuflect to Trump’s impulsivity. They will go along with anything that suits an ideological agenda.
You can expect chaos to be the result. He would have stretched the boundaries of the presidency to an extent that we have never seen it before. Many will panic and there will be polite and not too polite sighs of disbelief at his actions and utterances in office. Thus will be fulfilled the fear expressed by leading newspapers like The New York Times that he should not have become president. As far as one can see, America and the rest of the world is in for a rough Trump ride. Strap yourself down!
Dr Raulston Nembhard is a priest and social commentator. Send comments to the Observer orstead6655@aol.com.