Trump presidency lurches from controversy to controversy

By Barrington M. Salmon -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Feb 27, 2017 - 12:14:24 PM

President Donald Trump. Photos: MGN Online

WASHINGTON—In October 1939, British statesman and Lord of the Admiralty Sir Winston Spencer Churchill described Russia as “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.”

Mr. Churchill could very well be describing President Donald Trump and his administration in 2017, almost a month into his presidency. During the campaign, Mr. Trump—a billionaire real estate business mogul—promised throughout the 18-month campaign to be a different type of president. As the Trump White House lurches from crisis-to-crisis, it’s evident that this isn’t the type of start Mr. Trump nor his supporters expected or wanted.

Since his first days in office, his agenda has created triggered fear, chaos, confusion and consternation. His rollback of some supports for the Affordable Care Act, the selection of controversial cabinet members—most of whom head agencies they’re intent on dismantling or render useless—and a Muslim Ban have elicited praise from his supporters and disdain from strong grassroots opposition.

President Trump has raised concerns about impulsive behavior, late-night tweets, his far-right political agenda, his nationalist, isolationist and authoritarian tendencies.

Joia Jefferson Nuri said she watches events unfolding with trepidation and fears for her country’s future.

“I expected chaos and confusion because he has no understanding of tradition and the rule of law. I knew that Trump’s lack of understanding of world history and world affairs would rear their ugly heads, but not this soon,” said Ms. Nuri, a community and events strategist for Human Rights and International Development who has deep roots in Baltimore. “I never expected to see it happen so quickly. It’s rapid-fire stuff which is surprising.”

Demonstrators protest President Donald Trump’s travel ban at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at LAX Airport.

“I want to be gleeful but I’m not naïve enough to assume that what happens to the GOP and the president won’t affect all of us,” she continued. “What bothers me most is turning back the clock 70 years for Black men and women, the poor and people of any race being rendered irrelevant to White men. He seeks to take us back pre-Martin Luther King, pre-Cesar Chavez. This is not the America I was born to, nor one I want to live in.”

Mr. Trump ran a campaign using racist rhetoric, statements and overtones. His liberal use of racial code words and his steady stoking of White racial resentment drew these voters as well as White nationalists and Neo-Nazis to his corner. He denounced undocumented immigrants, called undocumented Mexicans coming into the U.S. rapists and murderers and gleefully insulted people of color, Muslims, women, gays and lesbians and the disabled. He promised to build a wall between Mexico and the U.S.; pledged to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants; vowed to institute a rigorous monitoring and surveillance system for Muslims seeking to come to the United States; swore to repeal Obamacare; and made other promises and guarantees that don’t and will not bode well for those who’re not White or Christian.

An executive order signed on Jan. 25 fulfilled an oft-repeated campaign promise, but caused chaos for Muslims from seven countries seeking to enter the U.S. who got entangled in a dragnet. Administration officials and pundits acknowledged that the hurried nature of the order’s rollout and the decision by the president not to consult with affected agencies or members of Congress created unforeseen problems. This included confusion among those responsible for enforcing the order and disarray at airports as Customs and Immigrations officials detained men, women and children, put others on airplanes back to their points of origin and revoked travelers’ visas.

A federal appeals panel of judges upheld a lower court’s ruling that blocked implementation of the executive order but Mr. Trump promised to revise the order to conform with the court ruling.

Turmoil marked the administration’s first 26 days. The forced resignation of retired Gen. Michael Flynn as national security adviser capped what observers called an extraordinary amount of tumult in the Trump White House. The challenges include massive and sustained protests around the country against his executive orders and cabinet picks, conflicts of interest that the president has ignored, a rash of legal challenges, scandal, infighting among White House staff and recurring questions about Mr. Trump’s office suitability and temperament, illustrated by the high-handed and insulting way he dealt with world leaders like Mexico’s President Enrique Peña Nieto and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull of Australia.

