It¡¯s only been one week, and people are already getting the answer to the question many were asking during last year¡¯s presidential campaign¡ª¡°Will Trump actually do what he says?¡± And, unfortunately, we are quickly finding that yes he will. As Trump is just beginning to flex his Presidential muscles, he is barreling through controversy after controversy so quickly that it is difficult for protestors around the country, and the world, to keep up.
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The most recent firestorm occurred late on Friday as Trump signed his 14th Executive Order of the week--¡°Protection Of The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States.¡± This order, which many critics point to as the first step towards his ¡°Muslim ban¡± touted during his campaign, bars all nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen (conveniently absent from the list are Middle Eastern states in which he has business interests like Turkey, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt) from entering the United States, suspends all refugee admissions for at least 120 days, and indefinitely suspends the acceptance of Syrian refugees. The order also contains a provision giving preferential treatment to minority religions in these countries, that is non-Muslims, giving credence to the argument that this order specifically targets Muslims. Trump himself said the US would give priority to Christian refugees.?
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As expected, protests erupted across the country and lawsuits were filed as nationals of these states were detained at airports for deportation or stopped from boarding their flight to the US, even if they held valid US visas or were US permanent residents. Many have pointed out the absurdity of the order given the fact that no acts of terrorism in the United States have been committed by people from these seven countries; most of the terrorist attacks in the United States have been committed by US citizens and therefore an immigration ban does little to solve the problem; and there have been 0 terrorist attacks in the United States committed by refugees. A recent Cato Institute study shows that there is a 1 in 3.64 billion chance of an American being killed in a terrorist attack by a refugee. ?
But there is something to be learned from the chaotic situation that unfolded over the weekend in the wake of this Executive Order¡ªthe three guiding and interacting forces of his Presidency thus far.
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Trump¡¯s actions as President have so far revealed someone very interested in consolidating power to himself and his inner political circle while distrusting any that challenge him, even within his administration. ?His tactics in engaging with the media and other branches of government are straight out of the authoritarian handbook.
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His handling of the media has been primarily antagonistic, barring the few sympathetic outlets like Fox News, as he attempts to undermine their legitimacy. His response to the backlash over the immigration ban was, of course, to blame the media. He announced in a series of tweets on Saturday, ¡°Thr [sic] coverage about me in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost gas [sic] been so false and angry that the times actually apologized to its dwindling subscribers and readers. They got me wrong right from the beginning and still have not changed course, and never will. DISHONEST.¡± The following day he took to Twitter to bear down on his attack, ¡°Somebody with aptitude and conviction should buy the FAKE NEWS and failing @nytimes and either run it correctly or let it fold with dignity!¡±?
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Since being elected, Trump and his political surrogates have worked to portray the media as peddlers of lies, falsehoods, and fake news, even on seemingly innocuous topics like the size of his Inaugural crowd. They are attempting to create doubt and cognitive dissonance among the public, ultimately undermining the public¡¯s confidence in the media as a reliable source of information. Their presentation of ¡°alternative facts¡±, in Presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway¡¯s words, can only be a strategy to obfuscate the truth of what actions the administration is taking. This strategy has worked to so well among his supporters that Republican Congressman Lamar Smith of Texas stated on the House floor; ¡°Better to get your news directly from the President. In fact, it might be the only way to get the unvarnished truth.¡± The Trump administration has even challenged the media¡¯s right to access, such as waiting six weeks after the election before holding a press conference, considering moving the White House Press Corps out of the White House, saying his office would have to approve each reporter allowed in his press pool, and refusing to answer questions. His advisor, Steve Bannon, called the media ¡°the opposition¡± and said they should ¡°keep their mouths shut and just listen¡±.
