Less than a month, the President of the United States, Donald trump has managed to sow chaos and uncertainty (and a degree of fear, which would be proud of any terrorist), and all of it — a dizzying pace. It is not surprising that citizens, officials, and leaders in business and civil society struggle to find a suitable and effective response.
Any ideas concerning the choice of the way forward would necessarily be temporary because trump has not yet offered detailed bills, and Congress and the courts have not yet reacted fully to the barrage of presidential decrees. However, recognition of that uncertainty does not justify failure to act.
Now it is clear: all that the tramp speaks and writes on Twitter, must be taken seriously. After the November elections, virtually all hoping that he will reject your extremism which characterized his campaign. It was believed that the master of unreal, of course, be committed by a different person, taking on a huge responsibility the most powerful man in the world, as often described his current position.
Something similar happens with all the new presidents of the United States: regardless of whether we voted for him or not, we always project onto that person our ideas about what we wanted to see him. But while most of the winning politicians tend to be “all things to all men”, trump left no shadow of doubt that he intends to do what he promised: a ban on Muslim immigration, a wall on the border with Mexico, a revision of the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA), repeal of financial reform Dodd-Frank in 2010, and much more, what’s not to like even his supporters.
Sometimes I criticize some aspects and policies created after the Second world war order in the sphere of economy and security, which relies on the UN, NATO, EU and a network of other institutions and relationships. However, there is a big difference between trying to reform these institutions and relationships to better serve the world, and a program that openly tries to destroy them.
Trump looks at the world as a zero-sum game. In reality, globalization, if properly managed, is positive for all: America wins when her friends and allies, whether it’s Australia, the EU, or Mexico, you become stronger. However, the approach trump could be the beginning of the game with a negative result: America loses, too.
This approach has become evident already in his inaugural address, in which they repeated the slogan “America first” with its historically fascist overtones reaffirmed the commitment of the trump is the most disgusting of them proposed ideas. The previous US administration always serious about his responsibility for defending American interests. But the policy that they carried out, generally in the framework of the “enlightened” understanding of national interests. They believed that the Americans benefit from the booming global economy and network of alliances between countries committed to democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
If there is a glimmer in the darkness trump is a new sense of solidarity around key values such as tolerance and equality, as well as an understanding of fanaticism and misogyny, covert or open, embodied in the trump and his team. And this solidarity goes global: trump and his allies have faced rejection and protests throughout the democratic world.
The American civil liberties Union (ACLU), predict that trump will quickly begin to trample on human rights, showed that, as always, he is willing to stand up for core constitutional principles such as due process, equal protection, official neutrality toward religion. In January, the Americans supported the ACLU millions of dollars in donations.
In the same way across the country, employees and customers of the companies expressed their concern about the actions of the leaders and members of the boards of Directors of those firms who support trump. Moreover, corporate leaders of America and investors turned to the group promoting Trump. This year at the world economic forum in Davos, many of them dribbling about his promises to cut taxes and spend deregulation, they actively ignored his fanaticism (this was not mentioned in any of the forum meetings I attended) and protectionism.
Even more disturbing was the lack of courage: it was clear that many of those who do not like trump, afraid to speak up, not wanting to turn himself (and the stock price of their companies) in the target tweets. Fear pervades is the hallmark of an authoritarian regime, and now, for the first time in my adult life — we see it in the US.
As a result, the importance of the principle of the rule of law, which was once an abstract concept to many Americans, became very specific. Under the rule of law when government wants to prohibit companies to withdraw operations abroad (outsourcing and offshoring), it takes laws and regulation that creates the necessary incentives and punishing undesirable behavior. It does not deal with harassment or threats to specific firms, and survived the horrors of war refugees, doesn’t represent a security threat.
Leading American media, for example, The New York Times and The Washington Post, yet refuse to accept the norm of renunciation trump American values. For the United States is not a normal President who denies the independence of the court, replaces the guidance of the officers of the army and intelligence in the key decision-making center on questions of national security fanatic of the right-wing media and which, finally, busy business promotion, their own daughters, while North Korea is testing ballistic missiles.
However, if we are continually stunned by events and decisions beyond the pale, it is easy to fall into a daze and start to miss a major abuse of power against the backdrop of the increasing power of the farce. One of the many challenges in this new era is the preservation of alertness and readiness to resist whenever and wherever you need it.
