Fundamental challenges in Trumpworld

When United States President-elect Donald Trump declared in one of his foreign policy speeches that “we will no longer surrender this country, or its people, to the false song of globalism”, he must have sent shivers down so many politicians’ spines around the world.

In Europe, where populist and right-wing politics are currently on the rise, leading Right leaders have welcomed his election. France’s far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen and founder and former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, Nigel Farage, were among the first to congratulate Trump on his victory. This year, general elections in Germany, France, the Netherlands and Italy could ultimately determine European Union’s (EU) future and decide whether the bloc will be able to face up to the populist and neo-nationalist wave dangerously sweeping Europe as well as the US.

Many leading politicians in Europe, particularly in France and Germany, are seriously worried about the inward-looking US president-elect and his intention to reconsider America’s long and strategic relations with its allies in the EU and Nato. Trump has already stated that his administration will put the UK at the front of the queue, following the referendum to pull out from the EU. Based on his past statements, Trump is clearly no supporter of European integration and prefers to deal with Europe on a state-to-state basis.

US allies in Europe, Middle East, Asia and the world at large are anxiously waiting for January 20 to see how far the new resident in White House will go in fulfilling the promises made during the presidential campaign. The fear is understandably common among these regions that two or four years from now, they may look back at Trump’s inauguration as the most significant historic event of the 21st century.

Trump considers the views of Russian president Vladimir Putin of himself as an “asset”, as he stated in his first press conference on Wednesday since being elected on November 8. Putin is well-known for his long support of nationalist movements in Europe to destabilise the EU. His policy against Russia’s neighbours — the three small Baltic states — is an open secret. If the Trump administration is to support, or merely ignore, Russia’s destabilising role in Europe and the Middle East, he will subject the world to unprecedented challenges.

But, will he?

The next few weeks and months will determine how Trump’s leadership will impact the world. Everything he says and does will be thoroughly under scrutiny from now on. However, the new president may not survive the findings of the expected close examination of his past and present life and his murky background.

This revelation and whatever else might be uncovered in the future, will not necessarily be sufficient to impeach or indict Trump. Former US president Bill Clinton, for instance, survived the scandal involving White House intern Monica Lewinsky and remarkably completed his two-term presidency uninterrupted.

Trump’s case is totally different and incomparable to Clinton’s. There is too much about him and his past as a businessman. Many have begun questioning his life, his lifestyle and his business practices etc and whether he’ll survive the scrutiny. Trump’s past and present life as well as his business style are already item number one for scrutiny among journalists in America and perhaps the world over, attempting to bring out various aspects of the new president’s life hitherto unknown to the public.

Former president Ronald Reagan, with his Hollywood history, faced some challenges coming from many American media companies after his election in 1981, but he was able to professionally handle all attempts to undermine him. Reagan, after all, was — unlike Trump — an experienced politician before he entered the White House. He was California’s governor for two terms and actively spent many years inside the Republican Party. Trump is not even a Republican and he entered the presidential race as an outsider before he was adopted by his party. He, in a nutshell, is not the leader of a supportive party. At one point and not too long ago, he practically put money into Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Furthermore, and unlike US President Barack Obama, who plainly had presidential ambitions most of his life, Trump, the business billionaire, has never been a professional politician. Many leading television debating programmes in UK and Europe have already started questioning whether Trump ‘is fit to preside’ over the highest office in the world.

It seems that some of his top nominees for key Cabinet posts in his incoming administration are in disagreement with Trump on important policy issues such as Nato and Russia. In their Senate confirmation hearings, defence secretary nominee General James Mattis warned that Nato was under its biggest attack since the Second World War. Nominee for the top CIA job, Mike Pompeo, said Russia posed a serious threat to Europe and was “asserting itself aggressively” in Ukraine. Trump, on the other hand, seems to be calling for a warmer approach to Moscow.

Mustapha Karkouti is a former president of the Foreign Press Association, London. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@mustaphatashe.