Trump’s Year

If there is one thing that cannot be questioned, it’s any lack of coherence by Donald Trump. During his campaign, he made it clear what his administration’s imprint would be, and that script has not changed.

During his first year, he ferociously attacked the media, which he considers hostile to his leadership. He belittled his political opponents. He made it clear that for him, immigrants are a hindrance and a danger to the country’s progress. He has not spared any effort to promote a protectionist and isolationist policy, with the purpose of saving workers from an economic crisis that does not exist. He promised to approve deep tax reforms, and he fulfilled that promise. He said he did not believe in climate change and pulled the United States out of the Paris climate agreement.

We cannot ignore the fact that Trump has been consistent with his promises. But the effect that such decisions are having on his country and the world is another thing. His first year as leader of the world’s greatest power has been eventful, with a government shutdown, the worst approval rating of a president in 70 years and a country divided as never before, except during the Civil War.

In these first 12 months, the economy has flourished without Trump giving credit to the policies of his predecessor; low taxes drive companies to return, although the uncertainty about world trade predominates. On the verge of a nuclear war due to his confrontations with the unstable dictator of North Korea, Trump, in the clatter of frequently unbridled provocations, looks for opportunities to escape the scandal of ties between his campaign and family’s ties with Russia.

The president resorts to nationalism and even racism to generate support in the most truculent sectors of the American right that have always supported him and among those who benefit from his decisions. That is why he insists on the construction of a border wall with Mexico and refers to Haiti and the African continent as toilets while affirming that the immigration of white people is what his country needs.

It is Trump’s style to govern by Twitter, with outrageous, aggressive and untrue tweets. Many have said that the president is insane; in turn, he responds even more strongly to his opponents’ attempts to undermine his credibility. What is clear is that he is a marketing genius who uses the media, favorable to his administration or to his declared enemies, to create a climate of opinion and a reality in which he is the axis and dominates the stage.

The Democratic Party also uses this method to gather dissent despite the mediocrity that guides it, and uses the big newspapers and television channels as well to recover audiences and readers who have been lost.

This is the United States in 2018. A country whose government doesn’t care about criticism or what the rest of the world thinks about its policies because it is self-absorbed and increasingly isolated. It is the work of this president, an original, who can go from being euphoric to making the most frightening threat in a fraction of a second.