Feature by Alice Tettey-
OHIO USA
Sponsored by the USA Embassy -
Ghana
Ohio-USA, Jan. 20, - Today marks
exactly one year after President Donald Trump was sworn into office as the 45th
President of the United States of America.
There have, however been growing
concerns by many across the globe that his domestic and international relationships
are unconventional.
Notable among the concerns are
his relationship with the mainstream media, which he takes on with the least or
no provocation at all.
Trump, a Republican, whose main
campaign message was, “Let's make America great again”, polled a surprise by toppling
Democrat, Hillary Clinton when he won 304 of the total of 538 electoral votes.
The winner needed a simple
majority of 270 to sail through.
By the United States
Constitution, the popular votes cast by voters across the federal states, does
not determine the winner but the electoral votes by the Electoral College does.
Thus, despite the sweeping 66
million of the popular votes cast, Mrs. Clinton could not win the Electoral College,
which decided the winner.
FACTORS ACCOUNTING FOR TRUMP's
WIN
One of the reasons considered for
Trump's win in the most industrious “Rust Belt” States-- Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan
and Wisconson- was that many voters there were peeved with Democratic leaders
who have over time failed to heed their demands or listen to their voices to
revive the defunct industries to create jobs for the people.
Mrs Clinton erroneously, never
stepped foot to campaign in these states with the belief that it was a done deal
for her, giving the then candidate Trump the leeway to trumpet his “revival” messages
there.
Trump had a massive win in these
states together with the “Almighty” Florida, the largest swing state as voters
were given high hopes of employment opportunities through job creation in their
home states.
However, one year on, they seem
angrier than ever because the Trump Administration is yet to redeem this promise
as there seems to be no sign of any industrial jobs soon.
POLICIES IN HIS FIRST YEAR
Trump’s first year in office has
truly been turbulent fraught with a large number of Executive Orders that seek
to overturn some of the previous Administration’s policies, which it considers
unproductive and could harm the American economy.
His immigration review
initiatives have sparked outrage across the world but his administration is
bent on cancelling the DACA, which shields young immigrants who arrived in the
US as children, to live and work without fear of deportation.
The others are the Executive
Orders that threaten the deportation of some 11 million undocumented immigrants
in America who are protected under the DREAM programme and attempts to build a
Mexico border wall to prevent immigrants from coming into the country.
His Foreign Policies have been
considered the most unpopular, his pronouncements about Jerusalem being recognised
as the Capital of Israel to the discomfort of Palestine and non-existence
policy for Africa are all issues of concern.
Matthew Kroeing, an Associate
Professor of Georgetown University, speaking on the U.S and the International Order,
told some selected journalists on a reporting tour to the US that it was a
mistake for President Trump to pull out of NATO.
The tour, organised by the
International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ) with funding from the United States
Embassy, afforded the journalists the opportunity to visit the Washington Post,
Newseum, (a news museum) and the Foreign Press Centre.
He said Ex-Presidents, Bush,
Clinton and Obama all considered Jerusalem during their campaigns but they reconsidered
their positions after weighing the realities when they were in office. He
described President Trump’s pronouncement as 'controversial'.
He said Trump's orders on the
Middle East, Europe, South and East Asia will not change with his tweets
because policies do not change overnight but through processes.
It was surprising that the
President was tough on Europe but sympathetic to Russia, he said.
On health policies, his attempts
to abort the ObamaCare, thus cutting off key subsidies last year caused insurance
market prices to skyrocket, making it unaffordable for people who buy that
policy on individual market places. The Obamacare ends in two years and poor
Americans are sitting on tenterhooks, hoping for a miracle.
MEDIA RELATIONS
Trump's twists and turns through
his tweets are also causing more confusion and giving journalists more work than
they bargained for and leaving Americans and the world, more confused over a
wide range of issues
Jenna Johnson, Washington Post's
White House Correspondent, told the visiting journalists in Washington DC when
they visited the Washington Post as part of their reporting tour, that the
media had more work than before and her outfit had to increase the White House
correspondents from three to seven.
She said the name calling of the
media by President Trump as “fake” was unfortunate because many Americans no longer
trusted the mainstream media and described the situation as “scary” adding
that, the President was unpredictable.
VIEWS OF AMERICANS
Speaking on Trump's first year in
an interview with the Ghana News Agency's intern at the Cincinnati Enquirer, a
multimedia Group in Ohio, Paski Davis, 32, a public worker, described the
Administration as the worse ever, he had witnessed in the country.
“He is not for us, we don’t have
a President,” he shouted, and added that the “poor will remain poor under such
a leader”.
Aleatha Davies, a hotel
attendant, said, President Trump was an extremist, who did not care about
anybody, whether white, black, rich or poor, adding that he was the most
unpopular President America had ever produced and that many of those who voted
for him had bitterly regretted.
However, a retired Army Officer,
at Bethel County, Jim Chendler, 82, and a staunch Republican, described President
Trump’s "as the best thing that ever happened to America."
He said President Trump was on the
right track in his decisions to “bring America back to the Constitution.
“He is probably the most rational
President in his actions and not in his disruptions”.
He expressed fears that if
America's borders were not protected from immigrants the country would not be
safe for its inhabitants.
He, therefore, lauded the moves
by the Trump Administration to secure its borders and get people who were not documented
out of the country.
Michael Getz, a construction
worker with Dike Energy, expressed similar sentiments, saying documented immigrants
were fellow Americans, however, undocumented ones must be moved out of the
country and the borders must be secured to keep America safe for Americans.
DECISION OF CONGRESS
Congress as of Friday January 19
was in a deadlock on whether to vote for funding to support the Government to carry
out its policies and programmes or not.
The Democrats have also vowed not
to vote for anything that do not support DACA. They won't also vote to support
the funding of an 'unnecessary' wall on the Mexican border.
Mrs Crystal Kendricks, an Ohio
Marketing Consultant concludes, “We are a country of many cultures but the President
has failed to recognise this, but we
have lived through many things and we will live this time too and pull through
it”.
"America will have to pass
this litmus test and be a positive example for many nations who look up to it’s
leadership for inspiration.
GNA
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