Delivering results yes he can

Delivering results yes he can

Brad Todd’s and Salena Zito’s The Great Revolt: Inside the Populist Coalition Reshaping American Politics starts with a telling anecdote. Lifelong Ohio Democrat voter Bonnie Smith had a change of heart and voted for Donald Trump in 2016 because she and her husband believed that the Democratic Party was no longer speaking of their interests. It was a tough decision, but could not just “show up and vote for who my party tells me I had to vote for”. It was this powerful sentiment propelling voters like the Smiths to vote for Trump that was, perhaps, the most under-recognised element of the 2016 election.

So why is this important some 19 months after November 2016? The wild reaction to Trump’s presidency so far by certain sections in the US mirror the hysterics to his election year slugfest that saw him come from nowhere to win the presidency. Every attempt has been made to denigrate and downplay his achievements, while playing up his missteps, even the silly ones (remember the brouhaha over ‘covfefe’?).

There was the charge of Trump’s supposed failure to enact legislation and push through policies. Much was made out of the failed attempts to scrap Obamacare. Tax cuts were supposed to bomb, but that was before companies announced bonuses, stepped up hiring and households getting more ‘take home’ money. Then came North Korea.

This has been Trump’s first big foreign policy success. The US, along with South Korea and with a nudge from China, managed to convince an overly sensitive, suspicious Kim Jong-un not only to agree to talks, but also to fly to Singapore for a faceto-face meeting with the US president. Of course, this summit needs follow-through to show intended results. Much depends on the concessions offered by the US and whether Kim actually agrees to denuclearise North Korea, considering having nuclear weapons has been, paradoxically, the country’s only strategic trump card.

But much of the US ‘liberal’ mainstream media —of which we are more aware of here in India —has chosen to downplay Trump’s role in bringing about this historic event.

The fact of the matter is that Trump is winning. The US economy is growing and 15,000-20,000 new jobs are being created every month. The confidence of small business is at a 34-year high with many wanting to expand and increase prices. Trump is also reordering the US’ relationship with global major powers. Whether it will last and fulfil his promises remains to be seen.

There are challenges ahead. We don’t know how much the high tariffs will hurt workers and the economy, and whether new trade deals can be struck quickly. Runaway inflation and high interest rates can wreck growth. All this, while Trump still has to get over the investigations into the alleged intervention of Russia in the 2016 elections and help Republicans win in the November mid-term elections. But the latest polls will tell you that Trump and the Republicans are gaining ground.

In the summer of 1987, President Ronald Reagan urged his Soviet counterpart Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down the Berlin Wall”. Thirty one summers later, Trump may have set the wheels in motion to tear down the ‘wall’ separating North and South Korea, one of the last vestiges of the Cold War. And that is the real significance of the Singapore summit.