President Trump – At Home and Abroad

Published date01 April 2017
Date01 April 2017
DOI10.1177/2041905817702731
AuthorJon-Christopher Bua
14 POLITICAL INSIGHT APRIL 2017
On November 8 2016, American
voters headed to the polls to
vote for President of the United
States. For many voters this was
the most dif‌f‌icult political decision of their
lifetime – a choice between two candidates
with historically low popularity ratings – Hillary
Clinton, the Democratic nominee and Donald
Trump, the Republican standard bearer.
Both candidates were f‌lawed for dif‌ferent
reasons. So in essence this was a political
contest more about enthusiasm and an ability
to connect with the voters than it was a test
of leadership capability. Donald Trump def‌ied
all odds in large part because he tapped into
a group of deeply disenfranchised voters who
had been ignored by both the Democratic
and Republican parties alike for decades.
These voters were less educated, more ‘white’
and from states where US trade policies and
globalisation had taken a toll on people's
ability to earn an income for decades causing
their communities to all but collapse.
Hillary Clinton out performed Barack Obama
in areas where voters were more educated and
had a medium income and she signif‌icantly
under-performed Obama in areas where
voters were less educated and earned less.
These were the Trump voters... And he spoke
to them and connected with them like no
Democratic or Republican candidate had in a
very long time.
Although it did not seem so at the time,
Trump and his team had excellent instincts
which enabled him to pinpoint the key swing
states where Trump should go to swing the
Electoral College vote in his favour... And he won.
What does Trump mean for America?
From the day of his Inauguration, Donald
Trump has chosen to govern as if no one other
than his supporters matter. Where many had
hoped his victory and the great weight of the
Presidency would change Donald Trump into
a statesman, so far it has not.
From the words of his inaugural address
to his actions to date, President Trump has
governed as if he had an overwhelming
electoral mandate. From the numbers it
is clear he did not; the country is almost
evenly divided.
After one of the most divisive elections in
modern times which literally pitted family
members against one another, President
Trump has made no gesture of outreach to
the millions of people who voted against him
and his agenda. Instead, Trump continues to
re-litigate the election results over and over
again in an attempt to recast his victory as an
overwhelming one to support the dramatic
changes he is making in US policy.
President Trump is intent on delivering all
of his campaign promises to his voter base
no matter what the consequences. He means
and does what he says, this is no longer just
political hyperbole.
Most Presidents are closely watched for
their actions during their f‌irst 100 days. At the
time of writing, Trump the unconventional
candidate has remained the unconventional
President. Indeed President Trump has been
hard to keep up with as he adjusts to his new
job. He has been a challenge to cover.
His f‌irst f‌ive major press conferences in the
East Room of the White House featured four
with world leaders: Theresa May, Japanese
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Canadian Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau and Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In one solo press
conference he assailed the White House Press
Corps for their ‘fake news agenda’. Meanwhile
he appointed key members of his White House
Staf‌f, had 17 Cabinet Nominees conf‌irmed,
f‌ired his National Security Advisor General
Michael Flynn and appointed a replacement,
and lost a Cabinet Nominee as Labor Secretary.
The Campaigner-in-Chief has also gone back
on the campaign trail, undoubtedly to escape
Washington, with one year to the US mid-term
elections and a little less than four years until
the next presidential election.
President Trump also named a Supreme
Court Nominee and signed 23 executive orders
within his opening weeks. These actions had
little or no input from the leaders in Congress.
In his f‌irst month he began the process of
repealing Obamacare; stopped the Trans
Pacif‌ic Partnership; approved the Keystone XL
Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline; and
authorised the US-Mexico Border Wall.
Trump in the world
Most striking, of course, was the 120-day
suspension of the refugee programme and a
90-day ban on travel to the US from citizens
of seven predominately Muslim Nations –
Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia and
Sudan. He also began mass arrests of ‘illegal
immigrants’ for deportation.
Now from a domestic standpoint this is
bad news for the Democratic minorities in the
House of Representatives and the Senate since
with their dwindled numbers, they have no
real way to stop him. Democrats in Congress
can show their opposition but except for
legislation which requires a 60-vote majority
they have no real power.
However, this may also be bad news for
Republicans in the House of Representatives
and Senate as well. The Trump Administration’s
plans may cause the Republicans to break
their long standing promises to their
constituents not to raise the national debt and
President Trump –
At Home and Abroad
Donald Trump pledged to ‘Make America Great Again. The new President also seems intent on changing
the US’s role on the world stage – with potentially seismic repercussions for the entire globe.
Jon-Christopher Bua reports.

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT