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Arise News –
ARISE News is a 24 hour international television news channel reporting
on major global news with a strong focus on Africa.
Arise News – ARISE News is a 24 hour international television news channel …
Trump Assumes Office In a Storm of Controversy
News Analysis
By noon (local time) today, Donald John Trump assumes office as the most unpopular newly-elected American president in at least four decades. Two polls, released on Tuesday, agree on the fact that the billionaire, who becomes the 45th American president, holds the lowest approval ratings record in recent memory.
Indeed, both ABC News/Washington Post
and CNN/ORC polls showed he had dismally poor approval ratings.
According to these polls, just 40 per cent of Americans view him
favourably. The former rates his six predecessors as follows: Jimmy
Carter (78 per cent), Ronald Reagan (58 per cent), George H.W. Bush (65
per cent), Bill Clinton (68 per cent), George W. Bush (62 per cent) and
Obama (79 per cent), while the latter rated Clinton (67 per cent),
George W Bush (61 per cent) and Obama (84 per cent).
Meanwhile, Trump has dismissed the polls as “phony” and “rigged”,
arguing in a tweet: “The same people who did the phony election polls,
and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls. They are rigged
just like before.”
Indeed, the same survey had said that 44
per cent of Americans believe that Trump is qualified to serve as
president, while a majority (52 per cent) say he is not.
While on the campaign trail last year, Trump had frequently blasted them out on Twitter. This was even when they had good news for him. But he would accuse media organisations of rigging the numbers when they showed him behind his rivals.
While on the campaign trail last year, Trump had frequently blasted them out on Twitter. This was even when they had good news for him. But he would accuse media organisations of rigging the numbers when they showed him behind his rivals.
On the eve of the general election, Trump narrowly trailed his main
rival, the Democratic Party nominee, Hillary Clinton. The latter hovered
anywhere from 2 to 4 percentage points over her Republican rival.
Curiously, Trump captured the Electoral
College to win the presidency, while Clinton won the popular vote by
nearly 2.9 million (65,844,954 to 62,979,879) — an advantage of slightly
more than 2 per cent.
Add to Trump’s unenviable record-the
fact that his cabinet will be the first without a single Latino member
since the Ronald Reagan administration. The Washington Post says that
every previous administration has had a secretary or top ambassador of
Latino descent. This began with Reagan’s appointment of Lauro Cavazos as
education secretary in the waning months of his presidency in 1988. The
Post also observed that “Trump’s Cabinet won’t have a Democrat, just
three women, one African-American man—and no Latino.”
A feud between the newly elected
president and the civil rights’ icon and congressman, John Lewis, has
led to a rising number of Democratic lawmakers planning to boycott his
inauguration. Already, over 50 House Democrats have confirmed that they
will not witness Trump’s swearing-in ceremony as the 45th US president.
To Lewis’s assertion last Friday that
Trump’s inauguration would be the first one he would miss since being
elected to Congress in the 1980s, Trump pointed to Lewis’ absence from
George W. Bush’s inauguration in 2001. “John Lewis said about my
inauguration, ‘It will be the first one that I’ve missed.’ WRONG (or
lie)!” Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. “He boycotted Bush 43 also because
he… thought it would be hypocritical to attend Bush’s swearing-in….he
doesn’t believe Bush is the true elected president.’ Sound familiar!
WP”.
“WP” in Trump’s tweet is an allusion to
the Washington Post, which in its January 21, 2001 edition had reported
that Lewis was among a group of Congressional Black Caucus members who
had decided to boycott George W. Bush’s first inauguration. Bush’s
ascension to office was tarnished by a contentious Supreme Court
decision over the Florida recount.
The Washington Post had said that “John
Lewis, for instance, spent the day in his Atlanta district. He thought
it would be hypocritical to attend Bush’s swearing-in because he doesn’t
believe Bush is the true elected president.”
Lewis had courted controversy when
during last Friday “Meet the Press” interview he said he does not
consider Trump to be a “legitimate president”. Trump’s volley of tweets
followed on Saturday morning and continued into that evening.
