President Trump's First Year Gerry O'Shea
In Michael Wolff's recent acclaimed book "Fire and
Fury" the author asserts that a sense of chaos and confusion pervades the Trump White House.
He writes that mayhem and
disorganization prevail in the Oval Office where the leader of the
western world makes the big and important decisions.
Wolff compares the
President's rants and rambling tweets to the sophomoric utterances of a needy
teenager. Important decisions are made based on the advice of the last person
who has his ear, and he may well change his mind peremptorily on any issue.
President Trump also has a
major problem with credibility. The Washington Post identified over two
thousand times that the president told untruths since assuming office. So,
statements or promises from the White House are viewed skeptically, even by
members of his own party. Shakespeare's words in "Macbeth" convey
this sense of confusion and disarray: "Nothing is but what is not."
Mr. Trump's response to his
negative news coverage points a finger
of blame at all the major media outlets - except Fox News - accusing them of
"fake news," a cynical expression, which has come into vogue in the
Trump era, meaning any media report that portrays him in a poor light.
The president used the epithet "enemy of
the people" to characterize the free press in America. Surely some of his
advisers must have cautioned him that these toxic words are the jargon used by
populist dictators and tyrants, of the right and left, all over the world, during
the last hundred years.
The Mueller investigation
into ties between Putin's Russia and the Republican campaign during the
presidential election is now delving into
the financial arrangements between the Trump organization and various
Russian banks. Money laundering is being frequently mentioned. Many believe
that Mr. Mueller's final report will lead to impeachment proceedings. Mr.
Trump's frequent and adamant denials
about any collusion with Russia invite comparison with Queen Gertrude in "Hamlet:" "Methinks
the lady doth protest too much."
In abandoning the Paris
Accord, an international agreement designed to protect the environment, the
Trump Administration revealed its dismissal of global warming as a serious
threat to humanity. They have also approved drilling on federal lands by oil, gas, coal and uranium interests, and
most of the waters in the continental
shelf - right along the coast - are now open for exploration. The damage being
done to the environment by these radical policies is mostly not reversible.
The dramatic change in this
vital area from the Obama years could cost Republicans dearly in the November
congressional elections and beyond. The current extreme anti-science Trump
policies are being widely rejected by parents and grandparents who, with good
reason, worry about passing on a healthy
environment for their children and grandchildren. Trump's disgraceful
abandonment of the Paris Accord was surely one of his biggest errors last year.
The President's America First
agenda has alienated all the major NATO countries. It is significant that he
cancelled a trip to London recently because of planned serious anti-Trump
protests there.
His hostile anti-Muslim rhetoric and
immigration rules immensely complicates our relationship with the millions of
American citizens who profess that faith. Since 9/11 there have been about
200,000 homicides in the United States; less than 100 of these killings were
committed by Muslims.
Trump uses denigrating name-calling in his dealings
with the volatile North Korean dictator. His puerile boast that his nuclear
button is more powerful than Kim's button infantilizes a deadly serious
situation and leaves people wondering what catastrophe is looming in the Korean
Peninsula. No wonder his frustrated Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, called
his boss a moron.
Most psychologists agree that
the line between normal and abnormal behavior can be settled by determining a
person's contact with reality. What reality is the President living with as he
lies his way from day to day?
The adage that "it is
the economy stupid!" doesn't seem to apply to Mr. Trump. Employment is
very strong; wages are edging up; and
the stock market is flying. The traditional political wisdom would suggest that
the man in the White House would have the wind at his back and high approval
ratings, but all the polls say that
Trump gets by far the lowest satisfactory performance assessment of any modern
president.
President Trump faces a very
challenging year ahead, especially in
two areas. The Mueller investigation will continue looking hard at the White
House for proof of obstruction of
justice and money laundering. And Kim Jong-un has no intention of abandoning
his nuclear program. There is no military solution to this crisis, but the
President's belligerent language suggests that he thinks he can prevail in a
shooting war against Pyongyang.
Unfortunately, there is little in his record
from 2017 to suggest that he has either the maturity or the gravitas to deal
with Robert Mueller or Kim Jong-un in 2018.
Gerry O'Shea blogs at
wemustbetalking.com
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