12 January 2017

By Dr. Abdul Ruff Colachal

Election of Republican candidate Donald Trump was possibly the top most world news of the year 2016. Donald Trump defeated the powerful Democratic candidate and former US foreign minister Hillary Clinton in a shocking way. Jews and Israel, looking forward to further squeeze the Palestinians in genocides and illegal expansionism with US backing, are particularly worried that their favorite lobbyist Hillary lost the election. They don't trust Trump to promote the Jewish criminal regime in West Asia.

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Upon a long wait after the poll on November 8, Republican billionaire Donald Trump has assumed power as world's strongest leader at White House on January 20, officially removing the incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama. A complete change has taken place in Washington with President Trump promising new areas of his preference.

The eyes of the world was on President Donald Trump as he entered the Oath of Office, and offered his inaugural address, Donald Trump's inauguration as the 45th President of the USA took place on Friday the January 20 after stunning America and the world by winning the US election. Trump replaced Barack Obama who spent two terms in the White House as its custodian.

On November 8, members of the public cast their votes – but not directly for who they want to be president, but Donald Trump did not officially become president until January 20 as per rules. Until 1933, the new president was inaugurated on March 4, four months after Election Day. This was then shortened to around two months with the ratification of the 20th Amendment. The time between US election and inauguration allows for the incumbent, or 'lame duck', president to tie up any loose ends, and for the incoming president to prepare for his tenure by working on policy and appointing his cabinet. But the main reason for the delay is to allow for the election to continue.

Trump will become the first US president in the 240-year-old republic who has never served in the military or held public office. At 70 he will also be the oldest in his first term, eclipsing Ronald Reagan's record. The more people who live in a state, the more electors there are for that state. The candidate with the most electors wins all the state's Electoral College votes and the first candidate to win enough states to get to 270 electoral votes is elected to that office. Trump was declared officially the president-elect when the Texas votes were counted, pushing him over the 270-vote threshold.

As a candidate, Trump's campaign promises included building a border wall with Mexico and banning Muslims immigrants from the US. As president-elect, he has called NATO ''obsolete'' and the European Union ''basically a vehicle for Germany'', put the One China policy up for negotiation, and threatened to renegotiate most trade agreements. He also threatened to impose duties of 35% on German and other foreign cars made in Mexico and imported into the United States, predicted that other countries would follow Britain's lead and vote to leave the EU. He welcomed celebrating the British vote to exit the European Union, and praising Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, his inaugural address skipped all this.

European leaders still do not know how much of Trump's comments will become official US policy. They are thus bracing themselves for unpredictability and inconsistency regarding Trump's intentions and beliefs, as well as his tendency to contradict himself and his cabinet. With Trump in power, it is argued, these leaders are no longer the black sheep among Western political elites but rather partners in the building of a new illiberal international order that rejects liberal democratic values and freedoms.

Trump does appear to perceive Latin American as a problematic region. Donald Trump's campaign was geared towards pushing the buttons of voters who, as the result of shifting economic opportunities, have seen their economic prospects decline in recent years: it was Mexico that took the jobs, and Mexico that sent the bad immigrants. Trump has expressed concerns about illegal immigration and US jobs lost as a consequence of trade agreements, open markets and industrial relocation. Trump may consider reduction of concessions to Cuba, a strongman's posture towards strongman-led Venezuela and a distancing from Mexico. For other countries in the region, there is a huge question mark. Would Trump build a wall along the US-Mexican border?

Trump won the election in economically ravaged industrial states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin by cynically exploiting the social devastation in factory towns and rural areas, offering an entirely reactionary and bogus solution to the crisis, based on economic nationalism.

President Obama and Donald Trump – the pair have had a strained relationship. Trump previously claimed that Obama was born outside the US and was therefore not a legitimate president, and later suggested he was the ''founder of Isis'', but later backed down on both claims.

