Donald Trump has officially became the 47th president of the United States despite teh predictions of the experts about his inability to overcome all of the political and business scandals. While he didn’t officially won the dominate majoraty in all of the states, several world leaders has already congratulated him with the victory on the elections.
On Wednesday, von der Leyen was one of the first to send him a message, though, which added: “The European Union and the United States are more than just allies.
“We are bound by a true partnership between our people, uniting 800 million citizens. This bond runs deep, rooted in our shared history, commitment to freedom and democracy, and common goals of security and opportunity for all.Let us work together on a transatlantic partnership that continues to deliver for our citizens. Millions of jobs and billions in trade and investment on each side of the Atlantic depend on the dynamism and stability of our economic relationship,” said the EU Commission president.
Vast majority of European leaders expressed their hope that they could work constructively with the Trump Administration. However, a positive reaction from the Russian Federation wasn’t received as it was expected. First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs Said that „Russia Carnot expect something grandioso, we should only rely on ourselves”. In his opinion, after Trump’s election, sanctions against Russia will remain, but the US Policy in the Middle East and Ukraine May change. „I don’t see any of the Russian politicians opening champagne and drinking for Trump’s victory, there ia already experience”- said First Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Foreign Affairs.The only relatively positive reactions were received from former Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin recently. Medvedev said: “Trump has one useful quality for us: as a businessman to the core, he mortally dislikes spending money on various hangers-on and stupid hanger-on allies, on bad charity projects, and on voracious international organizations.” President Putin congratulated Donald Trump on winning the US election praised him for showing courage when a gunman tried to assassinate him, and said Moscow was ready for dialogue with the Republican president-elect.
However, the reactions from the Russian public are more than positive. People are talking about the „return of Solaris for 400,000 rubles and Focus for 350,000 rubles” and „the reduction of the Russian refinancing rate from 21% to 2%” hinting at the improvement of the economic situation in Russia due to the better relation with the US. