Reality biting the President hard
THE public inquiry into Donald Trump’s possible links to Russian meddling in the US election has only just begun, but in some quarters the verdict is already in.
“You would have to say this is the worst and most perilous day of Donald Trump’s young presidency,” CNN’s political analyst Gloria Borger concluded within hours of the start of House Intelligence hearings.
Among the bombshells that have left the White House scrambling for answers are suggestions Mr Trump’s campaign staff colluded with the Russian government to win the November election, the FBI’s total discrediting of the President’s allegation that Barack Obama wiretapped his phone, and confirmation from the bureau it is investigating possible links between Russia and Mr Trump’s associates.
“In this hearing over the last bunch of hours we have seen the director of the FBI rebut Donald Trump directly,” Ms Borger said.
“They (the Trump team) are going to have a hard time figuring out how to handle it.”
Other media figures echoed the sentiment the President had suffered an awful political blow.
Meanwhile, a former Republican congressman has given his own damning assessment of the reality star-turned leader of the free world: Donald Trump isn’t “intellectually qualified to be President of the US”.
“He does not practise in details, nor understand the finer points of domestic or foreign policy,” David Jolly told CNN.
“When he throws out a wiretap charge, what does that mean? We know he’s lying about that, but he doesn’t understand what a FISA (Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act) court is.
“He doesn’t understand that he just made an allegation of a felony, he doesn’t understand that he’s crippling the US on a world stage. That speaks to more than credibility, that speaks to intellect.”
The American media is having a field day with the hearings, with one commentator likening the effect of Trumpism on the country to a form of “psychosis”.
“Trumpism as a socialpsychological phenomenon has aspects reminiscent of psychosis, in that it entails a systematic – and it seems likely intentional – attack on our relation to reality,” Joel Whitebook wrote in The New York Times.
On Monday night, the ABC’s Q&A program was dedicated e to the Trump presidency and his running battle with the media.
Panellist and former director general of the Al Jazeera Network, Wadah Khanfar, said Mr Trump didn’t understand what being a statesman meant and he was treating presidency like a show.
“He came from a show and he thinks that he can continue running a show,” he said.
“This could continue for a while. This could be entertaining for all of us, but he is not a statesman and, therefore, I think he is going to fail and even his followers are going to realise they have been misled.”