Energy, Obama and his care

Bush-Obama plus Madam Clinton with their terror wars with ulterior imperialist motives have made the world devastatingly dangerous by first executing the Sept-11 hoax in perfection and invading and destabilizing energy rich Arab nations one by one on fictitious pretexts to which all western military regimes and eastern corrupt regimes lent support. These essentially rogue states, in fact going even beyond the Neocon ideas, have achieved their objective of slashing Islamic populations by genocides and looting their resources.

The victory of Trump reminds none in modern political history.

The energy of fighting on multiple fronts, the crises appear to be eroding his credibility, the base currency of any presidency. Fearing an asterisk is being painted next to his historic victory over Hillary Clinton, Trump has gone on the offensive. The incoming Republican leader has lashed out at ''sleazebag political operatives,'' the intelligence services — whom he compared to Nazis — and the media, reprising campaign tactics that played well with his base.

Trump should know the poor fate today of once very popular President Obama who has left behind a cold legacy for reference by future presidents. Obama's approval rating stands at 44 percent, according to a Gallup poll — the lowest level of support for any outgoing president since the organisation began doing the surveys. When he began his presidency, Barack Obama enjoyed an 83 percent rating as people looked forward to his prudent foreign policy to bring the world back to normalcy but he, like his immediate predecessor, just obeyed notorious Neocons and got his second term in office. That unpopularity makes it much easier for allies to bolt. Republican lawmakers up for re-election or in moderate states and districts are unlikely to go to bat for a deeply unpopular president. Republican governors are balking at plans to repeal Obamacare, and all the time Trump's victory is being called into question.

With this kind of sentiment swirling, Trump may be the first president to enter the White House with a bunker mentality.

Donald Trump enters the White House embroiled in scandal, in a pitched battle with the intelligence services and news media, and facing a world on fire. Even before being sworn in, he is facing a Congressional investigation into possible collusion between Russia and his election campaign- though the allegation would stand for close scrutiny. But add to that serious allegations of nepotism, legal problems over his business interests, the ill-preparedness of some of his cabinet nominees and a fracas over health care reform that has left Republicans in disarray, and the picture gets even bleaker.

After the December 19 vote, Trump finished with 304 electoral votes and his Democrat opponent Hillary Clinton got 227. Seven electors defied convention and went against the popular vote, refusing to vote for either candidate. The results from December 19 were confirmed by Congress on January 6The event will be presided over by Roy Blunt, a Republican senator from Missouri and chairman of Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Activities. Chief Justice John Roberts of the US Supreme Court administered the oath on the steps of the United States Capitol Building. I Donald J Trump, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, so help me God

The pomp and circumstance

Barack Obama woke up in the White House on the morning of January 20.That night, Donald Trump went to sleep for the first time in his new home. The White House changed hands almost as instantaneously as the presidency does. While the inaugural ceremonies are underway, staff at the White House will be frantically moving out the remnants of the Obama administration, and preparing the residence and offices for their new inhabitants.

The next morning, Trump walked from his new White House residence to the West Wing to attend to his duties as President of the United States. Across Washington DC inaugural balls were held to mark Trump's ascent to the presidency. They will feature dancing and entertainment and appearances by President and First Lady Trump, and Vice President and Mrs. Pence.

Trump has promised to shake up the postwar liberal order, issued contradictory policy statements and, even before taking office, sparked anger in foreign capitals with his volatile approach. Questions have been raised over the character and temperament of a man who boasted about groping women and still picks fights on Twitter.

Trump threatened to jail during the campaign. Mrs Clinton received 2.9 million more votes than he did last November but lost the Electoral College. Former presidents Bill Clinton, George W Bush and Jimmy Carter will also be present.

The inaugural address

Today, US prestige and status in international arena has been very low. In fact owing to its failed mediation in Mideast peace talks, Arab nations do not trust America. So is negative attitude of the entire world except the imperialist states. New President Trump is expected to win over them on his side. Trump's inaugural message was just the opposite: ''We fear the world, but the whole world must be made to fear us.'' The speech gave a jolt, signaling to the world that the new American president is an out-of-control megalomaniac.

