Trump: Bully politics A showman extraordinaire

Its like watching a rocket out of control as newly elected President Donald Trump of the USA  issues one executive order after the other. Mexico is up in Arms. Iran is flexing its muscles Putin is watching with bemusement while the liberals are jumping up and down crying  ‘unconstitutional, ‘racist’  ‘misogynist’.
No one has been left untouched by his antics including the media and the Judges deliberating on his travel bans.
 
But why the furore exactly? After all this President is actually doing what he said he would do on the campaign trail. Almost consistently former Presidents have been unable to deliver on  all promises made during their campaigns and certainly those failures have not resulted in any outcry! Its an odd situation where a President ‘delivers’ on his promises yet gets such censure?
 
The issue here is not really the  bans on Muslim immigration, the building of the wall, the trade agreements. These will blow over. What is important and worrying is Trumps total disregard to the  principles of democracy and the rule of law.  This is what is at stake here.
 
He approaches  politics and diplomacy as a deal for he is the consummate deal -maker. A showman unsurpassed in his abilities to grab the audience’s attention and get maximum exposure. He was never going to change on taking the highest office. He says and does things as he believes fit with total disregard to due process and the rule of law.
 
Diplomacy, intellect, self control is not his brand and in this process he is strangling democracy. He is opening doors to failed nation states  dictatorships and despots by adopting the politics of the bully. This bully politics coupled with a man who is so obsessed by any perceived slights is terrifying for the free world. More so when we are in an area of turmoil where increasingly Right wing parties are capturing the hearts of people with an ideology of exclusiveness, and fear against the other.
 
For democracy to flourish it needs both leadership and electorate to work together. The responsibility of and elected government is to govern with equity , due process and the rule of law; to engage with the electorate about choices and pertinently to inform. When a President bases his arguments on a lack of knowledge,  prejudice and disregard to facts, he is misleading the electorate. 46 % of the American population voted him in because he played right into their own fears  in a language that they understood. He appealed to the short term gains and not the bigger picture.
 
Trump is not a complex man.  His modus operandi has always been one of brashness and lack of veracity. His goal being simply to win irrespective of the damage he leaves behind. His business track record is not exactly unblemished. While these tactics and strategies may work in the commercial world they are a disaster for an elected leader of democracy as they are the traits that undermine the core of democracy.
 
  Governing  a country is not like running a business. While the books have to be balanced, there is also the investment towards society whose returns are not economic but social, allowing  its society to grow and evolve with equity and freedom . Cultural integration  and diversity is the backbone of the US. Whilst  historically the US has not  always upheld these ideals hampering civil rights movements and equity to blacks  disbarring Jews from clubs and entry,  denying women’s rights, excluding Asians, it has  subsequently embraced cultural, racial religious, sexual and  gender integration. It was able to do that on the two underlying principles of democracy. Equity and rule of law. There existed checks and balances through the three branches enshrined in the Constitution, executive legislative and judicial that encouraged and allowed debate.
 
 
Trump doesn’t get that. His bully politics and ignorance fails to understand that the whole world bought into the American dream of equity, acceptance, tolerance. American cultural dominates the world with its movies, burgers, cokes, innovation. 
 
The world looks to America to lead because of its apparent core of  due process and rule of law. This does not mean that American politics has been  beyond reproach; it has not always been and honest broker or as Trump would put it there has been ‘bad ‘ people.  It has engaged in illegal renditions, torture, it has at times abused its power. It has engaged in a war in  Iraq that has brought not simply tragic human losses  but destroyed a whole area creating the rise of ISIS whose ideology is abhorrent not simply to the West but to Islamic nations
 
But but but in spite and despite these failures the Unites States has always been open to debate,  differing opinion and freedom of expression. Its adherence most of the time to the rule of law  and its respect toward the  right of the individuals has been an example to aspire to. Trumps isolationist views serve only to undermine the balance of the world and the fear is where and what will it lead to?