Friday, January 20, 2017

PRESIDENT TRUMP

Trump has become the 45th American president. The transfer of power followed the usual path, a remarkable milestone in these unremarkable times.  President Obama remained stoic.

The inaugural address was short on substance and style. The new president's body language matches his mindset, brutal and high on ego. He walked his audience through an almost masochistic enumeration of ills, dysfunction and frustration. His American landscape is one of derelict and ruin. He did not suggest any form of answer to the bleak situation he describes in almost apocalyptic terms ("ending the American carnage"). Both for the perceived ills at home and abroad he seems to be hostage to a parochial mindset dominated by political and economic retreat. His speech sounded like an anti-Davos, claustrophobic diatribe. A more forward looking, creative visionary alternative was absent.

The contradictions between the doings of the businessman and the "ways" of the president are abundant. The former played opportunities worldwide, often for dubious gain and personal aggrandizement while the latter suggests a path of protectionist misanthropy. Yesterday's "Yes, we can"  has morphed into a "No, we won't". The choice of the members of his cabinet is also a clear indication of a predilection for disruptive short-term intervention in lieu of of long-term strategies. Nothing substantial was said about the world, which is relegated to a "nuisance" and open to denial and contradiction.

America is stuck in some ersatz Faustian riddle. The Middle got the redeemer it voted for. The majority (Secretary Clinton won the popular vote by a margin of 2.8 million votes) was betrayed by way of the rules of the Electoral college. The Trump "entourage" is made up by the same Wall Street elites who were accused by the then Republican candidate of not being in touch with the common man "forgotten in decaying inner cities or in the Rustbelt".

This impulsive, unpredictable persona risks creating havoc at home and abroad. The cracks which are apparent in the global structures will become structural. Trump will validate a world vision wherein many compete on equal terms and wherein former alliances and friends will play secondary roles. The "America first" in Trump slang,  is a demotion. At a time where there is a need for confidence and predictability, there is looming chaos.  Fukuyama's "End of history" mantra looks totally obsolete on this January 20th, 2017, a day which will be remembered as the first day of the American withdrawal, reversible in four years.

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