Trump Submits to the Limits of His Power after 100 Days in Office

The political incertitude into which the international community plunged after the victory of Donald Trump in the November 2016 elections has fortunately dissipated throughout his first 100 days in office. This is mostly because he has not yet decided to execute his most controversial promises, despite his continuingly provocative speeches and frantic activity online. Or perhaps it is because despite having tried otherwise, he has been kept in check by the legislative and judicial powers of a democratic system, in which the principle of counterbalance or limitation works. Thanks to this, Trump has not been able to eliminate the health care program established by Obama, under which medical coverage has been available to 20 million citizens. Similarly, he has not been able to prevent immigrants from seven specific countries from entering the U.S.

First, the counter-reformation of health care has been postponed until the Republican members of the House of Representatives can come to an agreement about the content of the new proposal. Accustomed to executing his wishes without concessions, Trump has realized that politics work differently, and any decision must be consensual, even among the congressmen of his own party. However, some of these congressmen are allied with the Democrats, and refuse to let the Senate approve a budget item to begin the extension of the border wall with Mexico — one of its star promises.

On the other hand, judicial power has intervened twice: on one occasion to stop the order given on January 27 which barred the entry of immigrants into the U.S. from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Syria. On this occasion, Trump encountered the democratic anti-establishment system, given that the Court of Appeals decreed that the order would not apply until the appellate justices decided upon its constitutionality. Although there remains almost four years of future legislation, it is certain that in this short period Trump has discovered, with enormous displeasure on his part, that the populist formula of governing he proposed has no place in a country with firmly rooted democratic convictions.

Perhaps for this reason, he decided that he would not go to the traditional dinner for correspondents at the White House. Yesterday, at an event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania — one of the key states in his electoral victory — he boasted about being more than “100 miles away from the swamp” and he returned to attacking the media, which he accused of wanting to show his political agenda. No matter how hard he tries to govern while ignoring the press, freedom of speech continues to do well in America, and he has realized what his transcendental role is in this crucial time in the history of this country.

However, it will not be easy to re-energize the coal and oil industries, despite it being true that the president has nullified the commitments made by the United States in the Paris International Agreement on climate change. His decision to eliminate the limits on contaminant emission gases appears more as a desperate political act than an effective one to his voters, since it will take a long time before the order, which was issued just a month ago, takes effect.

He has tried to make up for all of these setbacks with his outward performance, but these problems have not detracted from his popularity among voters, 96 percent of whom would vote for him again. The announcement of a 9 percent increase in the defense budget for next year predicts a great U.S. role in international conflicts, and so it has been.

First, the bombing of Syrian bases, from which Bashar Assad carried out chemical attacks on the civilian population, jeopardizing the U.S. relationship with Russia; second, dropping the “mother of all bombs” on Afghanistan in order to destroy the enclave that effectively hid the Islamic State; and third, the warnings given to North Korea about possible reprisals in an effort to try and curb the development of its nuclear program, despite the diplomatic conflict with China.These present three examples of the way in which Trump intends to return the U.S. to its lost supremacy in international politics.

However, these three initiatives pose a serious risk to world security, seeing as they have been made unilaterally and may have unpredictable consequences. If he wants to win the support of the international community, Trump cannot act without knowing the opinion of his allies around the world.