Don expect any change this year
As we approach the end of Donald Trump’s first year in the White House, one point on which we all can agree is that 2017 was like no other.
If the polls are to be believed, most people here view his presidency so far as a slow-motion train crash.
The biggest stories of the last 12 months – the sexual misconduct claims against powerful men in America and the ongoing turmoil in the Oval Office – begin and end with Trump.
Before his election he promised to grab “‘em by the p***y” – after the poll he grabbed us all by the b***s. Looking back, it is difficult to know where to start such have been the calamities from the West Wing.
The list is long.
It includes lying about his dopey son-in-law Jared Kushner and even dopier son Donald Jr that they hadn’t met with Russians while pandering to friends of Vladimir Putin who, it is claimed, has a video of Trump doing nasty things with Russian hookers. There is his firing of FBI director James Comey after he refused to be loyal to Trump instead insisting he served the country.
He created a bigots’ travel ban, defended white supremacists and while supposedly “draining the swamp” hired and fired half the loathsome fat cats of Wall Street. Trump bleated on about “fake news” only to be found faking Time magazine covers of himself.
He routinely engaged in childish Twitter wars, announced what we need is some good old global warming, passed a tax bill test to make his rich pals richer, embarrassed himself with countless leaders, retweeted a British far right hate group, threatened nuclear holocaust before topping it all off by recognising Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
Anyone hoping Trump leaves the turbulence of 2017 in the past will be disappointed. While no one can know for sure what the next 12 months will bring, there are clues.
Tensions with North Korea show no signs of abating while the wars in Ukraine and Syria will continue as Putin cannot let go of Ukraine without admitting defeat.
The result will be more trouble in world politics and more America/ Russian anxiety.
It will come as special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Moscow’s meddling in the US election is released. Going on what we have seen so far we can only expect it to inflame America’s domestic and foreign policies as Trump continues to act like he has something to hide. He will not hear anything that reflects badly upon or undermines his election win.
So now with the Donald Trump glamour of his Christmas holiday break behind him, he returns to the White House to face a substantial to-do list.
There is no doubt Trump’s presidency has electrified the world, creating a sense of energy and urgency, unlike anything we have seen in recent generations.
Today, people who routinely moaned they hated politics and remained uninvolved, are full of their own political thoughts. It can only be good that they now care more.
But among all the turmoil of 2017 when it comes to winners it seems there is only one in Trump’s political era – himself.
After all, why others lose everything they ever worked for, for a guy who’s got 19 sexual misconduct allegations against him nothing it seems will oust him from his post. I dare say 2018 will be just the same. Happy New Fear everybody.