A plan to manage the new US president
US President Donald Trump is now a reality we have to deal with. It is indeed troubling to have a man of such mental status leading the most powerful office on Earth. The filmmaker Michael Moore was right to send a letter to Ivanka Trump during the election urging her to intervene as “your dad isn’t well”.
The best way to handle this delicate situation is to distract him as one of his weaknesses is that he can easily be distracted – we have seen this time and again. When we confront a large angry bear trying to attack, the best way to avoid harm is to distract him. We can use the same way to distract this bully.
We can engage him on Twitter and have him stay all night responding to different threads until he falls asleep. As he has demonstrated throughout the campaign, he has a thin skin and can’t help himself from commenting and replying back.
It is the best way to mitigate the situation until the four years come to an end without having him consider doing something crazy. May God save us all.
From Mr Abubakar N. Kasim
Toronto, Canada
What the people want
Knowingly or unknowingly some mistakes were made by former US President Barack Obama’s administration. The Republican candidate won the presidential race for the White House for this real reason mainly. Apart from the promises made by Trump for the people’s welfare, immigration issues and people’s security for jobs are the contributing factors for winning the race. Will he keep up his promises and make Americans happy? We will have to wait and see watching his external affairs strategy.
From Mr K. Ragavan
Bengaluru, India
An expected outcome
I don’t think that it was race that brought about Trump’s presidency (‘Was it race really that helped Trump win?’, Gulf News, January 18). Structural pressures, which frequently stems from economic difficulties have driven a lot of people to vote for Trump. He is a chaotic candidate and his human nature responds to pressure in ways that are not entirely predictable, but are also not totally random.
A lot of people in the US see few opportunities ahead of them, millions of citizens think the nation is headed for financial difficulties. They feel threatened by radical Islamic terrorism. They sense cultural and social instability, they know that expression of these worries can be a thought crime – hounded down by politicians and media. They believe that the previous government caused their suffering.
Therefore, to them Trump is worth the risk, even if the risk breaks the current system. How could so many experts and strategists have misread the sentiments of the US public? Shock is a natural reaction to changes that jolt us from our comfort zones and conventional wisdom. He is unconventional and yet has a talent to make connection with his supporters.
Given the global nature of the world, no country or individual has flourished in isolation. It will be interesting to see the success rate of his presidency. We will see if he will continue to be as unpredictable, unconventional and have an extreme personality. It’s rare for a president, so maybe he will assume a more subtle, diplomatic approach.
From Ms Shivani Singh
UAE
No surprise
There are a lot of reasons for why race made Trump a success. Basically, the West has become a very outgoing and prejudiced place, which they label as liberal. In reality they are an anti-Islam/Muslims society and he fits in quite well. Naturally, being a good businessman he can boost the economy of his country, so the people would be keen to try him this time. Plus, the previous president has already run two tenures, so there ought to be a change.
Keeping in mind the attitude of the West towards Muslims, this isn’t a surprise.
From Ms Khan
UAE
Far reaching impact
The political analysts of the coming decades are going to scratch their heads in analysing the voter’s psyche when they voted Trump to be the most powerful person in the world. The voters were either naive, innocent, unrealistically optimistic or indifferent about this subject. It’s bizarre to say the least.
As Trump has come into office, now that he has spread waves of panic across the world through his sporadic outbursts ever since he has been elected, the world is anxious about the future. The numbers of protesters that were determined to disrupt his inaugural address swelled at an alarming rate. That is likely to make him wilder in his outlook.
It does not augur well for the world to have a person in a position of power whose thoughts are not mature, balanced and controlled. His abrupt and haphazard actions could have far reaching impacts on political, economic and social fabric of the world. The global powers are most likely to re-align themselves to be ready to face the uncertainty of his actions. He can become a high nuisance value in the system.
The dignity and honour of the US presidential office has been brought down by these elections. The souls of all the past presidents would be ashamed to enlist him in their category. God save America and God save the world.
From Mr Suhas Inamdar
UAE
The American favour
Issues of race would never have won anyone the presidency. Two issues won Trump the presidency.
First is what he stood for as he was the best candidate out of the many Republicans put forward – he defeated them all. His policy has been America first, especially for jobs. He, like the UK, wants to control immigration, be tough on crime and illegal residents, and he wants to support military forces.
Secondly is what played to his favour. Many in the US voted for him as a vote for change. People are fed up of the politics in Washington, DC in the US and this was seen by many as an opportunity to challenge and improve the way the government operates. Also, many people don’t like the Clintons. Bill Clinton for his lies and behaviour and Hillary Clinton for her lies about the emails and the private insecure server. Many also blame her for an attempt to cover up and avoid taking responsibility for the death of the US ambassador and staff at the Libyan Embassy.
Some may consider Trump as a sexist and a racist, but if this were really the case why were many women fully in support of him? People are worried about how he behaves and how he will represent the American people, but I have never seen a greater patriot.
The American Dream is that anyone can become president – and that dream has been proven so many times with an actor, a peanut grower and a rancher.
From Mr David Woodward
Dubai
Our best option
Americans had to choose between a man-child and a corrupt war-monger that kneels to the highest bidder (‘Trump most disliked modern president’, Gulf News, January 19). Whoever won would have had the lowest approval rating ever. Fortunately for us here in the Middle East, we actually have a chance for regional peace under the man-child.
From Mr Cam McDonald
UAE
Facebook comment
Are we safe from Trump?
You really think we’ll see peace with this man in charge? I don’t understand how people forget all the horrible things that US President Donald Trump said we would do during his campaign. What peace can we possibly expect from a man who has shown an irrational fear of Muslims? He doesn’t want peace with China and he doesn’t want peace with his neighbours. This isn’t going to go well for anyone.
From Mr Ahmad Mansoor
UAE
Facebook comment
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