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Opinion | Trump’s disruptive behaviour threatens the US and the world. Will no one stand up to this self-styled king?
- The irascible US president is using brute force to sweep aside climate change concerns while ignoring a two-state solution in the Middle East and bullying other world leaders into avoiding Huawei as he seeks to dismantle the global order
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Anyone who imagined that President Donald Trump’s impeachment acquittal would allow American politics to return to more civilised ways of discussing polity and policy calmly can surely stop dreaming.
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Far from being chastened, Trump has gone on the warpath to cleanse the White House of non-loyalists, to bring “his” Justice Department under control, and pursue those who began the impeachment “witch hunt”. He is seeking to crush his opponents in presidential and congressional elections in November.
Meanwhile, his secretaries of state and defence are simultaneously cajoling and threatening European and other allies to ban Huawei telecoms from their countries.
Trump’s behaviour invites the question of whether he sees himself as a king who seeks an eternal dynasty, or even an irascible god-king who will not countenance opposition.
Trump gave this thought some substance, and showed his conceit and contempt for the rest of the world immediately after his impeachment acquittal by tweeting a video of himself behind a lectern that says: “TRUMP 4EVA”. You might regard it as a joke, but Trump generally does not do humour, not against himself.
Never mind that the US constitution rules out the election of any person as president more than twice, or that Trump is already 73. In case Trump fails to sweep the constitution aside or gain the secret of eternal life, his son Donald Jnr and daughter Ivanka are reportedly vying to succeed him in 2024.
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