During the election campaign, Trump said one of his first actions would be to try and erase the effects of Obama's presidency. He promised to cancel every ''executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama'', but again, he has backed down or softened his stance on several of Obama's policies. He repeatedly described Obama as weak, ''a disaster,'' ineffective and ''the most ignorant president in our history.'' Obama savaged him throughout the election campaign as irresponsible and dangerous, warning that the ''fate of the world'' was at risk in the event of a Trump presidency. However, at their meeting after the US election, both men struck a conciliatory note after they met to discuss the transition from one administration to the next.

Trump used the economic problems to win poll and in his address he has gave solution. He argued Americans have ''enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry… and spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America's infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We've made other countries rich, while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country have dissipated over the horizon.''

After the swearing in, Trump gave a speech that, as all inaugural addresses are, is recorded in the pages of history. In his second inaugural address, with the country emerging from devastating civil war, Abraham Lincoln proclaimed ''malice toward none and charity for all''. Franklin Roosevelt told a country ravaged by the Great Depression that all it had to fear was fear itself, and John F Kennedy urged Americans to ''ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.''

It is notable that Trump's speech discarded the democratic rhetoric that is traditional for inaugurations. There was not even an acknowledgement that he had received 46 percent of the vote, trailing his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton by nearly three million votes.

Many say that Trump is seeking to develop an American fascistic movement, offering a false enemy to be held responsible for the crimes and failures of capitalism, demonizing anyone opposed to his policies as disloyal, and presenting himself as the personification of the popular will and the only one who can deliver a solution to the crisis. Since Trump has assembled a cabinet of billionaires, right-wing ideologues and former generals, it is argued that his government will go much further than anyone imagines in pursuing a program of war, attacks on democratic rights and the destruction of jobs and living standards for working people.

Prior to Trump's address there was musical performances and words from religious leaders. Afterwards, there will be a departure ceremony for Obama as his family. Trump then attended the traditional Congressional luncheon and take part in the inaugural parade. His motorcade traveled down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House, with well wishers and protesters lining the streets.

Then the Herald Trumpets performed four''Ruffles and Flourishes. The ruffles are played on drums and the flourishes on bugles, which are simple brass instruments with no valves. The ruffles and flourishes form a fanfare before a performance of the president's anthem, ''Hail to the Chief'', and the vice-president's anthem, ''Hail, Columbia''. There is then a 21-gun salute from the howitzers of the military district of Washington.

Following his speech, Senator Blunt introduced religious leaders like His Eminence Timothy Michael Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop of New York; Rev. Dr. Samuel Rodriguez of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference; and Pastor Paula. Readings and benediction came from Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean and Founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center; Rev. Franklin Graham of Samaritan's Purse and The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association as well as son of famous evangelist Billy Graham; and Bishop Wayne T. Jackson of Great Faith Ministries International.

It is customary for the outgoing president to attend the inauguration of the incoming president; however, it is not compulsory. Obama chose to attend.

Former presidents George W Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter attended along with their wives, the former first ladies Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton and Rosalynn Carter. Trump and Mrs Clinton came face-to-face for the first time since she lost a bruising election campaign. George HW Bush, the 41st president, was not be there as he is being treated at a Houston hospital suffering with pneumonia. His wife of 72 years, former first lady Barbara Bush, also was admitted to the same hospital on Wednesday as a precaution after experiencing fatigue and coughing

Celebrity culture

One of the most iconic moments of Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration celebrations came during one of that night's galas. Barack and Michelle Obama danced together for the first time as president and first lady along with celebrities. The moment encapsulated everything that was new and exciting about the beginning of the Obama era: the youth and cool of the first couple, their unapologetic celebration of black culture, the pervasiveness and sincerity of the optimism that surrounded them. By the end of the song, both the Obamas were beaming through their tears. That's what a really great celebrity performance can do at a presidential inauguration. Celebrities say It can help the new president calibrate and define his image:

All the celebrities invited to perform at Donald Trump's inauguration, and their responses

Trump's public struggle to secure A-list talent to perform at his inauguration signals a new and uncharted relationship between the office of the president and celebrity culture. Trump himself is a creature of celebrity culture, someone who rode his reality TV fame all the way to the White House. And now many of the famous performers he once rubbed elbows with have disowned him.

