Trump Is
Not America
In an
editorial, SPIEGEL ONLINE's Washington correspondent describes how a European
views the United States in the age of Trump. Is there still hope, after all?
© Christian O. Bruch/ laif By Roland Nelles in Washington, DC
February
05, 2018 02:29 PM
Call me a
hopeless optimist, but I'm sure the United States and the rest of us will
survive this insane presidency. I simply do not believe that Donald Trump will
fundamentally change the U.S. or even the world.
He's too
chaotic for that. Above all, though, Trump is not America. I have come to this
realization during the time I have spent living in Washington and while
traveling to many different parts of the country. America is incredibly large,
diverse and pluralistic. It has a strong rule of law, and it is still a
wonderful democracy, with a rather unruly and self-confident population. The
president is not omnipotent here. All sorts of strong institutions and rules
are in place to ensure that his power is kept in check. As such, I'm certain
that no president has an easy time governing here.
Of course,
Trump has his supporters, and they would probably even walk over burning coals
for him. But the rest of the country either has no clear opinion about Trump or
is clearly against him. What I have witnessed is that these people haven't
simply disappeared or shut up now that he's in power. Many question his
policies in the media, at universities, in Congress and in liberal states such
as California or New York. They slow Trump down by filing lawsuits against his
actions, annoying and distracting him and mounting protests. Some Americans may
be pessimistic about their country's future, but as a European, I see these all
these things as impressive symbols of the strength of American society and
democracy.
'Mini Revolution'
Trump is
not America. Trump surely imagined his presidency would be far easier than it
has been when, a year ago, he gave his dark inaugural speech on the steps of
the Capitol in Washington. At the time, he promised to do everything
differently, to completely renew America -- politically, economically and
socially. He proclaimed his own groundbreaking Trump Revolution, but what we
have witnessed so far could at best be described as a "mini
revolution."
The economy
is running smoothly, but that's the result of a normal economic cycle. And
Trump's tax plan probably would have been implemented in the same way by any
other Republican president. And rather than abolishing his predecessor's
Obamacare health care reform, he has merely improved it for the worse. On the
issue of immigration, meanwhile, he has so far only presented at best hardline,
patchwork solutions. What's more, it's very unlikely he will obtain funding for
his much-touted infrastructure plan or to build a wall on the Mexican border
without the Democrats' consent.
His foreign
policy follows the same logic: He stirs considerable confusion -- take the
Middle East conflict or his threatening rhetoric toward North Korea, for
example. But the cornerstones of American foreign policy remain untouched: He's
still sticking with NATO, even though he called it "obsolete" during
the election campaign. Trump is even trying to rein in Russia. At the same
time, he's also seeking common solutions with the Chinese on trade issues. And
at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he even seemed to back-peddle from his
"America first" approach by proclaiming that "America first
doesn't mean America alone."
Daily
Nonsense
Of course,
one can still get worked up about the nonsense Trump churns out every day. His
tweets are mostly idiotic, and his attacks on the press, the way he has handled
the Russia scandal and his in part overt racism are all unworthy of a
president. He hurts people and he's a major nuisance to many Americans.
In my view,
however, the real problem with Trump's policies is a completely different one:
Under Trump, too many important things simply remain unresolved. Be it the U.S.
or the world, this presidency is lost time for us all -- four years or even
eight if things get really bad.
Since I've
been living in the U.S., I find myself thinking that America is a great and
very rich country. But Trump is also justified in his criticism of some things.
That's probably why he won the election. And although every American president
has a massive workload on his plate, Trump seems to have difficulty getting
anything done. In many ways, the country is regressing rather than progressing
under his leadership.
The health
care system is indeed insane -- a "disaster" as Trump calls it,
especially from the perspective of someone who comes from Germany. And this
despite Obamacare. In Germany, everybody gets almost full health insurance
coverage for every illness that may occur, and the premiums are relatively
affordable. A few years ago, there was such an outcry after people were slapped
with a 10-euro ($12), out-of-pocket co-pay for each visit to the doctor that it
eventually got dropped. In the U.S., however, the pharmaceutical industry
demands skyrocketing prices, and the same drug can cost anywhere from $70 to
$600 depending on the insurance plan you have. A routine check-up at the
dentist can cost as much as $400. People pay high premiums for their insurance
and yet they must often still pay thousands of dollars out of their own pockets
if they have an operation.
And then
there's the poverty in the cities and in some rural areas. For me, as a
European, that's astonishing. I've been to Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey. You see parts of these states that are so run down that you inevitably
ask yourself: What have the presidents of the last two decades, including
Barack Obama, really done to address this issue?
Or take the
issue of immigration. Why, I wonder, does the U.S. allow so many people from
desperately poor regions of the world into the country who are then largely
left to determine their fates on their own? And why do highly qualified
foreigners sometimes have such a hard time obtaining a work visa? The country
seems to lack a coherent immigration strategy. Nobody really seems to care
about the newcomers from Latin America or Asia and whether they learn the
language or land decently paid jobs. They often live at the margins of society,
with the American Dream well out of their reach.
One would
think that the Republicans and Democrats would have to pull together to come up
with working solutions. But they don't -- and therein lies the problem.
Instead, the atmosphere remains toxic, as evidenced by the current budget
dispute. Trump is unfit to be a leader. Rather than bring people together, he
deepens the trenches. It's time for him to finally make good on his lofty
pledge to "heal" the country. But is that what he really even wants
to do?
There's
More To America than Trump
Trump is
not America. And this also means that there's more to America than Donald
Trump. Life goes on in many places, people continue to focus on the more
mundane aspects of their everyday lives. Does the subway run on time? What's
the price of gas? What's new at school? How are things at work? It may be hard
to believe, but the world doesn't spend all its time occupied with Trump's
scandals on Twitter. People live through crises like the
"shutdown-showdown" with little more than a shrug. The Americans
already know well that their politicians stand in each other's way. That isn't
new. Gridlock also happened under Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
At the end
of the day, the president is just one American among many. The everyday life of
most people does not change fundamentally just because he's now in the White
House. The Americans I meet every day are as friendly, open-minded and
courageous as ever -- regardless whether they like Trump or not.
There is a
pendulum theory in American politics: It states that the political mood in the
country sometimes swings in one direction, and then in the other. From that perspective,
Trump's successor would have to be a reconciler, wise, friendly and successful.
That would be a welcome change.
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