Daily Times

For the VIP movement and the big event, the city was almost paralysed for half the week. Traffic jams and road diversions became the norm. Offices were half shut, and people were advised to stay at home and work. There is an element of fear and resentment in the citizens. Official websites are reprimanded and changed to reflect numbers and pictures that may not be true. Make a guess of whom are we talking about? No, it is not Pakistan but the United States of America. President Trump is finally in office, and though he has hardly opened his bags and boxes in White House, the speculation of when he may have to pack them back has started making rounds in those whose fears of such a start have come true. Washington before the inauguration and after the inauguration is a very different place. It is uneasy, upset, and unsure. That may be because asignificant majority of them voted against Trump but any hopes of them are finding a reassurance on a more balanced and appeasing stance by the President have been shattered by the initial conduct of the new President.

The President has made it very clear that he has no intention of modifying his style and behaviour. There has been an open desire to include his family members in the office, and the appointment of his son in law as an advisor may have created an uproar but has been passed by the department of justice as being lawful. The law restricts appointment as formal heads of government institution but not as advisors. Thus, Jared Kushner may not be getting paid for this job by taxpayer’s money but can influence appointments of many whom he wants to please. The lawful conflict of law continues. One example of that was a lunch Trump held with top leaders the day before his inauguration in his own hotel. The seats sold for $700 to some say $500,000. This may not be a legal digression, but it is an ethical divergence. Who would not like to queue up for the President-elect and help Trump Towers pump up the highest daily sales revenue?

Many appointments of Trump administration are from the business world and resemble a corporate organization structure. Thus, the delay in their formal appointments has been due to the many issues of conflict of interests that may make these announcements a complicated process. His Cabinet is stacked with wealthy executives whose vast and complex financial portfolios must be combed for potential business conflicts and then untangled before they receive Senate confirmation hearings. They include Rex Tillerson — the Exxon Mobil CEO — the newly appointed Secretary of State; Steve Mnuchinas Secretary of Treasury; Andrew Puzder as Secretary of Labour; Wilbur Ross as Secretary of Commerce; and Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.

The inaugural speech sets the tone for the White House’s next four years, and many expected that the vitriolic campaign of Trump to win the race to White House will now be tempered with a more visionary approach of setting the apprehensions of his opposers at rest. Not so. His speech if anything seemed a continuation from where he left. He was still condemning and dismissive. He blamed the past governments for doing nothing for people and made the usual comments about taking power out of Capitol Hill and distributing it to the people of America. The lack of humility and vision made it an uninspiring speech.

To make matters worse, he got himself involved in a media brawl straight away. His first two days in the office were busy telling media how deceitful and biased it was as it had shown wrong pictures of attendance at the inauguration. His spokesperson was busy saying that the attendance on the inauguration was the largest ever and that some photoshoped white material was super imposed on the pictures to show off empty spaces. This is not just an off handed remark of a man under stress but a very pointed sign of things to come. Trump’s unsparing attitude may have gained him populist points in his campaign but is going to de-track him from central issues. It shows a pettiness of mind that will work against the big picture approach tenants in White House are famous for.

What it holds for America is a reversal in its open, transparent ways of politics. The first 100 hours of Trump were busy signing executive orders that are perhaps not emergencies to be dealt with. The scientists at United States Department for Agriculture research that is funded with taxpayer’s money will not be able to share their research with the public. There are freezes on Federal hiring, on grants and contracts at Environmental Protection Agency, Obamacare and the Trans-Pacific trade agreement. This reflects a retaliatory policy that is based on undoing the stuff of the past government which has added to the uncertainty and apprehension in the American public and industry.

What has made America great, is what is under trial.The leaders who get elected to lead America lead by example. Yes, theAmerican system of democracy is based on sound laws and rules and regulations, but more so it has thrived on the core values and principles that Abraham Lincoln espoused, and people like Dr Martin Luther King laid their lives for. These were the people who taught not only Americans but the world how equality is not only enshrined in laws but thinking, in mindsets and attitudes. What Trump is doing is undoing those values by targeting religion, by targeting gender. The Woman’s March the next day of the inauguration was a statement of outrage by a society that is finding it difficult to balance the need for a smooth transition to an unsmooth attack on its values.

What the saner elements in the Trump administration need to do is to calm the hyper instinct of the President. Actions based on laws and systems alone can never prove enduring safety bedrocks. Long drawn debates on formal authority have always concluded that it has finite limits. The conflict of interest laws may justify Trump’s choices of advisors, but they will always create media and public unrest just like the segregation laws justified discrimination against blacks in the 1960s but created enough public pressure to result in resentment and retaliation. It is always the moral authority that gives infinite powers to lead; it is always the personal credibility that makes executive orders shine; it is always the conduct and character that inspires. The democratic system in the USA without its governing values will find governance a long drawn and perhaps counterproductive legal and political battle.

The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com