To explain Donald Trump to a person who came in from the cold ...
His campaign consisted of attacks on both foreign and domestic persons and policies, always followed by his refrain, "I'm going to fix it." The attacks included unverified statements that appealed to the dark thoughts of many members of the voting public. In the case of attacks on Hillary, rallies included his statement "lock her up," which prompted the audience to begin to chant "lock her up ... lock her up."
Trump knows how to incite a crowd much like Governor Wallace did during his presidential campaigns in the 1970s.
The dark images he raised while campaigning left the audience to conclude that their problems were somehow not their responsibility. Rather, someone's or some foreign nation's actions were the source of the problem. Mexico sent thugs and rapists to America to pillage our communities, and persons from the Middle East engaged in terrorist activities in Europe. Trump's solution was "to build a wall" and "restrict Muslim immigration." The loss of Rust Belt jobs was attributed to China manipulating its currency followed by his catchphrase "bring jobs back and make America great again." The expense of maintaining world order via NATO, the World Bank and other similar alliances was too expensive for U.S. taxpayers, so the solution was let NATO members pay their "fair share."
Trump's campaign included a direct attack on The Affordable Care Act. He claimed it was broken, and the solution was "repeal and replace." Trump repeatedly asserted climate change was a hoax. His proposed solution was to dismantle the EPA. During his rallies, he continually attacked Washington's historic method of conducting business. His solution was "drain the swamp."
Trump was elected president by the electoral college but received 2.9 million votes fewer than Hillary Clinton. The Federal Election Commission's final results show Clinton with 48.18 percent to Trump's 46.09 percent. He carried the election swing states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan by only about 150,000 votes.
Trump's early days as president are characterized at best as a constant struggle to put a team in place to achieve his objectives. His cabinet consists of Wall Street titans, arch fiscal conservatives, and one avowed segregationist.
To achieve his objectives, Trump uses executive orders to fix the alleged problems. Executive orders are orders issued by the president and directed toward officers and agencies of the federal government based on the authority derived from the Constitution and acts of Congress that delegate to the president some degree of discretionary power.
Like both legislative statutes and regulations promulgated by government agencies, executive orders are subject to judicial review and may be overturned if the orders lack support by statute or the Constitution. Major policy initiatives require approval by the legislative branch, but executive orders have significant influence over the internal affairs of government, deciding how and to what degree legislation will be enforced, dealing with emergencies, waging wars, and in general fine-tuning policy choices in the implementation of broad statutes.
Trump has engaged in much fanfare signing numerous executive orders. Many will be challenged by both appeals to the courts and foot-dragging by the staff of the agencies charged with carrying out the language of the orders.
Trump has discovered that being and managing as the president is nothing like managing as a real estate tycoon. As a tycoon, he is the boss. His decisions are implemented by his staff. As president he is only one of three equals. In the separate but equal system of American democracy the president shares equal power with the legislative and judicial branches. Each can restrain the other according to the Constitution.
This sharing of power has caused much consternation in Trump. How his initiatives will end is subject to the slow pace the democratic process follows to resolve disputes.
Since Trump's inauguration, a summary of his fits and starts, tantrums and grandiose statements may be catalogued. Packaged together, the conclusion is that the moral authority of the presidency has all but disappeared. I am old enough to recall when John F. Kennedy invited the world's great artists, writers, and philosophers to dine at the White House. The nation felt ennobled.
Donald Trump invites Sarah Palin and Ted Nugent to the White House. Nugent once called President Obama a "mongrel," and we feel sullied.
But it has not just been Trump's vulgarity with his comments and show of force against women, minorities, and foreigners. There have also been Trump's lies--blatant, continuous, and unsubstantiated even after the lack of evidence has been pointed out repeatedly.
They are not just any lies, but lies that deepen Americans' suspicion of one another and undermine our confidence in our system of government--such as his repeated contention that "three to five million" people voted illegally in the last election, that Obama spied on him during the campaign, or that he has no knowledge of Russia meddling in the last election.
Prior presidents have embellished the truth and on occasion have lied about a particular important thing, such as the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But never before Trump have we had a president who chronically lies, whose lies have become an integral part of his presidency in the first 100 days.
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John C. Pickett is an emeritus professor of economics at UALR. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Editorial on 05/08/2017