•500,000 ask Electoral College to nullify his election
•President-elect soft-pedal on action plans
After the euphoria that marked the announcement of his victory at the polls, United States President-elect Donald Trump is beginning to face the realities of a real political environment. Since Wednesday when he was declared winner of arguably the most divisive and fiercely contested U.S. presidential election, protests have spread across the country.
Already, over 500,000 people have signed a petition asking the Electoral College to elect his main rival, Hillary Clinton as president instead. Precisely, the petitioners have asked the Electoral College to “ignore their states’ votes and cast their ballots for Clinton.” The Electoral College is made of 538 electors.
According to the website of the petitioners, Change.org petition, “Mr. Trump is unfit to serve. His scapegoating of so many Americans, and his impulsivity, bullying, lying, admitted history of sexual assault, and utter lack of experience make him a danger to the Republic. Secretary Clinton won the popular vote and should be President.” The electors are expected to vote December 19 if the petition takes hold.
Trump’s populist’s campaign approach may have earned him success at the poll but now he has to face the challenges of office, particularly the implementation of his campaign promises, some of which were outlandish.
Meanwhile, an analysis of the 2016 presidential campaign, the personalities involved, Trump’s victory and his many troubles as President-elect shows that America has entered a new epoch in its political history. Massive protests against a President-elect have been publicly registered. The protests are taking place even after Trump has said he would be President for all. He is starting his presidency on a note of suspicion, confusion and discord. Certainly, these are no good times for the controversial politician and the America he would lead. Beyond the protests and how he hopes to implement his campaign promises, he would be the first American President-elect to take over the White House amid lawsuits. He is facing no fewer than 75 lawsuits “for discrimination, racketeering and defamation,” according to reports.
The Trump camp is hoping to use the first 100 days in office to prove his political prowess. Of course, during the campaign, Trump did say he does not believe in the mantra of ‘First 100 Days.’ He said his ‘first 100 days’ would be the first day his government kicks off. He told his supporters and all those who cared to listen that he was hitting the ground on the first day in office. He was, however, silent on what would be the achievement on January 20, 2017, being the first day he would be in office as President of the United States (POTUS).
Whatever be the ‘Trump magic,’ he cannot run America the way he managed his business. That is the first lesson Trump will learn, and indeed he may have started realising that he may have been too loud. For example, after the invectives he poured on President Barack Obama during the campaign, he has turned around to tell Americans that Obama is a good man. This was after his meeting with the President on Thursday, a day after he was declared President-elect.
The following are Trump’s seven key promises for the first 100 days: Cancel Obama’s executive actions on immigration and guns; ask Congress to immediately deliver a full repeal of Obamacare; suspend immigration from “terror-prone” countries and implement “extreme vetting”; renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement or withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and impose tariffs; build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and have Mexico pay for it; and enact the Trump tax plan.
His threat to revoke most of Obama’s programmes has created fear in many Americans who no longer feel safe in their own homes. Some are already taking precautionary measures to avoid being caught in the web of his threats. Unconfirmed reports say many American opposed to a Trump government as well as the vulnerable class are fleeing the country.
Shortly after he was declared President-elect, there was a surge in Obamacare enrolment. “On Wednesday, about 100,000 people made plan selections on the federal exchange, the highest daily number since enrolment began November 1. It ends January 31,” a report said. “Is it people trying to get in before something happens? I don’t know but it’s possible,” an enrolment worker in Lafayette, La, Mr. Brian Burton was quoted as saying.
But there are five Trump proposals that are “fervently favoured by his supporters” and they are eagerly waiting to see him implement them immediately. It may be a forlorn thinking by anybody to believe that Trump would truly implement the five plans. Those who so trusted his ability to do so may have to bite their fingers in regret. Indeed, it may not be too long before they realise that they were only daydreaming and might have been conned.
They are: (1) The Mexico border wall. Then candidate Trump assured his supporters that Mexico has agreed to pay the cost of building the wall. But this has turned out to be a lie. The Mexican government has denied ever agreeing to pay for the wall. Mexico did not only condemn the plan but has threatened to retaliate. If carried out, the Mexican threat could make America to lose jobs and market. Therefore, the plan will boomerang.
(2) Sending Hillary Clinton to jail: During the campaign (and presidential debates), he called his rival Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton a criminal over her email scandal. He promised to lock her up if he were the President. “I will instruct my attorney-general to get a special prosecutor to look into your (missing email) situation,” he told Clinton during the second presidential debate. Now, he would have tell his supporters how he hopes to revisit the matter after FBI director James Comey had officially closed the case when he declared that Clinton won’t face charges.
