TRUMP IS NOW BEING SEEN AS A VERY POOR CHIEF EXECUTIVE

…The American public deserve a better president than this one

 

The president has become so isolated that he is only trusting of himself

 

Have any of you noticed how disconnected the president has become with the government for which he is responsible as its chief executive? 

 

President Trump has offered us the most unusual administration in modern times. It is a portrait of a president who thinks he is alone as president, such as he was in running his New York real estate business.  He seems he is so embattled that he feels he has to take matters into his own hands whenever possible, and he does so apparently against the advice of many of those around him.  The very ones that probably have the experience to give him some very good advice.

 

But we know that Donald Trump always know what’s best for Donald and the country, just ask The Donald!

 

It is appearing that Donald Trump is the most ignorant and disconnected president that this nation has ever had.  Yes, he was duly elected last November and was sworn into office in January.  Since then, we have witnessed one of the strangest presidencies this country has ever experienced.

No former president has ever had such a low approval rating in his first months in office.  Now that the fired FBI Director Comey has testified under oath about what went on between him and the president, the White House is reeling from that testimony, and it has further eroded the trust in the president and his administration.

 

Events and reporting in recent days have brought this portrait into high definition, just as Trump’s White House absorbed the text of Comey’s prepared testimony which was released by the Senate Intelligence Committee.  The testimony confirms what was previously reported, but with some new facts, including a quote he attributes to the president, who said to him, “I need loyalty, I expect loyalty.”

 

Comey is smart and shrewd, and he knows that the investigation he once oversaw is now in the hands of a friend and another former FBI director, Robert S. Mueller.  This new player will have the ultimate say on what all the evidence proves or doesn’t prove about Russian hacking during the election.  Mueller will determine if possible collusion occurred between the Russians and Trump campaign associates.  He will also determine if there was any interference into the investigation since then.

But even if Comey goes no further, the power of his words will offer more impression than the former leaked reports or even the prepared testimony. That’s the nature of moments like this, when public testimony rises to the level of both great political theater and the potential for major legal and political risk. Trump’s advisers should be prepared for more difficult future days, and from the ongoing investigation.

 

So, what have we learned this week? 

 

We learned is that the president is operating on his own.  At one turn after another, we have a president who is at odds with those who serve him.  He continues to freelance his views and grievances through tweets and other means of expression while disrupting the ongoing operations of government and diplomacy.

 

Trump has even complained on Twitter about his own Justice Department’s rewriting of his original travel ban. Those tweets potentially damage the government’s legal case, and they ignore the fact that the president signed the original and the revised order that he now mocks.

The New York Times has reported Trump’s dissatisfaction with his own chosen Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  The president continues to not forgive Sessions for recusing himself from all things related to Russia, which was the proper move for Sessions. That Sessions decision, eventually led to Comey’s departure and the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel.  (Just what the president didn’t want.) Jeff Sessions, was one of Trump’s earliest and most important endorsers and a total loyalist throughout the campaign.  But Sessions is receiving no loyalty in return from the president, which has immediately caused all of those other loyal Trump supporters to perhaps re-think their loyalty. 

 

You will notice that after the Comey testimony, the only people that were talking in support of Trump were his sons.  There were no former Attorney Generals, no key Republican Senators and we still need to have the closed hearings where the Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director, Adm. Mike Rogers had declined to answer questions in the open hearing, as also did the Asst. AG, Rod Rosenstein.  This has made it appear that perhaps these intelligence officials were also asked by the president to “let former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn loose”.

 

In another example of the president being disconnected from his top advisers, Politico has now reported that the reaffirming of this nation’s commitment to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, a standard statement that was removed from last month’s NATO speech by Trump himself. The president’s senior national security advisers had originally signed off on the wording, but apparently the statement was removed without their knowledge.  This has been the agreement of the US going back to the forming of NATO after WWII.

 

This is all in the wake of a recent decision by Persian Gulf nations to cut-off relations with Qatar, for their financial support of terrorists.  This has caused even more turmoil in the Middle East.  But Trump made it worse when he used Twitter in trying to take credit for the cut-off via a tweet about what he had said and done while in Saudi Arabia.  His own cabinet members have now had to come to his rescue.  That being that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis offered careful and reassuring reactions, in hopes to contain the issues, rather than enlarging the rift.

But that's not all.  Trump had also gotten into a Twitter spat with London Mayor Sadiq Khan in the aftermath of the latest terrorist attack.  Even though the feud between Trump and the London Mayor began more than a year ago, the president’s decision to use this moment to revive the feud brought shocked reaction and criticism from many British citizens.

 

Even though he hears plenty of good advice, the president sees himself badly outnumbered in the national conversation,  He hears few defenders as he constantly monitors the cable television news and print media.

 

Trump’s tweet storms are his most immediate way of responding. But they and other events have led to the image of a president isolated and trusting only himself.  He is now willing to disrupt his long-standing relationships as well as the on-going and orderly operations of government, regardless of the consequences to the country or potentially his presidency.

 

These are just more examples of Trump’s disconnect with his presidency and it’s going to get very old if this is the way this administration is going to function for the rest of its tenure.

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017