Wow they say a week is a long time in politics, the last 12-18 months have been that ram packed with headlines all of us have polarised to either extremely interested or lost all respect and interest in governance. Yet the headlines keep coming, check out one of this weeks offerings in President The Donald's mudslinging. The inaugration cake is a copy !
So what do I think of all this and what do I blog about?
The first week of his presidency is coming to an end but the protests aren't. I do have to say I wonder what his 10 year old makes of all this, the inaugaration and the support and protests.
The american voting system has elected Donald Trump as the 45th USA President and there is nothing the 2 months of protesting can do about it, Donald Trump is the president of America. As I wrote at the time of his election in a similar way to the UK voting for Brexit the vote was for change and not for continuation of the norm. One thing that I still haven't quite worked out is the burning of the limo we all watched as the president was sworn in just around the corner, was this a display of power against the wealthy and elite? if so surely the same limo would have burnt if Clinton had won or was it jut vandalism with a convenient excuse?
Donald Trump's campaign was for change and he pitched it in a tangible way the finest example the wall. To be honest I didn't actually believe he was 100% literal and serious. but hold on he was serious and it was not a metaphor for increased border controls he is deadly serious and has signed the orders.
Before I comment on his executive orders I want to comment on the relationship The Donald is developing with the press and mass media, I have for a long time had concerns about the influence journalist can wield particularly when they allow their personal opinions to take objectivity out of their writing and the boundaries between an opinion column and reported news continues to blur, but I am not The Donald and I will not take on the whole press. I will however be watching closely to see how he continues to try and manage the media and their links to the establishment. This is going to be fascinating.
Right so executive orders,
You can not deny that Donald Trump has one what many politicians fail to do and that is act immediately, He made campaign promises and whilst I expected him to water these down , do U-turns or hope that some may be forgotten he has came out of the traps running and has started to deliver on his promises. so what have we had so far.
He has signed the papers to change the Obamacare health insurance, complete the trans continental oil pipe lines and withdrawn from the TPP. These alone can stimulate some huge debate as there are arguments on both sides but they are no where near the level of the two I've saved for last. If you thought the women's protests and inauguration protests were large enough as I type this the world is desperately trying to comprehend the impact of the executive orders to build wall along the Mexican boarder and as the protests begin again we all look and wonder what ill be the impact of his securing the US borders and what I would call the xenophobic racism of travel bans for certain people and nationalities.
To be honest compared with the last one the wall seems quite normal and sensible.
Today Donald Trump has allowed Islamic state terrorist a victory, he has allowed them to change the way the free world and in doing so he has punished many many innocent people.
I am willing to allow a bit of benefit of the doubt that he might just be putting down a marker and give himself some breathing space, but there are better ways of doing this, the US was not under immediate attack from these groups but a small number of terrorist hiding behind someone else's flag.
Islam is a religion and Muslims believe in there religion in the same way Christians and Sikhs do. but that doesn't mean they support the splinter group who are using Islam as an excuse to create terror for their own benefits.
The countries Trump has banned travel from do have majority Muslim populations but that doesn't mean every person is an IS fighter.
I could keep going but I wont. The bottom line is that any executive power that tries to deal with a problem by demonising particular groups based on nationality or belief system is completely wrong.
America came a long way during the civil rights movements of the 60's, 70's and 80's please don't let it slip back, We know there are still issues in the US but this is a massive step in the wrong direction for racism.
I am pretty much speechless by the travel ban.
So many things covered in this post, I agree pretty much with all of them.
ReplyDeleteFirst, absolutely the vote for Trump was one for change as was Brexit. People with neutral or cautious views don't get elected and neither should they. If you are going to believe in something and be a leader you need to stand up there and push what you believe in. We both know nothing changes or gets done without a strong leadership or a majority consensus in this world. Trump will do what he promises and that's because for the first time I think we've had a politician who says what he means and does what he says. Not many can say that. Some may find some of his ideas extreme, but they could be a damn sight worse. He's no Hitler is he. No-one else was prepared to deal with the tough subjects Trump was and take them on too but with a moderate touch on some of them. So the USA have now got a person who was never a politican in charge, rough round the edges, no frills. I think that's utterly refreshing.
I agree absolutely about the power of the press. They should never be pushed down or censored but they should as you say never lose their objectivity in reporting what should be facts. The media are becoming unwieldy and they are going to give him hell just because he dares stand up to them where others have feared to for the sake of their reputation and losing access to their audience. Trump is a powerful Tweeter and this is where Twitter excels, he is going to cut through the press and get his message out directly. This is also refreshing. Don't get me started on the keenly edited "they're rapists" rather than the actual "their racists" clip that has done the rounds...
As for the travel bans, some would say that the terror groups have already changed the way the free world works, they have won to an extent. Again it might be extreme but Trump is sending a message that he is going to do something about this by doing what he has done. I don't think he would dare be stupid enough to do this with a racist or xenophobic motive, I genuinely don't see that from him. I see a man genuinely concerned by what has been going on and doing something, anything he feels he can about it. He's hit the pause button to take stock and take advise and I can't disagree with that. I hope I'm not proven to be wrong and he becomes an overt racist facist but I doubt it. People get caught up in change, sometimes innocent people. The ban will be lifted and people will move freely again. He will have learned by then probably that the security agencies are already doing what they can. What you see him doing on the face of it is only what is actually happening behind the scenes, you can't just travel to America anymore can you, the ESTA is a relatively new thing and that wasn't done under his watch. He's bringing all this stuff out into the public eye and all of a sudden people are outraged.
As for the wall, only one thing to say about that. There's already a bloody huge fence someone else built to keep Mexicans out, so what's new,whats the big story? Criminals already tunnel under it anyway!
http://news.sky.com/story/dual-citizenship-britons-exempt-from-trump-travel-ban-10748052
ReplyDeleteUpdate on dual nationals