Trump’s travel ban dents US image abroad

President Donald Trump may have taken Sudan off the list of countries whose people cannot visit the United States for what he calls security reasons, but the action in itself is discriminatory and self-defeating as it dents the United States’ image. Three other nations — North Korea, Venezuela and Chad — have been added to the no-fly list, which won’t really affect or bring down the largely autocratic leaderships of these countries, who will carry on blithely. The reality is this — the list is growing, anyone can be on it if you are on the wrong side of a president — which does not bode well with Washington’s place in global affairs and its relationship with other countries. Regime change is not on the agenda and it’s ordinary folk who are getting the rough end of the stick from these punitive measures signed by the president who wants to make despotic and terror-backed regimes bow to his flawed and delusional temperament. Trump is tripping on this strategy because the US, that beacon of hope and democratic values, appears to be going into a shell. Those who hoped to flock to its shores seeking liberty and a new life free of persecution and fear are disappointed as they are being turned away. Instead of winning hearts, the president is keeping people out.

‘America First’ and ‘Making America Safe’ in a globalised and connected world is certainly not the message the US wants to send out to people through these so-called punitive measures. But Trump is only concerned about his voter base. The reality is that he has failed to deliver and has given old world conservatism and realpolitik a bad name by dividing his country along racist and religious lines. America’s security is indeed paramount but the president must stop fanning fears about people he does not know about. Their leaders may be corrupt and extremist, but this is about those who are largely terror-stricken, the victims of strongmen and regimes who continue to mock the US. Washington is in danger of losing its soul. It must find its collective democratic spirit before it is too late.