But Trump’s feud with Lewis at a time
when the US is commemorating the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. led to
the increase of Democratic lawmakers from the initial small group who
had planned to boycott the inauguration to over 50, many of whom cited
Trump’s tweets about Lewis as their reason.
Perhaps, in a bid to ease tensions, Trump met with Martin Luther King III in New York on Monday to discuss voting rights.
Perhaps, in a bid to ease tensions, Trump met with Martin Luther King III in New York on Monday to discuss voting rights.
Yet, his ill-advised brawl with Lewis – a
man who was clubbed by the police and hospitalised during the 1965’s
historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery – could potentially
further hurt his relations with the African-American community and even
pitch the Democrats against the Republicans.
It is ironic that Lewis’s charge of
illegitimacy should be a source of irritation for Trump. Did he not
spend years trying to prove the same about his predecessor’s presidency?
Besides, Trump’s quirky habit of tweeting his response at a slightest
provocation remains a cause for concern among those who think his tweets
could unleash unsavoury global consequences.
Lewis based his decision not to attend
Trump’s inauguration on the alleged Russian interference in the November
election. Hence, the civil rights icon’s allusion to Trump’s
illegitimacy.
But even with the controversy swirling
around him, Americans have one good reason to look forward to his
presidency: job-creation.
The real estate developer’s last November’s win at the presidential polls seemed to have spurred many companies to announce the creation of new factories or jobs in the US. Among them are the air conditioning manufacturer, Carrier, Japan’s SoftBank, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and Amazon, which famously promised to create 100,000 jobs.
The real estate developer’s last November’s win at the presidential polls seemed to have spurred many companies to announce the creation of new factories or jobs in the US. Among them are the air conditioning manufacturer, Carrier, Japan’s SoftBank, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and Amazon, which famously promised to create 100,000 jobs.
Also, there were cheery announcements by
Wal-Mart and General Motors. While the former announced on Tuesday that
it would invest $6.8 billion in the US and create 10,000 jobs, the
latter offered $1 billion in new US investments and pledged to create
5,000 new jobs.
For this, Trump took the credit in his Tuesday tweet.
“With all of the jobs I am bringing back into the US (even before taking office), with all of the new auto plants coming back into our country and with the massive cost reductions I have negotiated on military purchases and more, I believe the people are seeing ‘big stuff,’” he claimed.
“With all of the jobs I am bringing back into the US (even before taking office), with all of the new auto plants coming back into our country and with the massive cost reductions I have negotiated on military purchases and more, I believe the people are seeing ‘big stuff,’” he claimed.
Trump last month also denounced the $4
billion price tag on the next presidential plane, which is currently
being developed, with a threat to cancel the order unless the price came
down. This led to the visit of the aviation giant Boeing’s CEO Dennis
Muilenburg to Trump Tower in Manhattan on Tuesday. Muilenburg would tell
reporters afterwards that he and Trump were “on the same page” about
the cost and value of the jet.
On the foreign scene, while his foreign policy proposals had appeared vague and contradictory during his campaign, Russia and Israel had openly rooted for his presidency. Meanwhile, his NATO allies were discomfited by his recent remarks to the effect that the alliance is obsolete. He came short of berating Germany for its open-door policy on refugees.
On the foreign scene, while his foreign policy proposals had appeared vague and contradictory during his campaign, Russia and Israel had openly rooted for his presidency. Meanwhile, his NATO allies were discomfited by his recent remarks to the effect that the alliance is obsolete. He came short of berating Germany for its open-door policy on refugees.
Meanwhile, preparations for his
inauguration had entered the final stages since Sunday when organisers
carried out a rehearsal of the ceremony and parade, with a military
officer who is the same height as Trump standing in for the
president-elect. Washington DC’s central axis, running from the White
House to the Capitol, where Trump will be sworn in, has been cordoned
off.
The task of ensuring safety at the event
has been entrusted to about 28,000 security forces, some of whom are
already on duty in the streets of Washington. Perhaps, a major security
challenge is the planned protest march by hundreds of thousands of
protesters on Friday and Saturday.
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