Shameless or Getting There?

Donald Trump reminds me of Marmite and Vegemite. You know immediately whether you like it or hate it. There is no middle ground. Over the past months, it seems that every week the White House is the centre of a scandalous remark coming from the President. For those who dislike the man, this is more evidence of his inappropriateness for the job but his supporters love to see him take on people they perceive as the enemy.

American Presidents have a unique position in the political system. They are unlike Prime Ministers who habitually find themselves in the middle of a parliamentary punch up. Presidents are bound by separation of powers and often stand aloof of the legislature, letting Congressional allies do the dirty work, at least on the surface.

Over the years, there have been much beloved Presidents who, on occasion, could hardly string a sentence together. During Reagan’s second term, Alzheimers got to him and the Iran/Contras scandal could have ended his Presidency but the political will needed to remove him from office was not there, nor was the public in favour of change. The inarticulate George W Bush suffered from lack of vocabulary, although he spoke fluent Spanish, which endeared him to his Texan voters. Towards the end of his second term, Eisenhower suffered from serious ill health. His Cold War policies fell apart after the U2 spy flights were exposed. Khrushchev’s politicised an intended summit meeting by cancelling it, thereby damaging Ike’s legacy. But the American public stood by Ike.

Pretty well all the Presidents I have studied have brought a sense of dignity to the office, although almost all were known to have a rich range of bad language, invariably used in private. There were other peccadilloes they would not have wanted to be disclosed in the public arena. Ike, LBJ, Nixon and W Bush were known to swear habitually. FDR, Ike, JFK, LBJ and Clinton were womanisers, although Clinton was the only one to have his dirty linen washed in public.

Of all the Presidents in my lifetime, Barack Obama was arguably the most Presidential, although Truman ran him close. He conducted himself as a gentleman, taking the abuse hurled at him with all the dignity of his office. He turned a cheek to racial slurs. As his wife said, “when they go low, we go high.” Even if you disliked his domestic agenda and criticised his foreign policies, you could say little that was damaging about his curatorship of the Presidency.

And now we have Mr Trump, a self-proclaimed “pussy grabber” and a racist. Remember how he called Mexicans “rapists and murderers”. Recently, when Trump spoke of Haiti, Salvador and Africa, he allegedly called them shitholes of the world. There have been denials but his side of the story doesn’t hold up, in my view.

I have asked myself, why has he not called for the removal of the Statue of Liberty? On it is written, “Bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.” No doubt there are poor and tired Norweigans but it is unclear if Trump wants to attract them as immigrants or just any middle class whites. The Liberty statue does not differentiate between white and black.

I should say that in addition to racism and womanising Trump is a proven liar, a braggart, a bully and a coward. He appears to like confrontation but when he met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Mexican President Enrique Nieto, he hardly stood up to them. Her praised Xi for its good deals at America’s expense and Nieto rebuffed a call to pay for The Wall.  Trump is a poor politician. After one year in office, he can point at only one major piece of legislation, tax cuts, and a controversial one at that. At present, the government is looking at a shutdown after 20^th January unless a budget deal can be reached.

He has brought opprobrium and disgust to the office of the Presidency. In a global world, he fails to realise that America First will end with the rest of the world shunning America. What I dislike the worst is Trump’s equating everything with money. Too often, we hear “bad deal” and how other nations are screwing America, for example Pakistan who “give nothing in return.” Trump needs a Kissinger to explain the reality of international politics.

And yet, there are always two sides of a balance sheet. The DOW is at its highest ever. There has been a bull market for a year. How many Americans benefit is the question? Remove those who invest in their own company’s pension scheme, I doubt whether more than 10% of Americans are in the market. Less than 10% were invested in October 1929. Unemployment has stayed at 4%, a low number, and there are signs than there is an increase in labour in the manufacturing sector. According to a friend who moved to US many years ago, the economy is improving, jobs are being created and pay is increasing.  Withdrawing regulations on a large scale and the corporate tax relief are having an impact and Trump can take credit. Will Trump’s unconventional approach have a lasting impact on America and its relations with other countries?  Obama sought to change America and perhaps Trump was elected as a result of Obama’s failure to find support for his policies in middle-America. 

Assume, for the sake of argument, that everything I have written is correct. Does this mean Trump is not fit for office? I could list a string of assertions and allegations made by the media, administrators and politicians: his lack of attention span and the inability to concentrate or focus for any length of time, his volatile temper, his aggressiveness towards staff as well as other nations, his apparent laziness and his self-interest. However, I have neither seen nor read anything to suggest the 25th Amendment should be invoked. What about impeachment? Again, I have seen no evidence of treason, bribery or a high crime, at least not yet. Mueller may change this. But even if Mueller’s report is damning, would Trump’s Republican colleagues in cabinet and Congress turn on him? Currently, I doubt it but this is politics so logical rules don’t apply.

Trump’s methods to attempt changes in previously existing ways of both federal and international politics are full frontal compared to those of his immediate predecessors. If the majority of the people want to reject him and his shameless ways, will that herald a return to a leadership made up of professional politicians? Or will it bring a procession of unqualified TV personalities, reality stars and poseurs? Time will provide answers. I won’t guess.

 

PS. Tomorrow, we’ll know if the federal government has shut down. Mr. Trump is suggesting that if there is a shutdown, the armed forces will have to be laid off. What nonsense! For a while, the non-essential people only are laid off. I have a sneaking feeling that the President will welcome a shutdown because it will enable him to fire a lot of people. Oh, what a tangled web.