Now that the initial shock of Donald Trump winning the election has more or less subsided, outrage, protest and rallying seems to have been replaced by complacency and the phrase repeated by so many of my classmates: “maybe he won’t be so bad.”
At first glance this seems to be the case, at least when comparing his current stances to his dangerous and “alt right” oriented rhetoric on the campaign trail. He has pivoted progressively on climate change (“humans could be causing it”), the Affordable Care Act (“will keep some parts”), immigration (deportation force is “tbd”) and the free market (“35% tax on companies exporting jobs”).
I’m certainly not going to be the one to complain about the changes in policy themselves, especially when those pivots are the bare minimum necessary to ensure a safe and stable society. All things considered, the majority of Americans who did not vote for Trump should be marginally less concerned right?
Wrong.
He has demonstrated through his actions in the last few weeks that he is even more dangerous than we anticipated. Trump’s recent policy statements have coincided with whatever he assumes the audience before him feels about key issues.
In an interview with the New York Times, a paper known for its liberal affiliation and readership, he claimed he believes humans have “some connectivity” to climate change, despite his earlier statements that he would “cancel” the Paris Accords, and that climate change is a hoax propagated by the Chinese.
Within days of this interview, however, strategizing with a cabinet of uber conservative shunned generals, “alt right” icons, and religious fundamentalists, he officially appointed Scott Pruitt, a fossil fuel activist and climate denier to run the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency he has sued before for regulating carcinogenic air pollutants and corporate mercury usage.
Additionally Trump, after promising to deport criminal illegal immigrants within an hour of being sworn in, at an Iowa rally full of his supporters, now says that he won’t deport all illegals.
Finally Trump, after years of leading the “birther” movement and accusing Obama of being the worst president in the history of the country, has now claimed, under the speculation of the rest of America, that he “really likes President Obama.”
Noticing a pattern?
This shouldn’t be surprising. We have seen warnings of this kind of behavior all through the campaign cycle, demonstrated Trump’s meeting with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, and his subsequent rally hours later.
Trump went from claiming he wanted to seek a strong relationship with Mexico and the wonderful people of the nation, and that he hadn’t discussed Mexico “paying” for the border wall (despite Nieto denying that Mexico would do so), to, less than 12 hours later, speaking of dangerous immigrants crossing the border from Mexico and the need to build a wall which Mexico would pay for in front of a rally of conservative supporters.
Trump is unapologetically conscientious about pleasing his immediate audience and defending his reputation (just take a look at his twitter account) that he doesn’t give a second thought about completely contradicting his promises, as long as he doesn’t look foolish in front of an immediate group of people.
Liberals can’t trust any of the “softened” stances Trump has identified as his new policy, anymore than his conservatives can trust his commitment to certain policies that he has backed down on, because Trump will continue to try and align his views with whichever status quo he surrounds himself with, be that his cabinet or the press.
We need to picture the disastrous effect this attitude could have our international diplomacy. Imagine Trump trying to “renegotiate” the “worst deal ever” with Iran, and caving on key issues because he wants to appease the Ayatollahs and Iranian diplomats in the room with him. Or, more relevantly, allowing Russia to pursue aggressive action in Europe or pulling out of NATO to appease Putin who he’s suggested may be his “new best friend,” and they may “get along very well.”
The irony of this situation is that Trump is essentially epitomizing the strategy of the B-list stars who frequented the Celebrity Apprentice; doing every single thing they could to kiss up to their new “boss” and getting credit for it, despite their actual business models being flawed and in some cases downright dangerous.
The key difference is that Trump’s “boss” is the American people, and he’ll have to do more than kiss up to us to win the reward of a good reputation and credibility; he’ll have to prove himself with a rock solid plan to secure our nation’s interests, and stick with it.
