Trump's chaotic discovery of power

WASHINGTON, April29 ( AFP) - From his resounding setbacks in Congress to his stunning policy fl i p - flops, Donald Trump has faced a steep learning curve in his opening months at the White House. Although the new US president has shown a capacity to change both his tone and positions, he has struggled to convey a clearly articulated worldview.

With the arrival of the symbolic milestone of 100 days in power on Saturday, a cold, hard reality is setting in for the billionaire businessman who promised supporters he would “win, win, win” for them. At this stage of his p r e s i d e n cy, Donald Trump is the least popular leader in modern US history.

The 70- year- o l d president, whose election victory unleashed a political shockwave around the world, is still clinging to the take- no- prisoners, unpredictable, impulsive style that made him a property mogul and reality TV star. But the onetime anti- establishment candidate who promised to “drain the swamp” in Washington appears to have recognised that he has one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

Elevated to the highest office in the United States with no prior political, diplomatic or military experience, Trump says his approach works.

On China, Russia and NATO, his about-faces have reassured some Americans. But his approach also includes risks. From Syria to North Korea, what is the risk of dragging the United States into a military conflict with an unpredictable out- come, a situation Trump warned against on the campaign trail?

Many of his detractors still deem comments by the novelist Philip Roth in an interview with The New Yorker in late January to be on the money. He described a president “ignorant of government, of history, of science, of philosophy, of art, incapable of expressing or recognising subtlety or nuance... and wielding a vocabulary of 77 words.” Aware that he doesn't have much to show for those days, Trump lashed out with a tweet decrying the “ridiculous standard of the first 100 days”.