The successful scaling of hundred days in power by an American President, the first post in a journey spanning four years, should not be of much interest to the outside world. But incumbent President Donald Trump is different.
He is different in very many ways, and the jury is still not out on whether he is doing a good job. Trump, on his part, is all praise for himself and his administration and insists if elections were held today, he would again knock principal rival Hillary Clinton out of the electoral hustings lock, stock and barrel.
Criticism is harsh against him, mainly from the media with which he has had a soured relationship, which has not improved over time. This was clear also from the way he had chosen to skip the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Trump has taken hits on some fronts, mainly on two of his principal electoral promises — on Moslem immigrants and overhauling of Obama’s healthcare system that he termed rubbish. Hurdles are one too many, and those have been placed by the judiciary and the legislature respectively on these two major steps. Overcoming them requires a high level of leadership skills, tact and diplomacy.
Trump’s natural tendency is to run roughshod over matters, based on an image he built for himself as a hawk during his campaign days. But realities are staring point blank at him. The campaigner who said he would call the bluff of China the “currency manipulator” has toned down his rhetoric, held a cordial meeting with President Xi Jinping and drew Beijing into his engagements with North Korea.
He is going slow on the border wall plan with Mexico, and a sense of better reasoning has dawned on him vis-a-vis his H-IB visa regulations, saying talent will be a consideration. Trump the President is proving to be a shade different from Trump the Campaigner, and understandably so. Campaigning is guided by passions; governance by reasoning. A president, after all, should not let down his nation.
In engagements with nations and terrorists, Barack Obama’s administration showed restraint as is the case with past democrats as well. Obama didn’t build pressure; his efforts were to ease it. In the process, he left the world in peace, but he could not make major pushes against terror outfits.
IS grew directly under his watch and he did not blink. Nor could he take matters forward with Syrian President Bashar al Assad. Instead, the Trump administration in its first 100 days has shown it meant business, and that it is willing to take risks. With the scent of chemical attacks coming from Syria, America was quick to respond with major airstrikes on Syria’s establishment forces.
Assad was put on notice and Russia was caught unawares. It would look like Trump is in a mind to call the bluff of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, and he has moved an armada of American warships closer to the Korean region within a striking range of North Korea. War drills are on in the sea alongside initiatives to drill sense into the dictator’s mind, also involving China.
Reactions to Trump’s governance of America are still marked by an extreme sense of anger and disappointment. Initial street protests against his presidency have died down. The media frenzy against him continues albeit in a markedly reduced level. There, again, are those who doubt whether the President possesses the mental strength to run the nation; and there are those who are worried he is maniacal.
There are also indications he is maturing with experience as President. The howling at the Australian leader over phone was the initial hit. Trump seems to be improving on his style with the wider world. He has built the confidence levels of those who initially saw red in him. All the same, a sense of unpredictability hangs in the air and it is difficult to say how long it will continue.