Hollywood's relationship to politics has certainly undergone periods of tension in the past. But no incoming president has ever encountered such a high level of disdain within the entertainment industry — especially not to the point where many celebrities have patently refused to participate in his inauguration and have advocated for boycotting an administration before it officially begins. As a result, Trump has found himself without any effective celebrity mouthpieces, except for himself.

In the more immediate present, the celebrity inauguration boycott isn't just sending a message to the people of the future. It signals that the traditionally cozy — or at least cordial — relationship between our biggest stars and the president of the United States is over. In its absence, Trump won't be able to rely on celebrity proxies to spread his message for him. He'll have to act as his own celebrity and do his own messaging. That's a strategy that worked out well for him on the campaign trail. It remains to be seen how it will work for him as president.

Trump won the presidency in part on the strength of his celebrity credentials. He demonstrated that the platforms celebrities have at their disposal — adoring audiences, name recognition, press coverage — can translate into real, tangible political power. He also demonstrated that he is ready and willing to use that tangible political power in the service of far-right policies and ideas that liberals in Hollywood will not forgive. The fact that Trump and his team are so committed to these narratives suggests it is important to them that America believes the president-elect has easy, reliable access to celebrities, so much access that he doesn't even really need them present at his inauguration to back him up.

Celebrities have not historically avoided Republican inaugurations. The number of celebrities who have declined an invitation to perform at Trump's inauguration is more or less unprecedented. Although the entertainment industry tends to be liberal, celebrities generally do appear at Republican presidential inaugurations, regardless of their political affiliations.

Traditionally, the general attitude has been that the inauguration isn't for the new president but for the American people, and performing there is an apolitical, patriotic act.

It's purely symbolic, but the symbolism is important. ''The unspoken audience is the people of the future, who will look back on this as a historical turning point. Since we don't know how bad it's going to get, and there is zero chance it's going to work out great, there is no upside in going down in history as the one who sang patriotic songs to a tyrant.

The story of Trump's inauguration entertainment is now a story about controversy — and he's fighting to control the narrative. To be fair, Trump does have some celebrities performing at his inauguration. He's got country stars Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood, and the rock group 3 Doors Down, teen classical singer Jackie Evancho, who may be most famous for coming in second on America's Got Talent but is still at least a vaguely recognizable name. He has at least some of the Rockettes. And on the whole, the inauguration has become characterized by confusion and controversy. Multiple celebrities at first agreed to perform — most likely under the assumption that the gig would be as apolitical as it had been in the past — and then canceled after facing fan backlash.

Challenges for smooth ties with Moscow

The president-elect Trump has taken a more bellicose stance toward China, at just the time Beijing is feeling more assertive. Whereas Mao Zedong transformed Chinese society, and Deng Xiaoping made the country an economic power, current leader Xi Jinping wants to make China a diplomatic and military force t over take USA which tres to obstruct the Chinese plans.

Trump, like Obama, will take office at a time when rival regional powers are gaining more clout and are not afraid to use it. Preserving US primacy will be a full-time job.

Apparently Trump and Putin have hinted they would forge a new relationship to steady the bilateral ties by trying to resolve their tensions as well as regional problems.

In Russia, President Vladimir Putin may be the strongest leader since Leonid Brezhnev, as he aggressively tries to renegotiate the terms of the end of the Cold War. Putin's effort to re-establish Moscow's influence in Syria already hobbled the Obama establishment. A similar Russian drive in Afghanistan, Libya or Eastern Europe could pose serious problems for Trump's bid to smooth relations.

Trump and Xi's rival ambitions dramatically raise the possibility that various disputes — from Taiwan to currency rates to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea — could become flashpoints.

NATO and military intervention

Apart from former ideological foes Russia and China, some more countries are the target of NATO. They include North Korea and Arab nations. But US allies in Europe are also perturbed by Trumps victory.

