Donald Trump, the upbeat, can-do dealer-wheeler is discovering that being president of the most influential nation on earth isn’t all that it is cracked up to be, judging by his petulant demeanour and frenzied angry tweets. If he’s as depressed as he comes across, who can blame him! He gave up his carefree lifestyle as king of a profitable business empire to seek a lofty place in history only to be thwarted and ridiculed.
Never before has a president of the United States made so many enemies. Never before has a president been embroiled in so many simmering scandals or been obliged to deflect such a torrent of damaging allegations. Can he survive a year in the Oval Office, let alone four, without support from the public, the media, the judiciary, intelligence services and lawmakers in Congress?
Countrywide, Trump’s approval rating is plummeting. A recent NBC poll puts his job approval rating at 42 per cent; a Gallop poll puts it at 35 per cent — a historical low during a president’s honeymoon period. For a man with such a giant ego, someone with an inherent need to be adored, those low percentages must be gut-wrenching.
A Newsweek headline reads ‘Would Trump get ugly to salvage his popularity, Noam Chomsky thinks so’. The article quotes the darling of the left Professor Chomsky likening Trump’s policies to “a wrecking ball”. He fears that the White House might scapegoat terrorists, Muslims, immigrants or elitists to cover his own failings. “We shouldn’t put aside the possibility that there would be some kind of staged or alleged terrorist act, which can change the country instantly,” he warned.
‘On brink of free fall...’
An actual terrorist attack did improve the fortunes of President George W. Bush, whose approval rating prior to the September 11 attacks hovered around the 51 per cent mark, soaring to 90 per cent in the aftermath. Trump, however, is in no position to concoct an attack even if he were so disposed because his legions of high-placed adversaries, including whistle-blowers embedded in the White House, would line up to expose it. Michael Gerson, George W. Bush’s former speechwriter, has characterised America’s commander-in-chief as empty, easily distracted, vindictive, shallow, impatient, incompetent and morally small”, adding, “This is a presidency on the brink of free-fall...”
It certainly looks that way unless Mr Trump’s off-the-wall behaviours and unsubstantiated assertions can be reined-in
Trump’s sulky refusal to shake hands with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a photo shoot was as bizarre; his inference that Merkel and he had something in common because they had both been wiretapped by Obama, even more so.
His storming out of a White House room without signing executive orders when asked by reporters about an offer from his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to testify before Congress on the Russian connection illustrates that vulnerabilities lurk under his tough exterior. Flynn’s lawyer says Flynn “certainly has a story to tell” provided he receives immunity from prosecution to protect himself from “a witch hunt”.
Trump has learnt to his annoyance that courts are a nuisance and Congress — even when Republican-dominated — does not exist to do the bidding of the executive branch. House Speaker Paul Ryan whipped Republicans to repeal and replace Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) — the piece de resistance of Trump’s campaign — only to come up short because the party itself is divided.
The president shrugged off that blow, promising to work on tax reform, but can he move on while both House and Senate intelligence committees are investigating potential links between Russia and individuals associated with his campaign. In the eyes of his cultish ‘America First’ following, he can do no wrong, but growing numbers of Americans are appalled to see undocumented migrants with no criminal record being torn from their spouses and children. Others are dismayed over his unravelling of Obama’s environmental policies, his revision of the Clean Water Rule, his signing of a bill that deprives employees of their right to safety and his efforts to defund Planned Parenthood. His cuts to social welfare programmes could see the end to Meals on Wheels, a lifeline to seniors and the disabled.
Nepotism claims
His appointment of his son-in-law Jared Kushner as a senior adviser tasked with reviving the Israel-Palestine peace process raised eyebrows. But now that the First Daughter Ivanka has been hired as an unpaid employee to serve as a senior White House adviser, the administration is facing accusations of nepotism. Critics also accused him of profiting from his status after the golf course at his luxurious Palm Beach resort Mar-a-Lago doubled its initial membership fees to $200,000 (Dh734,600) and the Trump brand announced it was mulling opening another hotel in Washington.
My advice to the US president, provided he’s able to ride the swirling storms, is this: Be moderate! Be dignified! Close your Twitter account. Quit spouting paranoid theories. Send conspiracy nut Steve Bannon back to Breitbart. Stop pandering to the wackier elements of your base and your party. Be a president for all Americans and show world leaders that unless the well-being of our planet comes first, America will never be great.
Linda S. Heard is an award-winning British political columnist and guest television commentator with a focus on the Middle East.