AS SOMEONE who was lucky enough to study and work in the USA, I have always been an admirer of its democratic nature, its inbuilt checks and balances and its ability to ensure that the democratic values of its founders are not forgotten.
Many American values were formed by those fleeing persecution, tyrannical dynasties, dictatorships and oppressive regimes in Europe.
The founding fathers of the US could never have imagined a man with the values and lifestyle of Donald Trump reaching the highest office in the country.
Trump’s nepotism outstrips anything achieved by the notorious Tammany Hall machine. This man is to democracy what myxomatosis is to rabbits.
George Washington it is claimed could never tell a lie. It would appear that Donald J Trump could not lie straight. In an interview last week he said admired the dictator, Kim Jong-un because when Chairman Kim speaks his people sit up and listen. Trump is envious of that power.
The current incumbent of the White House is the antithesis of every democratic value I hold dear.
Over the years, I got to meet some prominent Americans who held the most diverse political viewpoints, from President Reagan to his legendary adversary Speaker Tip O’Neill; former President Jimmy Carter to President George W Bush; Senator Ted Kennedy to Congressman Peter King and of course, President Clinton and his wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Along that road I also met Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, Rev Billy Graham, the legendary Governor Jerry Brown, corrupt Congressman Mario Biaggi and former secretary for health, Kathleen Sebelius (who was a two time Democratic governor in a Republican state). America was big enough to accommodate all of these. It would seem that the US is now too small for enterprise Trump.
Trump is probably the worst American president in a century. He has the lowest rating of any president at this stage in his term of office and that includes those who took America into the disasters of both the Korean and Vietnamese wars, one who brought in Prohibition and another who led the country blindly into the Great Depression.
Trump’s presidency was stained from the beginning when he failed to achieve a majority of the popular vote coming in a staggering three million votes behind Hillary Clinton. Since then the president has devalued and debased his office through his bullying, ignorance of world affairs, lack of consistency and an addiction to erratic late night tweeting.
In some ways a Trump-like presidency was inevitable. Whole swathes of the country takes its news feed from reality TV shows and maverick shock jocks. One by one, Trump is alienating allies like Canada, Australia, Germany and of course Britain. He has commenced a trade war which will end badly for everyone.
To his credit he is trying to deliver on his election promises. Everything Trump has done was part of his manifesto. Unfortunately those blue collar supporters from America’s rust belt will see the disparity between rich and poor expand under Trump's presidency. Their hopes of prosperity will be dashed. Trump doesn’t serve America plc - he serves only Trump Inc.
America’s greatest president, Franklin D Roosevelt, once said : “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fibre of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” Yet in the Oval Office today sits a man who introduced a policy which saw screaming children being dragged from their parents. At times Trump and some of those who surround him appear lacking in basic humanity.
Trump talks tough but one suspects he is more like a school yard bully. At some stage other world leaders will have had enough. That time is coming. America’s standing in the world has never been lower and Trump’s megaphone diplomacy is more about media headlines than peacemaking.
A worrying aspect for most Americans (and for the rest of us), is the failure of the checks and balances inbuilt in the US democratic process to work properly during this presidency.
Only the judiciary seems able to withstand Trump’s attempt to subvert the democratic structures of his own country.
We are told that Trump is to visit Ireland and the UK. He even seems to hold the delusional viewpoint that a certain local MP is a prominent leader in Northern Ireland.
President Trump is a D list celebrity masquerading as a second rate pantomime villain. Unfortunately for us his role is being played out in real time.