Few have been more perturbed by Trump's election than America's traditional allies during Trump's tenure. Trump has questioned the value of both Nato — calling it ''obsolete'' in an interview with the German tabloid Bild and The Times of London published Sunday — and Washington's treaty obligations to help secure allies in Asia, which underpin the global order. ''Trump has long believed the United States is being taken advantage of by its allies,'' said Thomas Wright of the Brookings Institution. ''He would prefer that the United States not have to defend other nations, but, if it does, he wants to get paid as much as possible for it.''

So far, most — including Britain and Japan — have adopted a strategy of engagement, getting close to Trump in order to win his ear.

Every president will endure surprise national security crises, but perhaps the biggest foreign crisis facing Trump is well known — North Korea. The country has been working feverishly to fuse two lethal technologies, a ballistic missile capable of reaching the continental United States and a miniaturized nuclear device to be its apocalyptic payload.

Trump has already painted that as a red line. ''North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US. It won't happen!'' he tweeted. Making sure of that will be far more difficult.

Sanctions against North Korea have had limited impact and Trump's hostility to China would seem to forestall any help from Beijing in squeezing Pyongyang. He could turn to more dramatic responses, from disabling North Korean weapons systems by cyber-attack, airstrikes or invasion. ''Trump will hear siren calls to launch a preventive war,'' said Leon Sigal of the Social Science Research Council. But that would mean trusting US intelligence. ''For a president who, as a candidate, repeatedly criticised US military intervention abroad and was skeptical of alliances,'' Sigal said, ''that option might be particularly unpalatable.''

Positive side

The US presidential election 2016 left many with the doubt that the reins of one of the biggest democracy of the world were in unsafe hands. Donald Trump, who became the 45th President of America on 20 January 2017, has over the span of his campaigning come across as xenophobic, racist, politically incorrect, ruthless businessman, who would like to ban all Muslims from the country and build a wall.

However, there is a flip side to everything and we were hard-pressed to find a silver lining to Trump's presidency. When scoured the internet we found a few incidents which show his better side.

In 2008, long before rumours about his presidential nomination started circulating, he gave shelter to Grammy Award winning singer Jennifer Hudson and some of her relatives in his hotel Trump Tower in New York after three of her family members were murdered. ''She's a great girl. And we're protecting them well,'' Trump told People magazine when he was asked to comment on the issue.

Later acknowledging the kindness, Andrew's father reportedly said, ''He is a good man. He has three children of his own and he knows what being a parent is all about.'' Trump once even offered his private Boeing 727 to transport an ''Orthodox Christian child with a rare and still undiagnosed breathing illness'' from Los Angeles to New York for better treatment. ''The child, Andrew Ten, age 3, arrived with his parents — accompanied by three nurses who attend to him around the clock — to try to seek medical help in the New York area.

This was one of the rare moments where Trump displayed graciousness.

Michael Moore, the American documentary filmmaker who famously predicted Trump's victory, recently confessed in an interview with Variety that Trump once tricked him into not being himself. In his account of first meeting Trump, Moore adds that people assume Trump is not smart, but Moore warns that that is exactly how Trump plays people. ''People think he's stupid — he's not stupid at all. Only his tenure will prove which side of his personality he would like to favour. Here's hoping for a relatively smooth presidency.

Observations

The speech delivered by Donald Trump Friday at his inauguration as president has no parallel in American history. It was a violent, nationalistic tirade, with distinctly fascistic overtones. Trump proclaimed his program to be ''America First,'' which many experts qualify as being a serious threat the rest of the world with dire consequences if they did not submit to his demands, both economic and political. However, Trump had earlier said his country won't go for wars.

Trump summed up his chauvinistic perspective with the sentence: ''The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world.'' He has not criticised US capitalists who looted the economy of common people to finance imperialist wars abroad. The wealth produced by working people has indeed been stolen and ''redistributed to the tiny elite of financial aristocrats like Trump himself and much of his cabinet, the billionaires and multi-millionaires. Ideology of Capitalism and imperialism is the cause of all this. US Jews manipulated the trend to become billionaires and gave a part of money to American politicians for supporting the fascist and expansionist causes of Israel.

