February 20, 2021 marks the end of Donald Trump’s presidency after Joe Biden takes over as 46th President of the USA. Four years ago, once Trump emerged as a Republican leader mandated to lead the USA assured his supporters that he would take the country to new heights and win many successes.
Despite towering claims, he proved to be a total disaster; first he lost the Congress then he lost the Senate and finally got kicked out of the White House joining the league of single-term presidents.
Someone rightly said, ‘it is not the age that makes you mature, it is the responsibility’. So is true about Mr Trump who jumped to the White House without working a single day at grassroots level.
This man never held any public office prior to reaching the highest pinnacle of state. Therefore, the outcome shouldn’t be of any surprise. Donald Trump’s political philosophy that is commonly referred as Trumpism was based on racial divide, hate and discrimination. Immediately after assuming the power, he placed travelling ban on a number of Muslim countries and imposed further restrictions on Mexican immigrants.
At the start of his term, many hoped that Trump would go moderate after taking over the highest office of the country. But those who knew the character of this man had no such illusion about him. A malignant narcissist he was and he continued to be so till his last day in the office. A self-righteous man who never listened to anyone including his close aides, advisers and state institutes. He always considered himself as an outsider in the White House who would hardly trust anyone and won’t even hesitate to embarrass the establishment.
Soon after losing the presidential election comprehensively, Trump immediately launched a vicious campaign against the state institutes and spared no effort to casting aspersions on the entire electoral process. On January 6, 2021 being a sitting President, he incited his supporters to attack Capitol where a joint session of the Congress was underway to ratify Biden as the next President This shameful act will keep haunting the US democracy for times to come.
This incident not only tarnished the US image worldwide but also damaged its credibility as a state that upholds liberal values and call itself as a ‘’Beacon of Democracy”. Thanks to some sane voices in the Republicans who held their grounds firmly and did not comply with illegitimate demands of Trump who was set to unhinge the entire system.
The four years of chaotic rule by Trump has put the USA under enormous pressure and distress. The foremost damage that the ex-president could do is the deep divide and polarization of the society. This divide has been so well orchestrated that it is clearly visible in all the domains including media, institutions and the political outfits. As the Americans had settled for two-party system over the years but it is likely to be challenged in the future as a consequence of the prevailing polarization and division. For instance, the Democrats have centre-lefts like Joe Biden but there are extreme leftists like Bernie Sanders. Likewise, the Republicans have centre-rights like Mitch McConnell but there are extreme rights in the shape of Donald Trump. 139 congressmen and 8 Senators from the Republicans who signed the resolution to overturn the recent election results is a clear manifestation of this divide in the Republicans. Therefore, a further division in the two main stream political parties may not be ruled out in the future if the strong polarization continues to grow.
Then comes the question of poor handling of pandemic by the Trump administration that played havoc to the lives of hundreds of thousand Americans. In the initial phase, Trump tried to downplay the pandemic issue and remained in a state of total denial. He mocked those who advocated wearing of masks in the public places. Throughout, he misled the masses and kept them in the dark.
Resultantly, the inaction by Trump made US pay a heavy price in terms of over 400,000 deaths and the economy also came to a grinding halt rendering millions of Americans jobless. Unfortunately, the ex-president showed no empathy to those health workers and citizens who lost their lives due to Pandemic.
Interestingly, ‘America First’ policy which was so overwhelmingly boasted by Trump also back fired. The unilateral withdrawal by the Trump’s administration from Paris Climate Agreement, Iran Nuclear deal and the WHO drove a wedge between the USA and its European allies. Similarly, the trade war with China also did not yield any positive outcome for the US trade.
Consequently, the job of new President Joe Biden is going to be tough in view of the aforementioned challenges. Internally, the biggest challenge would be fostering unity amongst the Americans, fighting pandemic whole heartedly and upfront, generating jobs through better economic policies and bringing common citizens out of prevailing chaos.
On the external front, the first and foremost challenge for the incumbent president would be to restoring the confidence of his transatlantic allies that was badly shattered by the short sighted policies of his predecessor. Secondly, the policies on Asia-pacific and China need to be revamped. Thirdly, US once again must work in unison with the WHO and other major stake holders while playing its due role in eradicating the dangers of pandemic from the entire world. Finally, it must re-engage with Iran to restore the previous agreement and also move forward on the ongoing peace efforts in Afghanistan. Though, the challenges for new president are too much both internally and externally. Yet, it is expected that a six times senator, ex Vice President and the incumbent president would prove equal to the task.
Needless to say, the consequences of the four years rule by the Trump may be averted through a better leadership. Yet the chances of Trumpism hitting back may not be wished away.
