March 19, 2017
By Saeed Qureshi
President Donlad Trump’s advent in the political arena from
an entirely non-political and business background and winning the presidency of
the United States is a unique phenomenon. Lately he has owed this brilliant
achievement to his Tweeting obsession.
Yet strangely he is engulfed in a massive tsunami and colossal plethora of
crises, scandals and controversies. Following the oath taking on February 2
this year, he has already stashed away 59 days out of the first 100 day in
office. He is left with 49 days from today onwards to set the things rights. Thus,
far president Trump has signed 17 executive orders and 12 memoranda some of
which are either challenged or repudiated both by the people and the government
agencies.
The cardinal truth is that Donald Trump is a sincere person
but his temperament is not. He is an economic wizard and mostly he has not been
politically correct or earnest. Compromise, conciliations or bending backwards are
not part of his political strategy or mindset. He excels and relishes in rebukes,
retaliations and spurring non-issues as big issues. Once he takes a stand
whether right or wrong, he sticks to it no matter what could be the ground realities
and consequences.
Even a novice and nincompoop politician would not
antagonize the press and judiciary. Yet he went aggressively in denouncing both
the media and the judiciary because they differed with his executive orders and
projections. United States is truly a democratic state where press, judiciary
and other institutions play their roles honestly and truthfully although in
Media there are always pro and anti-establishment views. But that is what is required
of the media in any country.
Some of these executive orders have become highly controversial
and subject to the scrutiny of the senate and the house. The replacement of Obamacare
(known as Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act), is already being opposed on countrywide
scale through long marches and even otherwise. Of late there is some compromise
demonstrated by president himself and his advisors to retain some provisions of
the Obamacare in the original draft of their healthcare plan. The Trump
administration is deliberating on replacement of Obamacare with the "World's Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017".
This plan has been sponsored by Pete Sessions; the
current chairman of the House Rules Committee. According to Reuter’s report, “Republicans
remain deeply divided over their U.S. healthcare overhaul, which is Trump's
first major legislative initiative and aims to fulfill his campaign pledge to
repeal and replace the healthcare program (known as Obamacare) of his
Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.”
The cabinet appointments have become controversial. Trump’s
National Security Advisor Retired Army Lieutenant General, Michael T. Flynn had
to resign for misleading key government’s top officials, media and the people
about the nature of his telecommunication contacts with the Russian diplomats.
Flynn remained as the National Security Advisor just for 24 days which is the
shortest in the history of the office.
President Trump’s appointed Attorney General Jeff
Sessions had to step aside from any existing or future investigations of any
matters related in any way to the campaigns for president of the United States.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions came under intense scrutiny after reports
surfaced that he had contacts with Russian government officials during the 2016
Presidential election. Neil Gorsuch the newly appointed judge on the supreme
court panel will have to go through a grueling session tomorrow (at the Capitol
Hill for his confirmation hearings)
Trump’s tweeted allegation of wiretapping of the Trump
Tower against his predecessor Barack Obama should have been a non-issue and
could even be baseless as being commonly believed. This allegation has put
Trump in a tight corner because it is not a small allegation. It is a
manifestation of distrust about his successor president Obama. Apparently, nothing
could be far-fetched that this allegation which has already been refuted by FBI
and other concerned agencies as hollow of truth. It is being conjectured that
president Trump hurled this charge to deflect the public attention from other
controversial issues
The downslide of president Trump’s package of reforms
started with the Immigration Executive Order banning immigrants from 7 Islamic
countries which later was reduced to six countries. That put the judiciary and
the president face to face with each. Judiciary came to the rescue of the crowds
of stranded immigrants on the American airports. Mercifully A federal judge in
Seattle James Robart moved to rescue thousands of stranded individuals and
families by placing a nationwide block on Trump’s week-old executive order.
Despite that, president trump intends to fight back in favor of his immigration
ban though by making some minor changes.
The other controversial issues that have surfaced are
president Trump’s personal business relations with Russians especially president
Putin. His family’s business and the involvement of -president Trump in that is
yet another sticking point that might come to fore in due course of time.
Despite transferring his business to his sons and even
wife, the questions would be raised if he is still influencing the business in
favor of their family and partners. The sex scandals related to president Trump
are still on the back burner. But if the affected women pursue such cases there
might be another judicial fight to rescue himself from these true or untrue
accusations
The most outstanding issue is the hacking of 2016
presidential elections. God forbid if behind the door links of cohorts of the
president and even himself are proved then one could imagine the serious consequences
emanating from such an outcome. The hacking of the 2016 elections mostly blamed
on Russian hackers in favor president Trump is the trickiest issue that could
tilt either way.
While wishing president Trump well and his continuation
in the prestigious office of the president of United States, one would doubt
that all the cases or allegations against him would prove to be false and he
can continue with his road map of strengthening America in all respects. In the
meantime, let us watch as to what happens to this legal and constitutional
battling that might continue for quite some time. Finally, he should not depend too much on
tweeting. This is mostly the pastime of the young generation and should not be
overly used to convey political matters and decisions, all the more for the
president of a mighty country.
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