Daily Times

When Donald Trump joined the race to run for the presidency of the US, most people believed that he was not a serious candidate. I, however, gauged Trump’s potential to create a big upset in the 2016, elections even at that time. I declared this prediction about Trump in my columns quite a while before the American elections occurred. A number of elements served as the basis for my prediction. Any person who is aware of the thinking of the American public would realize that they assign the most importance to their economic development while all other matters hold a secondary position. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump was the most financially successful candidate. Thus, it was not difficult to judge which candidate the American people were going to prefer. Eventually, as I predicted, Donald Trump was elected as the president of the United States of America.

I had also predicted that Donald Trump would transform the American economy. The sequence of events following his presidency proved this to also be correct. Donald Trump started dealing with many issues that were ignored by many of the US presidents who held the office prior to him. For example, China had been inundating the American economy with cheap goods for a long time. Donald Trump took serious notice of this issue and employed measures to pursue balanced trade with China. Similarly, he started to reexamine the trade agreements with several other countries, taking particular notice of those that were not in favor of the country’s economy.

Owing to the measures employed by Donald Trump, the American economy has become significantly stronger. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has also prioritized the interests of the American people and has taken a serious stance against illegal immigration. This has benefited the American citizens by putting an end to the occupation of many jobs by illegal immigrants. This has created many job opportunities for the American people and has also led to an increase in their wages. This increase in income has made many American citizens more prosperous than before.

Today, if we look, Donald Trump might be the worst American president for the rest of the world, but he has proven himself to be one of the best for the American public

Similarly, Donald Trump’s foreign policy also revolves around the country’s economy. Shortly after coming into power, Donald Trump greatly reduced American involvement in Syria. He gradually reduced the presence of American forces in the countries where they were already deployed by the use of threats or by entering into agreements with those countries. Initially, Trump adopted a strict stance against North Korea, but later, after holding talks with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he entered into a joint agreement that has significantly improved their bilateral relations. Thus, the presence of American forces in the region, as well as the arms race, was controlled considerably.

Along the same lines, Donald Trump is not in favor of the escalating animosity with Russia. His soft stance on Russia, has faced a serious backlash. Another example involves the Afghanistan issue, where Donald Trump adopted a rigid policy and imposed several sanctions on Pakistan. He has also put an end to the military aid extended to Pakistan. Later on, as seen in the case of North Korea, after taking a rigid stance against Pakistan, the US sent a letter to Pakistan to help them establish peace in Afghanistan. As a result, there has been significant progress in terms of establishing peace and security in Afghanistan. This shows that Donald Trump looks at everything based on its impact on the American economy.

We can see that he has clearly adopted a policy to remove US forces from countries where the American economy is only bearing the expense without any financial gains. The US policy towards Syria and Afghanistan is evidence of this strategy. Previous US presidents used to spend large amounts of money to extend the United States’ influence in the world. Donald Trump, however, has a different point of view. He believes that the US should avoid entangling itself in matters from which it cannot obtain any immediate financial gains.

Currently, the main focus of Donald Trump’s policy is overcoming the economic deficit that the country has incurred from trade with China and other countries. He believes that future wars will not involve guns or weapons, but rather economic warfare. For this reason, Donald Trump has adopted a rigid stance on trade with American allies like Germany and Canada. Thus, the focus of his policy starts and ends with the economic prosperity of the country.

The recent accusations related to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, has resulted in countries from all over the world criticizing Saudi Arabia. Donald Trump, on the other hand, made it clear in his statements that he values the economic benefits Saudi Arabia offers the American public more than anything else.

As far as Syria and the Middle East are concerned, many previous US presidents including Barack Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, wasted billions of US dollars on futile wars in the region. Libya and Syria are more recent examples of the same. Previous American governments spent exorbitant sums of money to overthrow their governments and these endeavors only served to weaken the American economy without yielding any commendable benefit to those regions. If we look at Libya now, we will find that Daesh has established itself and the country’s peace and stability have deteriorated.

On the other hand, Syria has turned into an active battleground where tens of thousands of Syrians have lost their lives. Clearly, many anti-government religious extremists in Syria also were supported by America.

The people of the United States paid attention when, during his presidential campaign, Donald Trump clearly claimed that he would put an end to all such illogical policies. He stated that he would shift all of his attention away from wasting American money and towards strengthening the country’s economy instead. He made that possible. Today, if we look, Donald Trump might be the worst American president for the rest of the world, but he has proven himself to be one of the best for the American public. Similarly, his foreign policy in Syria, North Korea, and, more recently, in Afghanistan is proving to be successful to a large extent.

The writer hosts a current affairs talk show on PTV News

Published in Daily Times, January 15^th 2019.