Mr. Flynn was ousted after 24 days after he said he could not remember talking with a Russian official about sanctions imposed by the outgoing Obama administration. He lied to Vice President Mike Pence and other White House officials after calls made to Russia’s ambassador.

Mr. Trump has been at war with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other agencies in the intelligence community, career civil servants, the media, the courts and just about everyone who challenged his authority.

All this has left Establishment Washington, diplomats, lawmakers and others dismayed, unsettled and deeply disturbed. But critics and even those in the administration are fighting back by leaking information exposing the secretive White House.

After Gen. Flynn’s dismissal, Arizona Sen. John McCain hammered President Trump.

“General Flynn’s resignation is a troubling indication of the dysfunction of the current national security apparatus,” Mr. McCain said in a statement. “[In the White House], nobody knows who’s in charge and nobody knows who’s setting policy.”

Kemry Hughes, a political strategist and longtime Washington, D.C. activist, said Americans have been sold a bill of goods.

“This is one of the most confusing, chaotic and somewhat disturbing beginnings to a presidency that I’ve ever seen or heard,” Mr. Hughes said. “People wanted change but are easily impressed with the gift of gab, which he has. We’re seeing constant bumbling from someone who is ill-prepared and unsuitable. This leaves people with despair, uncertainty and danger quite honestly. His inability to act presidential and rein himself in from his whims and desires is pulling the country down a slippery slope.”

“Markets and other world leaders are looking for consistency and calm. They’re not looking for disarray and dysfunction, not looking for calamity and dysfunction. They want a president who knows what he’s doing,” he said.

Mr. Hughes, co-founder of the Umoja Party and who also served as Youth mayor while the late-Mayor Marion Barry was in office, said he’s particularly concerned about news reports of Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election and even more so with allegations that Trump aides have extensive contacts with Russians who may or may not have been spies.

“I’m not surprised with Russian involvement with Trump or (Secretary of State Rex) Tillerson. This president we have could be compromised. There’s no telling what nefarious images, tape recordings or other damaging information they may have on Trump,” Mr. Hughes lamented. “We know the craziness that exists at those levels. It could be all kinds of things. Someone could have sold stuff to the Russians.”

“Is there something on the president that he could be blackmailed for that makes him a puppet? He’s a loose cannon. They cannot trust him with any sensitive information. He’s not a good flagbearer for the GOP and will be an albatross in 2018.”

Dr. Wilmer Leon, radio talk show host of “Inside the Issues,” said President Trump and his aides have to come to terms with the reality that the president doesn’t have unlimited powers.

“This administration really doesn’t understand the separation of powers and checks and balances. The clearest example of that is Steve Miller saying ‘you’ll see how powerful the president is’ and that his powers are unquestioned. We’re not talking about North Korea, Kim Jung Un and his unrestrained powers or Saudi Arabia and the Saudi monarchs,” said Dr. Leon, a nationally syndicated columnist and author. “This is a representative democracy with three co-equal entities. The judiciary has an obligation to judge. The implications of Trump’s assertions are yet to be seen. This really has to do with what the other branches do. I’m encouraged that the circuit and appellant courts haven’t quietly ‘gone along to get along.’ ”

Ms. Nuri said she is incensed by the ill-conceived Muslim travel ban.

“It’s targeting Muslims, people who’ve targeted the U.S., people who are fleeing war,” she explained. “This is not who we are as a nation. The Statue of Liberty has tumbled into the water. White supremacy has reared its ugly head. The enemy is already here.”

“There are issues that created this such as foreign policies that supported issues and regimes on the wrong side of history. People come here to escape the fallout from those policies. People come here because home is intolerable, because of policies we support and enact,” she said.

But too often, Ms. Nuri said, those citizens and refugees fleeing war, conflict and the accompanying terror, are turned away, deported by presidents, including Barack Obama and Mr. Trump.

“These are men, woman and children who’re born in the wrong place. We want to have a fix that takes about 30 seconds. Until we stop and accept that this is payback for our deeds as a country, we will not get any closer to solving these problems,” she said.

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