Donald Trump will have to be stopped
What happens when a raging bull gatecrashes into a China shop? It goes on a rampage bringing down China left and right. And what can the owner do? Wait helplessly for the bull to get tired, stop his destruction spree and get out on his own!
But if it doesn’t, seek experts’ help; they fire tranquilising injections at the bull and take it away. It requires huge efforts to clear the debris and join the broken pieces; some pieces just can’t be joined; they are damaged irreparably.
Divide
Two weeks aren’t long enough for any leader to make his/her country great. But two weeks are long enough to destroy norms and conventions established over centuries, disrupt existing relationships nurtured over decades and generate a chaotic atmosphere of anxiety, nervousness, uncertainty and confrontation adversely impacting normal lives of millions of people. Donald Trump has done just that!
Ironically, he has no qualms about it. Issuing new executive order is becoming his daily routine. He claims to be fulfilling the promises of his election campaign. But he isn’t the presidential candidate of the Republican Party anymore!
Countless observers in the US and outside didn’t think Trump will win but he did. And many thought, after entering the Oval office; he will shun his divisive electoral rhetoric and get down to business: work assiduously to unify all Americans and reach out to American friends, assuring them that the US will not give up its leadership role or become a walled fortress.
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| Fortunately, the US still remains the land where civil servants, academics, media can publicly disapprove of President’s decisions and challenge them in court. |
Sadly, in the last two weeks, the world has witnessed Trump’s inexhaustible capacity to threaten, annoy, antagonise, divide and take extreme positions. The US is, in for turbulent times. So are others.
Tweeting that Mexican President needn’t come if he wasn’t willing to pay for the wall proposed to be build along the border and warning him on phone that the US will take care of the “bad hombres”, if he didn’t, isn’t smart strategy for good neighbourly relations.
Imposing travel ban on the nationals of seven Muslim majority countries for 90 days and new refugees for 120 days and Syrians indefinitely has triggered off worldwide condemnation and protests. It’s an unfortunate fact that all the terrorists involved in attacks in different countries happened to be Muslims. But it doesn’t follow that all Muslims are terrorists!
The ban includes Iran with which Obama had signed the historic nuclear deal and which has joined hands with Russia to defeat ISIS in Syria. How will Trump’s ban on Iranians further US interests in Iraq and Syria? Will it enhance chances of crushing Daesh? The terminator Trump seems clueless!
Innovate
On the contrary, the ban might help the ISIS in its anti West propaganda and recruiting more young Muslims. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Indonesia are Muslim-majority countries but have been excluded from the ban. Why? Is it a mere coincidence that Trump has his business footprints in these countries?
PM Justin Trudeau has emerged as John Kennedy of Canada openly inviting the refugees and Muslims stranded by Trump’s ban. German Chancellor Merkel has criticised the ban. The British PM Theresa May who became the first European leader to visit Trump can’t uninvite him but thousands marched in London saying it loudly that Trump wasn’t welcome in the UK.
While the Indian techies might be holding breath and hoping that their concerns conveyed through Indian diplomatic and business channels and broader India-US relations might soften the negative impact of possible raise of the basic salary for H1B visa to US$ 130,000 (around Rs 86 lakh, double of the current rate) they don’t have any option but to innovate and upgrade their services and compete for the higher end jobs in the US.
Fortunately, the US still remains the land where civil servants, academics, media and business tycoons can publicly disapprove of President’s decisions and challenge them in the court. IT giants: Apple, Microsoft, Google and FB oppose blanket ban on Muslims.
Dissent
Goldman Sach, GE, CITI Group, Morgan Stanley, Blackrock have publicly refused to support Trump’s policy.” Coca Cola CEO Muhtar Kent has forthrightly stressed that his company,” is resolute in its commitment to diversity, fairness, and inclusion.” While Microsoft is cooperating with Washington State Attorney General’s office which is suing Trump’s order banning Muslims from seven countries, Amazon and Expedia have also filed law suit in a Federal Court in Seattle.
Around 1,000 US diplomats have conveyed their disapproval of Trump’s ban on the Dissent Channel of the US State Department, undeterred by the stern warning from the White House that the civil servants who weren’t prepared to defend the president must quit. Where else dissent is expressed so robustly and in such uninhibited manner?
This underlines the true strength of American democracy. Many commentators have likened Trump to a bull in a China shop. So, how will this bull stop rampaging? Having demonstrated to his constituencies that he meant business, Trump should now revisit and revise some of his decisions.
Strong denunciation by neighbours and key allies, opposition from US Inc, adverse judgments by the courts, threat of retaliatory action and unambiguous advice from cabinet colleagues and party leaders that his dream of making America great again will remain a dream if he doesn’t stop threatening business interests and academia at home and risking confrontation with China as well as with allies.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)