The making of Trump House: how the US president-elect is putting his brand on the White House
Kevin Rafferty says when the next leader of the free world is a freewheeling businessman who goes with his gut instincts, the rest of the world can expect the unexpected
Trump, the businessman president, is a man of our time
Trump released a two-minute-37-second YouTube video of himself declaring his plans for his first 100 days, promising to “make America great again” by “putting America first. “Whether it’s producing steel, building cars or curing disease, I want the next generation of production and innovation to happen right here, in our great homeland America, creating wealth and jobs for American workers.”
He would withdraw from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, “a potential disaster for our country”, and remove energy restrictions, investigate visa abuse and start to “drain the swamp” of Washington by imposing a five-year ban on officials becoming lobbyists.
Notable omissions from the video are getting rid of Obamacare, throwing out millions of undocumented immigrants, building the great wall of America to keep out Mexicans and other illegals, imposing tough checks on Muslims, bashing China, or revising military alliances with South Korea, Japan or Europe. It may be that his two-and-a-half-minute attention span did not stretch to such weighty issues.
• Climate change is not a Chinese hoax.
• He is inclined not to prosecute his opponent Hillary Clinton.
• He expressed doubts about the value of torturing terrorism suspects.