Only a relatively few sprinkles fell on US President Donald Trump’s inauguration parade. By contrast absolute doubt and worry descended in greater force, starting with the cloudy and overcast American capital city of Washington, then across the vast expanse of the North American continent, to all the way to San Francisco. Protests were held. Mostly untouched by the foul political weather was America’s mid-sector, often termed Middle America. People there were reportedly mainly happy with what it saw and heard. In fact, the new president gave a clear, focused and blessedly short inauguration address that worked for them, but had the notable deficiency of not adequately addressing the other half of the nation.
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This will surely prove the crux of the governance problem for the incoming Trump. He may well produce a good 50 per cent presidency – perhaps even quite a good one. Such a halfway achievement seems well within his capacity, as his campaign demonstrated: to be able to appeal to his base, even by repeatedly recycling baseless appeals to outmoded economics and international relations notions.
US President Donald Trump waves to spectators as he walks with US first lady Melania Trump during the inauguration parade on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC. Photo: EPA
His emphasis on nationalism will warm the hearts of many who feel left out, but leave cold those Americans who are convinced that in a globalised world a simplistic psychology of “America First” will wind up leaving America Second. Already the president of the People’s Republic of China has announced, at the recent Davos Forum, the birth of an emerging new Chinese national mentality that is as proud of its history as America is of its; but will not foolishly seek to chart a path forward in the 21st century by proposing to return it to the 20th.
Watch: Xi at Davos says globalisation is here to stay
The average American may well have a thirst to see America first, but it is hardly the vision of the preschooler who must be the only one to play with all the Legos. Honestly: Trump’s anti-establishment pose is as old as the hills; the protectionist position reminds us mainly of another great Depression; and his rank nationalism sounds as if America can do no wrong – which feels like a formula that could push America every which way wrong.
