What the commentators said

As a US citizen, I’m horrified by Trump, said Francis Fukuyama on Politico. But as a political scientist, I can’t wait to see how his presidency plays out. It will be “a fascinating test of how strong American institutions are”. Trump will certainly face constraints from Congress, and from a federal system that devolves a lot of power to states. California, for instance, will make its own environmental rules regardless of what he says. And Trump’s ability to use the media as an ally will be limited, if past days are any guide. Getting into a row with the press about the White House’s “alternative facts” at the outset of a presidency doesn’t bode well ( see page 18).

Trump’s presidency offers opportunities as well as threats, said Kori Schake in Foreign Policy. The fact that he has “no apparent ideology” is a good thing in some ways, as it frees him to “pick and choose issues”, and breaks through Washington’s partisan gridlock. His plans for extra infrastructure spending, for example, should win support on both sides of the aisle. If nothing else, Trump has “injected dynamism into stale debates”. That’s no small thing, said Daniel Henninger in The Wall Street Journal. What people forget is that “the most destabilising force” in US politics before this election “wasn’t Donald Trump. It was that political status quo”.

We must hope for the best, said Peter Wilby in the New Statesman. But there’s no denying that Trump poses risks. The biggest concern is his “geopolitical strategy, or rather his lack of one”. The great powers have coexisted since 1945 through a mutual understanding of each other’s red lines. “The scariest moments come when one leader miscalculates how another will react”, such as when the erratic Nikita Khrushchev thought JFK would tolerate Soviet missiles in Cuba. Trump believes that keeping adversaries guessing leads to “great deals”. In business, perhaps. “In international relations, the stakes are higher.”

What next?

The President is being sued by a liberal watchdog, which claims his continued ownership of hotels and companies that do business with foreign governments is illegal. They say it breaches an Emoluments Clause in the constitution, which bans presidents from accepting payments from foreign powers. Trump has promised a “major investigation into voter fraud”. The probe will cover “those registered to vote who are dead”. He has alleged that up to five million illegal votes were cast for Hillary Clinton, but has offered no evidence.

“… and will to the best of my ability, which is terrific ability, by the way. Everyone agrees, I have fantastic ability, so there’s no problem with my ability, believe me…”

© PAUL NOTH/NEW YORKER/CARTOON BANK