A chaotic discovery of power
washington — From his resounding setbacks in Congress to his stunning policy flip-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 presidency, Donald Trump is the least popular leader in modern US history — even if his core supporters still fully back him.
The 70-year-old president, whose election victory unleashed a political shockwave around the world, is still clinging to the takeno-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 — with a mix of naivete and craftiness — that he has one of the most difficult jobs in the world.
In just his first few weeks in office, Trump suffered some crippling blows. Federal courts halted his proposed travel ban and Congress failed to adopt health care reform.
“Nobody knew that health care could be so complicated,” he said during his efforts to have Obamacare — his Democratic predecessor’s signature domestic policy achievement — repealed and replaced.
And following talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping about North Korea, he said that “after listening for 10 minutes, I realised it’s not so easy.”
The demands and constraints of
When a president moves from being so wrong to being so right on such important questions, the sensible response is not to carp but to celebrate, however cautiously.
The Washington Post the Oval Office — where every word uttered counts — are quite different from the daily stump speeches Trump made on the campaign trail.
Where to turn for advice? What kind of relationship to build with Congress, even when it’s controlled by his own party? How much latitude to afford the usually powerful State and Defence departments?
All of his predecessors have said it: moving into the mansion at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is a shock to the system.
“There’s just something about this job as president every president faces — you know, that you think one thing going in and then the pressures of the job or the realities of the world, you know, are different than you thought,” George W. Bush said recently.
“I do change and I am flexible, and I’m proud of that flexibility,” he said shortly before authorising air strikes against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad over what Washington says was a sarin gas attack on civilians.
On China, Russia and Nato, his about-faces have reassured some Americans to some extent, as well as some of Washington’s allies.
“When a president moves from being so wrong to being so right on such important questions, the sensible response is not to carp but to celebrate, however cautiously,” The Washington Post said in an editorial, reminding readers of the harsh, dark tone of Trump’s inaugural address. —