Trump's 100 days in western media

Donald Trump made his preference clear as to whose company he would keep on the celebrative night marking his first 100 days in office. He said he wanted to remain a hundred miles away from the press corps dinner in Washington, left to counselling by a White House representative, preferring instead to attend a celebrative gathering of his loyalists.

Even though he seldom misses an opportunity to grill the press—he depends heavily on social media, Twitter to be precise, to keep his ties warm with his constituency—the media for its part is obliged to be reporting and commenting on what's happening. That is its professional duty, and if in the process it is facilitating informed judgment it is truly playing its role as the Fourth Estate.

That said, quite easily, the US president has been the most named leader, both in the US and globally, in his first 100 days which came to a close at the end of last month. For all his glib talk and 180-degree somersaults, or maybe because of them, he remains the focal point of attention. This is not so much because the US is the mightiest military power or the biggest market in the world as it is for the unconventionality of his presidency. 

There is a method in his madness though. This is dawning now on keen observers of the office of the US presidency. He appears to be deliberately projecting an anti-hero image to pro-establishment status quo protagonists as it resonates with the populist impulse for change.

Trump's best asset seems to be his unpredictability. He literally appears to thrive on conflict and unpredictability using these to a point of brinkmanship, but short of crossing the line, ends up being conciliatory.

Here are some examples of his changing tacks. He springs surprises every now and then as purely tactical overtures to keep the world guessing about his next move. He says now he is ready for talks with his sabre-rattling nemesis, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, under what he termed "right circumstances". After having given Jong-un a free run with his missile launches (some aborted en route) and aligned forces on North Korean borders and in the adjacent seas courtesy of South Korea and Japan (he even met Philippine President Duterte) Trump leveraged what may constitute "right circumstances" for a dialogue. And Trump did not forget to massage Jong-un's ego with praise for his stand-alone courage reflecting a death wish like that of Saddam Hussein or Gaddafi which ultimately was their undoing.

Trump's softer diplomacy followed China's chilling warning to North Korea not to go past "the point of no return" by conducting another nuclear test. Jong-un paid no heed to the cautionary words of Beijing, his one-time mentor. So what if the defiant young man on China's backyard gets punished!

An editorial in the Global Times, regarded as a mouthpiece for China's ruling Communist Party, however said, Beijing was hoping for a peaceful outcome but had "very limited influence on the entire situation." The US is beholden to China by a massive USD 3 trillion worth of debts to Beijing and Trump has signalled opting out of a trade war with China. Alongside, Beijing may have earned the ire of South Korea because of Trump's comment following his meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping that historically the peninsula was part of China.

After weeks of silence between Putin and Trump under clouds of controversy centred on Moscow's alleged interference in US presidential polls, both have been in touch to say that endless bombing in Syria should be brought to a stop.

The Guardian in an article by Tom Engelhardt on April 26 presented what it called the Trump doctrine "forever war". Its elaborations make a highly interesting, if a worrisome, reading! The Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB), nicknamed the "mother of all bombs" reportedly struck caves used by ISIS in Nangarhar province in Afghanistan. Viewing this on Fox News, Trump yelled 'thrilling' and called it a blast, an escalation, or just call it "the age of Trump".

"If you look at what happened in the last eight weeks and compare that really with what happened over the last eight years, you will see a tremendous difference, a tremendous difference"—a hyperbolic repetition of phrases that is so typical of the US president.

Then you get to hear this: "These days from Syria to Afghanistan, the Koreas to Somalia, Yemen to Iraq, it's easy enough to see Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump as something new under the sun."

The Guardian article commented, "Trump's enthusiasm for war is the logical end-point of a grim process started years ago by his predecessors in the White House."

According to an article on Trump's first 100 days published in The Independent, history professor Peter Shulman described a White House release boasting the US president's achievements in his first 100 days in office as "catastrophically wrong". Trump claimed to have signed more executive orders than the renowned 32nd President Franklin D Roosevelt. The latter had signed, the White House release claimed, only nine executive orders. Actually Roosevelt signed 99 orders of which nine were significant, substantive and forward-looking. Critics argue if the same measures are applied to the raft of measures signed by Trump then that will expose a number of pretty vindictive and mundane measures, their backlash being poised to linger.

But one claim made in the White House press release merits closer examination for corroboration. This concerns an assertion that the president "has done more to stop the government from interfering in the lives of Americans in his first 100 days than any other President in history". 

His first 100 days, one hopes, do not leave a foretaste of the negativities to come but a positive tenor set for the rest of his tenure based on the reality checks he has undergone in a self-learning process to be wiser. "By God, he is in it now, up to his neck" and must start delivering good, effective, constructive and just governance.

The writer is a current affairs commentator and former Associate Editor, The Daily Star.

E-mail: shahhusainimam@gmail.com