by James Ojo
Until President Donald Trump sees Americans as key to achieving his vision for America, his precocious beginning may soon turn out a
disaster, reports James Ojo.
When On Friday, January 20th, 2017, President Donald Trump stood tall on the West Front of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. to give his inaugural speech as the 45th President of unarguably, one of the most powerful nations in the world, many, if not all, Americans at least, were thrilled by his promise of taking the country to Eldorado. Their joy, if not for anything, was borne out of the fact that Americans would be an integral part of realizing the dream. His campaign slogan: ‘Make America Great Again,’ raised less doubt and above all, the reality America for Americans, as promised was mind-blowing.
“What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people. January 20th, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again. The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer,” Trump had said in his inaugural speech.
Welcome to Trump’s Dream America!
From the outset, Trump appeared keen to sticking it out his promise of making America great again, but so far, it seems the president has forgotten the greatest arsenal to achieve this: collective efforts of Americans. And about eight months into his administration, it appears the feeling of collectiveness that earlier heralded the Trump’s Presidency is on the wane.
Hiring and firing
One of the criticisms of Trump is his penchant for arbitrarily sacking appointed members of his cabinet. On May 9, James Comey, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation was giving the boot by Trump over his investigation of Russian collusion in the 2016 Presidential Election for alleged incompetency. Since then, the list of those fired from the White House has continued to grow. Sean Spicer, Sally Yates, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn, Reince Priebus among others have all quitted either willingly-through resignation- or forcefully the vision they were once committed to for some reasons.
In each of these instances, Trump, in his seemingly unguarded utterances and actions, appeared not to have fully defined Americans’
role in his new vision for the United States. In the first place, the rate at which he has been firing his aides has continued to raise concerns over his managerial acumen, leadership-cum-administrative proficiency and level of team spirit required to steer the US to the dream land.
Also, Whether or not patriotism, loyalty and the needed dedication that could spur Trump America’s dream is achievable on the part of the newly appointed aides, is an issue staring many in the face, as many of them would hardly commit themselves to the president’s long term vision. After all, who knows who is next to be fired?
Such fear-enveloped atmosphere is no doubt, in sharp contrast to the collectiveness the president had earlier canvassed for. In an America meant for and governed solely by Americans, the leaders and led should have unity of purpose, driven by team spirit and collectively work in the overall interest of the country without giving room for rift of any sort. Even if a disagreement arises due to variegated interests, swift measures should be in place to amicably resolve it. But the Trump presidency seems to be failing in this regard.
The Trump’s Presidency challenge
At the moment, there are lots of issues confronting the Trump Presidency. The tension between the US and North Korea is going through the roof over the latter’s nuclear programme, with many predicting World War Three. His administration’s battle with the media has not backed down. He has also been in the eyes of the storm over some of his executive orders- that of immigration for instance. However, of all these, Trump’s major challenge now should be how to jack up and sustain the public trust Americans had earlier reposed in him by demonstrating the place of their efforts in achieving the America dream from time to time. This is the only way his administration can achieve the dream of making America great again.
Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija
Leave a reply