IDonald Trump must be judged by what he promised. Taking him seriously and at his word is imperative: he believes what he says (at least temporarily). In politics, the 47th president is a man of conviction. Convinced, and in love, of his own genius, he will strive to achieve the maximum of what he has “sold” in the campaign – whether it is his action at home or away.
The mistake would be to imagine a calmer “Trump II”, freed from his commitments of past weeks once he is in the White House. Or to imagine a 47th president having no other ambition than to enjoy the contemplation of his own person in the role of the most powerful man on the planet.
Trump came forward with his face uncovered. Let's start with foreign policy. He is against free trade; he is unilateralist (he does not like international organizations); he despises the countries of the South (the poor); he respects powerful autocrats (Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin); he hates the European Union (because it has a surplus in its trade with the United States); he never seemed to care about Russian expansionism in Europe or elsewhere; he denies the effects of global warming; finally, it is indifferent to the nature of political regimes. The first choices announced to compose his team are compatible with this vision of the world.
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But he also wants to change America inside. He hears the ” fix “. A remarkable interpreter for a majority of his fellow citizens, he knows the mood of the Americans. For more than ten years, polls have been saying the same thing: the country is heading in the wrong direction. Born a millionaire, real estate development adventurer, lover of flash, considering “winning” as the highest of human qualities, Trump nonetheless has the right intuition about what the unqualified middle class is experiencing – decline in power purchase; regression of social and professional status; feeling of being despised in one's patriotic, religious and cultural beliefs. Trump was his spokesperson.
The metamorphosis of a Trumpized GOP
A talented prankster, he exploited the rage of this electorate. In the exercise, he never hesitated to call upon the darkest part of the country's DNA (racism, sexism and violence). Along the way, he completed the transformation of the Republican Party, the Grand Old Party (the GOP). The formation of economic elites, pro-globalization, pro-immigration, carrying high and proud American democratic missionarism, this party is no more. The Trumpized GOP is that of permanent denunciation of elites, that of hermetic borders, commercial protectionism and the withdrawal of world affairs.
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