Trump’s one year anniversary

Ljupco Popovski

It seems like an impossible venture to explain the first year of the Donald Trump administration. There are thousands of examples from his presidency – starting from people who are leaving and coming to the White House as if it is a train station, the thousands of tweets through which he is actually leading his politics, through the alienating of the Allies from Europe, by immersing the Middle East peace process through the law on new taxes that made the wealthy even richer by distancing the entire Muslim world through the humiliation of the United Nations through a threat to the North Korean dictator … It’s endless.

Therefore, let’s just go through the last events. In a series of irritating tweets, Trump has accused America’s long-time ally Pakistan that it is not doing enough to fight terrorists: “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan $33 billion in aid over the past 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies and deceptions, treating our leaders like fools, “Trump wrote, announcing suspending aid. It provoked anger in this country that has nuclear weapons, and prompting Pakistan to think of a stronger alliance with China. Or, the announcement that the United States will reduce its annual contribution to the United Nations by $285 million, just because the General Assembly, with a vast majority in a non-binding declaration, condemned the decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem. Or the threat that the United States will abolish all of the aid to the Palestinians for hundreds of millions of dollars a year because they disagree with Trump’s decision about the embassy and do not want to continue peace talks on such unilateral decisions.

US media cover the work of this administration 24/7 and, despite the engagement of entire team of journalists, they cannot reach to explain everything that happens in King Donald’s court. The explosive book that was released last Friday called “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” by author Michael Wolff, set the alarm to the highest degree. Wolff stayed in the White House for a year with Trump’s permission to see how it works, and now, when parts of it were released to the public, anger emerged, just as in the times of the courtyards of the medieval monarchs. Trump’s legal team initiated a proceeding to stop the publication of the book, the beginning of which was announced on Tuesday, so the publisher decided to release it in bookstores a few days earlier. The book was sold out unbelievably fast and is No. 1 on Amazon’s bestseller list. Tramp is aware that nothing can uncover his rule as a book written from the inside.

Wolff in last week’s column for “Hollywood Reporter” entitled” My Year Inside Trump’s Insane White House” explains how this administration works.

“The West Wing is configured in such a way that the anteroom is quite a thoroughfare — everybody passes by. Assistants — young women in the Trump uniform of short skirts, high boots, long and loose hair — as well as, in situation-comedy proximity, all the new stars of the show: Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, Jared Kushner, Mike Pence, Gary Cohn, Michael Flynn (and after Flynn’s abrupt departure less than a month into the job for his involvement in the Russia affair, his replacement, H.R. McMaster), all neatly accessible. The nature of the comedy, it was soon clear, was that here was a group of ambitious men and women who had reached the pinnacle of power, a high-ranking White House appointment — with the punchline that Donald Trump was president.
Reigning over all of this was Trump, enigma, cipher and disruptor. How to get along with Trump — who veered between a kind of blissed-out pleasure of being in the Oval Office and a deep, childish frustration that he couldn’t have what he wanted? Here was a man singularly focused on his own needs for instant gratification, be that a hamburger, a segment on Fox & Friends or an Oval Office photo opp. “I want a win. I want a win. Where’s my win?” he would regularly declaim. He was, in words used by almost every member of the senior staff on repeated occasions, “like a child”.”

Trump does not read, barely has the patience to look at the title. In the book, Wolff wrote how unpleasant he could get: Trump’s favorite sport was to deceive his friends’ wives to sleep with him. He is strange, especially in the bedroom: he had a clash with the Secret Service because of the insistence to lock himself in his chambers (Melanie sleeps separately) and install two extra TVs so he can watch three cable news channels at once. He does not want his service to interfere in the bedroom and he makes his bed on his own. Ivanka’s daughter wants to run for president and privately scoff at her father’s policies. The book also gives a response to Trump’s wrath from the very first day of embroidering the White House – leaking information. Woolf writes that Trump enjoyed phone calls with his billionaire friends by giving details of the White House events. His billionaires do not feel obligated to be confidential, so the details leaked into the public. A few days ago, in an interview with NBC, Wolff added extra fire to these claims: “I will tell you a description given by everyone, which is common to all. They all say he is like a child. And what they mean by that is he has a need for immediate gratification.”
Explanations of smart people about what is happening in America are disturbing. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics, says: “Historically, Trump’s figure appears as a fascist figure. It is stopped by our institutions and every day these institutions work to make us feel free. We do not know where the borders are and we do not know how far he will push those boundaries. A few things are most disturbing – the attack on the press and the attack on the foundations of knowledge that goes beyond the press. We have never had a president who lied day after day and did not feel responsible for it. He is not capable of being president. He has no understanding of the issues, the political process. He wants to make only one-time contracts. We cooperate with countries all over the world. They want to know if your word is good. Trump’s word is not good. “These are hard words, the harder they can be.

The Washington Post and the New York Times reported disturbing stories about the president’s private behavior, which the US public is not overly curious because it is unclear what else can surprise her. For the world it is more important that the past year has remained vacuum in global leadership. America has given up its role as the leader of democracy and is trying to close in itself by seeing culprits around. One of the greatest dangers for the world order is when America stops listening to others who think and will outline its arrogance with incredible military power. We had such an example when in 2003 the administration of George W. Bush did not want to hear other opinions in the Security Council before attacking Iraq. This unwarranted war has caused global consequences. And Trump is about to prepare for a similar path with the announcement of a possible war with North Korea.

With the lowest public support for a US president, Donald Trump, he walked along the path of Richard Nixon, especially after an investigation by special adviser Robert Muller about Russia’s interference in the presidential election. Nixon has replaced the special prosecutor for the Watergate affair, Archibald Cox, but failed to stop his own fall. America, and the world, are awaiting the November elections to see what the political schedule of power in Congress will be and whether the Democrats will reach the majority. The path to impeachment will then be open, though not sure. Until then, it is not known yet how many episodes will pass from the events of King Donald’s court, which will lead American institutions to the very edge.