Donald Trump May Turn out to be a Better President!

November 17, 2016

By Saeed Qureshi

All said and done and now when the chips are settling down, one may hope that president -elect Donald Trump might prove to be a blessing in disguise. His presidency might herald a landmark reconstruction of the United States. He is a business wizard in his own right. He is not in the habit of mincing words. He talks straight and doesn’t seem to be believing in double speak. His serious moral lapses and circumvention of federal taxes though ingenuity didn’t prove to be a stumbling block in his winning the 2016 presidential elections.  

His victory is not false and may not be hugely tainted with trickery and subterfuge. He doesn’t look to be paradoxical in blurring out his aims, objective and policies.  After all the electorates or the voters that voted him into the most powerful presidency might be having strong and most compelling reasons to cast ballots in his favor.

Even otherwise his ascension from a robust business tycoon to the president of United States is awesome and speaks for his popularity among a dominant white segment of the American population and scantly among other ethnic segments.  

I doubt that he would be a reckless guy and start shooting left or right or making wanton decisions. There should be an order and saner method in unfolding of his policies and parameters directed at the vital national interests and serving America in right earnest.

Donald Trump would inject distinctive approach and novel outlook in the political arena and governance because of being a non-traditional, non-political and non- conformist and rather bold person. He might take some far-reaching decisions that the senior and old timer politicians cannot do.

In the post-election period of about a week now, his tongue lashing seems to be bridled and he is cautious in public speaking. He looks calm, sober and conciliatory. He is making statements and dishing out projections that no longer seem to be fanatical or partisan. He has backtracked from some his partisan rabble rousing and adverse anti- immigrants’ pronouncements that was more focus on the Muslims living in the United States.

Once in the White house and in the power saddle, he might be more explicit as to which direction he would move United states. The countrywide protests and marches have not drawn any sharp and pungent reaction from Mr. Trump. He merely dismisses those outbursts as the display of passion by the youth and which in fact he appreciated.

Donald Trump enjoys a solid and wider support from the higher echelons of the armed forces including a few hundred generals both retired and in active service. That is a formidable backing and one may guess that in military matters such as going whole hog against Al-Qaida and ISIS in Iraq and Syria he will have the army’s approval with hands down.

The outgoing president Obama’s support and goodwill in the US army was scant. Barring involvement in the Libyan civil war and overthrow and death of Qaddafi, president Obama has been avoiding major military conflicts. His conciliatory policies and historic patch-up on Iran’s nuclear program and payments was viewed with a pinch of salt by the hardliners both in the army and the Republicans.

If Mr. Trump follows in the footsteps of George W. Bush in the Middle East, then it would be a rerun of chauvinism of the Bush era both of senior and junior Bush. On the external front, Trump might be initiating a trade and economic jigsaw with China. But such an attempt may backfire as China is not a country to be browbeaten like the fragile and tottering dictatorial dynastic regimes in the Middle East. 

As the rumors go, Trump has overly friendly and personal relations with Russian president Vladimir Putin. He is perceived to be perhaps the first president from the Republicans known to be having strong and long standing business links in Russian Federation and with some top-notch industrialists and entrepreneurs of that country. He may envisage curtailing Chinese worldwide influence in tandem with the Russia.  

Domestically he be able to reform the health and education sectors and justice system that are plagued with a surfeit of deficiencies and shortcomings. He may bring about reforms that can help upgrading the lives of lower and less privileged sections of American society. Would he endeavor to stem the widening gap between the rich and economically hard pressed segments within United States? Will there be a concerted and robust strategy to lessen the unremitting spree of street and other crimes and to bring down the ethnic conflict in America. Would there be a drug control regime?

For president Trump, there is a huge backlog of the issues encompassing both internal landscape and the world at large. It is to be seen how better would be the Trump’s presidency than his predecessor president Obama and those before Obama. Let us wait and watch what policy parameters and goals Trump sets out in his first speech after taking over the presidency. The galore of reforms cannot be implemented in a month or a year. But the direction and tempo and even will would be laid bare in his speech as to how he enforces his agenda of change.

Let us see if his first move would be against the expulsion of undocumented or illegal non-Americans or he would give such sections to apply for a legal status and those rejected might face the consequences of being sent out. His aim to build a high wall between Mexico and USA is simply a fantasy and was a ploy to catch the votes of the sons of the soil which means the white voters and anti-Latino lobbies.

His detractors might be waiting on the sidelines for Donald’s’ impeachment for his past lapses or contravention of public or private established norms of conduct. But with a comfortable majority in the House and the Senate such an attempt might not fructify or make any headway.