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This weekend also showed his contempt for other branches of government and the US system of checks and balances. It was reported that the Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, who would be enforcing the immigration ban, was not consulted before hand. In fact, he found about the signing of the Executive Order watching Trump sign it on television half way through his first briefing on it. It was also reported that Trump did not consult the White House¡¯s Legal Counsel or work though the possible implications in his rush to get it signed. The lack of coordination created intense amounts of confusion, especially for the immigration agents who received no written instructions for how to enforce the Executive Order. Not surprisingly, a federal judge placed an emergency stay on the immigration ban the very next day because of its violation of the constitutional right of due process. Trump¡¯s response was to ignore the court order. Two days later, the acting Attorney General Sally Yates ordered the Department of Justice lawyers not to defend the immigration ban in court due to the outstanding questions of its unconstitutionality. Trump swiftly responded by firing her, stating in a press release she had ¡°betrayed the Department of Justice¡± and was ¡°an Obama Administration appointee who is weak on borders and very weak on illegal immigration¡±. In the midst of the hectic weekend, he even found time to remove the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Director of National Intelligence from the National Security Council and replace them with his controversial political advisor, Steve Bannon.
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Any good authoritarian leader needs an ideology light on policy and heavy on emotion. Trump made it clear in his populist-aimed Inaugural address his vision for his Presidency: ¡°At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America¡From this day forward, it¡¯s going to be only America first¡For many decades, we¡¯ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; subsidized the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military; we¡¯ve defended other nation¡¯s borders while refusing to defend our own; and spent trillions of dollars overseas while America¡¯s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We will follow two simple rules: Buy American, and hire American.¡± As for the substantive elements of this nativistic ¡°American first¡± policy, there is very little evidence of what that may be. He keeps assuring the public he will ¡°make America great again,¡± appealing to their patriotic emotions but not to their intellect.?
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This nationalistic ideology is not only built on emotions but also scapegoating, in this instance, immigrants and Muslims. He points to immigrants as stealing American jobs and Muslims as threatening lives, creating an atmosphere of fear to justify his actions and concentration of power. He stated in an interview ¡°Islam hates us¡± and vowed in his Inaugural address to ¡°eradicate radical Islamic terrorism¡±. His justification for this Muslim ban is the protection of American lives, with surrogates saying that the strengthening of our borders is a small price to ¡°make America safe again¡±. However, it is clear that this immigration ban is more for political posturing for his supporters and will actually make it harder to combat terrorism as he alienates allied states in the Muslim world and increases the pressure on the American Muslim community. Many extremist groups, such as ISIS, have praised the immigration order for making it appear that American is at war with Islam, thereby improving their ability to recruit American Muslims to their cause. One pro-Islamic State social media account referred to Trump as ¡°the best caller to Islam¡± and the immigration ban as a ¡°blessed ban.¡±?
If there is one thing that dominates the decisions of Donald Trump, it appears to be his ego more than anything else, represented by his constant and uncensored use of Twitter. When protests erupted and criticisms abounded in the media against his Immigration ban, Trump took to Twitter to air his displeasure, calling out individuals by name such as Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain, and Chuck Schumer.?
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Trump¡¯s fragile ego was also on full display when he and his administration spent an inordinate amount of time trying to argue that his inaugural crowd was the ¡°largest audience ever to witness an inauguration, period¡± despite photographic evidence that his crowd size was dwarfed by both President Obama¡¯s first Inauguration and the Women¡¯s March held the following day in which millions of people across the country and world marched in opposition to his Presidency.?
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This presents an array of difficulties. Trump has a tendency to rely upon his ever-unpredictable and impulsive ¡°Twitter diplomacy¡±, which often undermines and contradicts statements made by others in his administration. Leaks from the White House show that there have been conversations among White House staffers to take Trump¡¯s Twitter account away from him given his inclination to pick unnecessary fights and drift off message. This unhinged rhetoric has led to an increase in hate crimes against women, Muslims, Latinos, and other minority groups, such as South Asians. He also appears unable to handle any criticism with civility, a hallmark of electoral politics in the United States. Kellyanne Conway went so far to argue in an interview that reporters that ¡°talked smack¡± about Trump should be fired.?
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The combination of these three factors makes for a very toxic and unpredictable Presidency. Not only will this be a problem for people within the United States trying to make sense of Trump¡¯s policies and how they will affect them but will also be a great challenge for nations abroad trying to predict how the US will behave in the future. Trump is already aligning himself with far-right nationalists across Europe and made moves to defund the United Nations, cripple NATO, and support the weakening of the European Union, seemingly without concern about the long-term consequences. It is hard to tell what will be the impact of Trump¡¯s presidency. But if he is able to avoid impeachment, one thing is for sure. It will be a rocky four years for everybody.?