While President Trump's declaration to make America great again or his ''USA first'' or outsourcing policy is well within his rights, his intention to remove Islamic terrorism from the face of earth isn't in good taste as, conversely, he means he would tolerate and possibly promote other types of terrorism like American terrorism or Israeli terrorism. It is a fact that USA and Israel are, both individually and jointly, the root causes of terrorism globally. In the recent past US-Israeli terrorism in Mideast remains the largest challenge for the mankind. Of course, Americans have the right to get all employment opportunities in the country just as China, Russia or India are doing.

The perspective of restoring national greatness through economic autarchy and military expansion leads inevitably to war. Trump has already declared that the Muslims are to be banned from entering the USA – though a trick meant for votes. His blood-curdling pledge to destroy ''radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate from the face of the Earth'' will be taken as a threat, legitimately, by the broad masses of the Middle East and the entire Muslim world, some 1.9 billion people. When he said that ''it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first,'' he was announcing the onset of a dog-eat-dog struggle among the major imperialist powers for markets, sources of raw material and cheap labor, and key strategic positions. The inexorable logic of this struggle leads to world war.

Among the many challenges the president-elect known for his split personality will face after his inauguration on Friday, the most urgent may be to steady the ship. Barrack said Trump's inaugural speech focused on ''the issues that unite us'' and claimed that the divisions from the campaign would ''vanish''. ''What you'll hear in his address is a switch from candidate to president,'' he told the CBS This Morning.

Peppering the first 100 days of his government with populist legislation and executive actions would help stem the bleeding — as would avoid unnecessary fights. To help him run the country, Trump has turned to a disparate group of billionaires, family members, generals, and establishment Republicans — few of whom have any White House experience. The CEO-turned-commander-in-chief sees his freewheeling style as an asset. It will have a massive impact on how his decisions are framed.

Trump can definitely contain Israeli fascist trends and force it to come down for a genuine final peace talk to resolve the vexed issue and help establishment of Palestine with east Jerusalem as its capital as per the Arab Peace Plan of 2002. Trumps intention of recognize Palestine and create an embassy there and demote importance of Israel by removing US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem by just upgrading the consulate there.

President Trump, his use of vocabulary of fascism, could be a shot in Israeli terror arms. Instead, he would work for normalcy in international relations by stopping bullying other nations with imperialist threats. He must cut the fascist wings of the Zionist criminal regime trying to control the region with nuclear threat. Trump's implied policy of military expansion and extreme nationalism has the most ominous implications for the democratic rights of the American people.

Israel needs to do away with settlements inside Palestine and would follow the Arab Peace Plan and line suggested by settler leader defence minister Avigdor Lieberman, which is to try to reach an agreement with the USA about stopping further settlement building outside the blocs and begin talks on the status of these terror settlements. It would fit in with George W Bush letter of 2004 and follows Obama's statements on different kinds of settlements. That would be a step forward, and relatively doable. The Obama government wasn't prepared to do that, perhaps Trump might be. While it wants to make West Jerusalem its new capital, Israel has not yet accepted the Palestinian demand for East Jerusalem as it their capital.

A variety of opinions inside the White House can be constructive, or fuel turf wars and jockeying for influence that can split the house asunder. Will Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jewish Jared Kushner be allowed to regulate US foreign policy?

Israel must be held for account for its perpetual crimes against humanity in Palestine and Mideast, but it wants Trump to focus on Iran and hold Iranians to account sufficiently for US-Israeli crimes.

Hopefully Trump will not follow the Bush-Obama footsteps. If he follows Obama's example, humanity cannot hope for peace perhaps forever.

Fascist forces across the globe want Trump to initiate World War III which has been looming large since the Sept 11 hoax.

Resolution of freedom struggle of Palestinians and Kashmiris for sovereignty would be a perfect feather in his cap. 

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