Story by Oleen Ndori, Foreign Desk Editor
UNITED States President Donald Trump has made sweeping executive actions, including announcing the withdrawal of the US from the World Health Organisation and declaring a national emergency at the southern border.
The move which was made soon after Trump’s inauguration has left observers and analysts convinced his return to the Whitehouse is an indication that the will of the people should be allowed to prevail.
Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States in the Rotunda of the US Capitol this Monday, as he returns to the White House after four years.
Day One in office after delivering his inaugural speech saw Trump pardoning about 1 500 of his supporters who attacked the US Capitol four years ago, signing a series of executive actions to curb immigration and ending a policy that confers citizenship to those born in the United States.
Trump further signed an executive action to start the process of the US’s withdrawal from the World Health Organisation along with the Paris Climate Accord.
After Trump laid out his intentions to acquire Greenland, the Panama Canal, the Gulf of Mexico, and Canada, some citizens have expressed concern that his international policies could have dire consequences for the US economy and working class.
“Politically, internationally, I think he is already trying to buy Greenland and all those things, the Panama Canal. I don’t think he is doing well on the international (front),” said a citizen.
“A big thing Trump likes to talk about is tariffs. That sounds like that’s going to be a huge driver of economic policy. I’m not a fan of that. I think ultimately it’s going to raise prices for you and me. I don’t want to pay more for stuff. We’ve already come through an inflationary period, so I don’t see how that works, other than it seems like a negotiating ploy,” said a U.S. man added.
Conversely, many of President Trump’s supporters are confident his policies will usher in positive economic outcomes.
I believe that the effect that he’ll have, based on me personally being a business owner, I believe there is a lot of great aspects that he can contribute to that. But I also believe it’s all about how you can utilize what he is doing to your advantage, because he is a businessman,” another American man said.
International Relations Expert Mr Richard Mahomva believes Trump’s return to the Whitehouse after being convicted on 34 charges and an attempt to bar him from running in the 2024 plebiscite is an indication that the will of the people should be allowed to dictate the paths a country chooses to take.
“His historic comeback, as he says in his speech is expressive of the extent to which the politics in the West has transitioned from the discourse of the narrow-ism of term limits. It’s also quite expressive of how much the electorate across the rest of the world is no longer guided by democratic clocks in as much as Africa is continuously being compelled to focus on the narrow-ism of democratic clocks and the obsession with term limits.
“That as it may be, is quite expressive that in other jurisdictions, particularly these larger jurisdictions, America being one of them, there is more electoral emphasis on the broad-based vision that a leader carries.
There is more electoral consensus on the long-term policy goals that a leader carries for their people.
“And it is on that basis that Trump’s political return should be assessed with, and probably offering an opportunity for the third world to rethink the perspective of the democratic clocks, especially those that emanate from negotiated constitutional outcomes that Africa has undergone,” Mr Mahomva said.
He further said Trump’s inauguration speech de-stereotypes the notion of US as a democracy and its xenophobic outlook.
“Trump de-stereotypifies the notion of America as a democracy. He indicated a lot of political pitfalls and a lot of governance challenges. And in a way for me, I think it’s also quite critical that he articulated that.
“His views on immigration underscore that very essentialist, that very exclusive, for lack of a better word, and that very xenophobic outlook of the American foreign policy and its migration laws, which in a way contradicts the diplomatic pretence that America has shown to the rest of the global South, that they are an all-embracing and all-welcoming state.
“Yes, of course, he spoke of the issue of decolourising America or not looking much at the issue of colourism. But the fact that he has made an acknowledgement of that is quite elaborate on the extent to which the modern American society is founded on those values and that those of us who are in the global South must not look at America as that paragon of democratic maturity.
“As that paragon of citizen inclusivity, migrational and immigrational inclusivity, as they have tried to present it through their many foreign policy proxies who posture so much of the diplomatic pretence that the Americans tend to construct out of themselves to the rest of the world.”
Trump takes over from Joe Biden and begins a new four-year term with the global community watching closely as events unfold in Washington.
