Successes and Failures of President Trump Pt. 1

One does not presume to judge any president in listing these successes and failures. As a citizen, we can only assess progress and vote. My assessments are as follows.    

Success:

“Going Public”

President Donald Trump has harnessed the power of going public not only to rally constituents to pressure Congress on his objectives here at home but also abroad.

During the government shutdown, Trump used the press to create pressure on Congress into approving border wall funding. By both sympathizing with the 800,000 furloughed government employees while criticizing Congress for not agreeing to his deal or as Trump put it, “doing its job.”

The president was able to distance himself from the blame in the “unfortunate situation” and mitigated public outrage.

Trump successfully moved the negotiations toward his objective and increased support.

According to a NBC News Poll before the shutdown, only 59 percent of Republicans supported the wall, and 82 percent of Republicans supported it afterward.   

Trump often portrays ambiguously on Twitter and social media, “not saying this but…” to tell leaders of other nations how they should conduct their business.

After a tweet that reminded North Korea’s Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Un, that we have a more prominent nuclear button, Twitter had an international dilemma.

The @realDonaldTrump’s going public has enough effect across the globe that the social media giant felt it necessary to add a warning label to tweets that violate Twitter policies.

According to BuzzFeedNews, Twitter reasoned that because the tweets are coming from “Global Leaders,” the company thought it could not, for “the public interest,” remove or censor the tweets.

Failure:

Foreign Emoluments

Trump’s Foreign Emoluments continue without congressional oversight. 

When running for office, Trump pledged not to use his office to help his business. Then he pitched his Florida club for the next G7 summit, which is a gathering of the world’s top seven national economic powers to discuss global economic policy.

In a December 11th, 2016 interview on Fox News, the President-Elect said, “I’m not going to have anything to do with the management of the company… I’m going to be so focused on doing a great job as president.”

Regardless of whether it appears to be a conflict, or it is, is not the issue. The issue where Trump fails here is in flouting Congressional oversight guaranteed to the people in the Constitution.

In 2017, a record-setting lawsuit was brought against the president by 196 senators because he denied them their right to oversight.   

Some examples of Trump’s foreign emolument conflicts of interest: 

The U.K. – BBC licensing of Trump’s reality TV show, The Apprentice 

China – Trademarks on Trump brands 

Foreign Governments renting space in his buildings

The Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution prohibits any U.S. President from accepting benefits from foreign states unless the president first obtains the consent of Congress.

Trump Has Never Sought or Received Such Permission

By not submitting to congressional oversight into his foreign emoluments, Trump is considered by many to be putting the best interests of his businesses over the best interests of the nation. 

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