(3) Muslim ban: Trump promised “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” At the time, the Vice President-elect Mike Pence distanced himself from the statement, describing it as “offensive and unconstitutional.” Pence has since said Trump no longer supports the plan and, at the weekend, it was revealed that Muslims were among Trump’s silent voters. How his American White and uneducated supporters will react if the plan fails remains subjective. What is clear is that Trump is in a fix.
(4) Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act): Signed into law in 2010, the Affordable Care Act did not receive the blessing of the Republicans and Trump took advantage of it during his campaign. He trumpeted his resolve to revoke the act. Expectedly, he received applause from those opposed to whatever Obama and his “Obamacare” represent. Now, his supporters would be surprise to hear him sing a new tune. At the weekend, he said he may keep two of the law’s most popular provisions.
“One is straightforward enough. Children up to age 26 being allowed to stay on their parents’ plan. The other, preventing insurance companies from denying coverage because of pre-existing conditions offers a perfect illustration of why Trump and most of the other Republicans critics of Obamacare don’t understand the health insurance market,” the Washington Post reported at the weekend.
(5) Unravel NAFTA and TPP: He has vowed to renegotiate the terms of North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with Mexico and Canada. He was also resolute in his decision to cancel the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), if elected. In bilateral matters, it takes two to tango. With elections over, Trump cannot but sit down with his team of experts to re-examine his stance on some policies to prevent the U.S. being isolated by other countries, particularly in the American continent and parts of Asia.
Meanwhile, there are clear signs of likely face-off between Trump and Republican lawmakers over his term limit plan. During the campaign, Trump had hinted that he would introduce a law to limit the term of lawmakers. Following this November’s polls, the Republican Party has a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Ordinarily, this should give Trump the leeway to introduce new laws. But he must be guided lest GOP members turn against him.
After Trump’s visit to the Congress on Thursday, reporters asked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to react on the President-elect’s plan to limit the terms of lawmakers. His answer clearly indicated there could be sharp disagreements between Congress and Trump’s White House. Congress, he said, would not discuss term limits for members, adding that the electoral process already set term limits. McConnell also said the U.S. would not quit the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Commenting on the Baltic crises, Trump had said he would defend the Baltic states against a Russian invasion only if he deems that those countries have “fulfilled their obligations to us.” NATO chiefs were also quick to issue a warning, telling Trump that “going it alone was not an option.”
During the visit to Congress, Trump told lawmakers that health care, border control and jobs were top priorities when he assumes office in January 2017.
Expectedly, the Republican members of Congress have pledged to give him support to succeed. “We’re going to turn that victory into progress for the American people, and we are now talking about how we are going to hit the ground running to get this country turned around and make America great again,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said.
On his part, McConnell stated that they discussed the transition operations and said “he’s anxious to get going early, and so are we.” At a point in the campaign, Ryan declared he would not defend Trump. Political observers are watching how long the alliance between the GOP members of Congress and Trump would last before the bubble bursts, knowing who Trump is, a respecter of no man who thrives on controversy.
Still on the first 100 days, one is tempted to wonder if Trump could achieve much in the face of protests across the country. Put differently, he would have to come down from his “Trump Towers” to pacify the protesters, if he must settle down in the Oval Office without his focus and concentration being diverted. The protests pose a real challenge for him. And he seems to be wobbling and double-speaking, not too good for a man who has declared he would be President for all.
His first reaction to the protests gave him away as a would-be intolerant President. He lashed at the protesters on Thursday night: “Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair!”
Perhaps, advised by his aides, he realised he reacted wrongly and made a U-turn. On Friday, he tweeted: “Love the fact that the small groups of protesters last night have passion for our great country. We will all come together and be proud!” His response was no different from the emotional way he reacted to issues during the campaign. He would say one thing in the morning and change his stance in the evening, when the harm had been done.
Throughout the campaign, there was no cohesion in his camp because he would disagree with everybody before agreeing on issues, which was why he was hiring and firing his campaign managers and other aides as if he was operating in his business enclave.
Certainly, tomorrow has much to tell. Trump could prove his opponents wrong. He could end up as one of the best Presidents America has ever produced. He could become the darling of the people. Already, he has said he would not take the presidential salary. The annual salary of the POTUS is $400,000.
“The first thing I’m going to do is tell you that if I’m elected President, I’m accepting no salary, OK? That’s not a big deal for me,” he said during a speech in Rochester, New Hampshire, last October. He would be the first President to reject the presidential salary just as he would be the first to enter the White House with a sack of lawsuits.
For now, the world is watching how he would deal with the many lawsuits around his neck. “Most prominent among them are three outstanding lawsuits over Trump University, two of them before Judge Gonzalo Curiel in which Trump stands accused of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraud, luring students to pay tens of thousands of dollars for allegedly worthless courses that would teach them to “make a killing” in the real estate market.