In just 10 days, Donald Trump has turned the world upside down. And in office, he seems to be the worst imaginable reality of his earlier selves as President-Elect Trump and Candidate Trump. He has left the liberal world shocked and shaken with what it sees as unethical, unconstitutional and undiplomatic policies by the President of the United States. His office has declared the US media as its opposition and enemy, and the new administration has decided to ignore the media's outcry. And why shouldn't they?
If you ignore the people (and the media) of the two coasts, middle White America is delighted with what President Trump has done. He is doing what they perceive they elected him to do: dam the flow of illegal Mexicans, stop Muslim terrorists from arriving into the country, push American industry to create and keep jobs in the US, provide cheap energy, and try and stop the funding of Planned Parenthood. Once again, those who could not see the Trump victory, seem blinded by the fact the Great White Middle American majority is enjoying every moment of this ride. And the more he acts like this, the more they will celebrate.
Each presidential action by Trump has targeted a constituency that supported him, giving them what they want. As one commentator
pointed out, the ban on US funds to NGOs supporting abortion is directed at the Christian Right and seeks to enforce that despite his sexual foibles, they are right to stick with him because he will give then what they want. On Friday Vice President Pence became the highest ranking US official to address an anti-abortion rally where he
promised an anti-abortion judge. This was music to conservative Christian ears.
The simple "logic" of his arguments appeals to this mass audience. Take the point he made on ABC's interview with him about ISIS and Iraq. He said that had the US not given up Iraqi oil fields, there would have been no ISIS, because the oil is what powered its growth. QED. Similarly, the massive appeal of "Let's Make America Great Again" leads to "America First", wherein the logic is that if the Trump administration puts American interest first, America will be great again. Of course, liberal America can rail against this logic, say it is counter-productive and will lead to trade wars, it is allowing China to become the leader of the free trade world, etc.
The cartoon below represents the world view of middle America.
That's wonderful. But people forget that most of America hasn't really cared for the rest of the world. If you live in Kansas, as a lot of this administration has, then isolationism comes to you easily. Until a century ago, when the US entered the first World War, American foreign policy had largely been governed by the Monroe Doctrine that stated that European powers should stay out of the Americas, and America had no interest in the old world.
So if after a century, middle Americans wants to retreat into their cocoon, should one be surprised? The US probably has the
lowest percentage of people holding passports in the developed world. Only 46% of Americans have passports, compared to more than 75% in Britain. More interestingly, the 19 states that supported Clinton had the high passport numbers, while parts of middle America were as low as under 10%, underlying their isolationism. In three of the Democrat states that swung Trump - Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin - under 40% of the population has passports.
The other important thing that Trump has played on, although much of what he has done needs substance, is presenting that he has acted on commitments made to supporters. Even though neither abandoning Obamacare nor building the wall or taxing Mexican imports has got even to first base. But this group of core supporters aren't the type that want to hear details. They are fine with the waving of the flag, at least for the moment. The impression is that he has walked the line. Stopping Muslim immigrants gives a strong impression of a man of action, as opposed to eight years of inaction.
And if what has happened in the last ten days is worrying liberal America, there is worse to come. The promise of a conservative anti-abortion Supreme Court nominee will be realized and the US can look forward to a much more conservative court. The greater fear is that even conservative judges in the court who sometimes went "rogue", like Anthony Kennedy, may feel public pressure from conservative America to support their agenda.
And in that agenda is maintaining the white (read conservative) majority in electing Congress and the President. This is a very serious issue and the way it plays out in the next year could derail the Democrats' hopes of winning power by winning minorities. The two key issues will be the ability of states to discourage and discriminate against minority voters by maintaining difficult registration procedures, shorter voting periods and making voting booths less accessible to minority voters. This played out successfully in North Carolina, which stymied the efforts of Hilary Clinton to win the state in the presidential election.
The other threat, which Republicans have alluded to, is to make the elector votes like Congressional votes. Currently, in a presidential election, the winner is one who, like Trump, wins the electoral votes. These electoral votes are allotted by most states on a winner-take-all basis. There is a conservative push to align electoral votes with Congressional districts, giving the presidential candidates a vote per Congressional seat. Suffice to say that such change, the Republicans believe, would make it easier for their candidates to win Presidential elections. Republicans have held Congressional majorities in the House for 18 of the last 24 years, but the Presidency for only 8 years.
The liberal media has failed to convince the white majority that Trump's withholding his tax returns and not transferring or selling his interests in his businesses is unethical. And the Republicans in Congress are still so stunned to have come back to power, especially in the Senate, on the coat tails of Donald Trump, that most are willing to turn a blind eye to all these finer points, hoping that they can take forward the broader agenda of conservative America. How long this honey will last depends on their perception of where the Republican voters are on Donald Trump. Despite the furore of the ban on Muslims from seven countries entering the US, these conservatives voters seem to be backing Trump.
(Ishwari Bajpai is Senior Advisor at NDTV)Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.