A fascinating, exhausting and jaw-dropping first year of Trump presidency

In an opinion piece, the Independent highlighted Trump’s ‘unpresidential’ behaviour during his first year in office. “It has been quite a year. A wet January morning 12 months ago, when Donald Trump, hitherto best known to the world as the host of The Apprentice, was sworn in as America’s 45th president. It did indeed rain, despite what he said, and the crowds were modest, regardless of what he claimed. Sometimes it feels those events occurred a few months ago; other times, it feels like the White House has always been occupied by this 71-year-old grandfather. Without doubt, his ‘unpresidential’ behaviour, his rhetoric and his actions have dominated the news agenda like no other president’s first year — not even that of George W Bush, whose first 12 months in office saw Al Qaida terrorists hijack four civilian airliners, kill 3,000 people and set in place global reverberations still being felt almost two decades later. Yet, while he may have record disapproval ratings, Trump’s support among those who voted for him remains solid. It has been a fascinating, exhausting and frequently jaw-dropping first 12 months reporting on Donald Trump’s America.”

In a sharp op-ed, the New Yorker, focused on Trump’s unseemly first year in the Oval office. “The displays of ineptitude and of racism — the bungled response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico; the absurd even-handedness of comments on Nazis and anti-Fascist protesters in Charlottesville; the “s**h***” affair — blur against the general backdrop of abnormalities occurring at a pace faster than we can fully countenance.” It continued, “The most damning statement that can be made is that every failure, unwarranted indulgence, attack, calamity, and corrosion could occur again, and in the same way, without a scintilla of gleaned wisdom weighing on Trump’s conscience — or on the conscience of the Republican Party, which has largely abetted him in his efforts. We have witnessed a great deal of ambition during the past year, most of it untethered from any broader societal concern. Neither Trump’s temperament nor the Administration he leads reflects (James) Madison’s concern with self-control. We are not dealing with angels but with a government that has thus far been insufficiently checked and whose outlook, inclinations, and objectives remain perilously unbalanced.”

CNN ran a column on Trump’s first White House anniversary. “The Trump team, like so many administrations before them, has been preparing to sell the accomplishments of its first year in office. We already know basically what they will say: Donald Trump and the Republican leadership are responsible for an economic boom that is helping working people, for the record highs of the stock market and the low unemployment rate. They will not mention that many economists credit the unemployment and job growth trends to developments already underway during the eight-year recovery of the Obama presidency. And as for the stock market surge, many attribute the bump to an increase in Boeing profits and the windfall to corporations from the tax bill — not to any Trump-devised policy that will help working people in the long run,” it concluded.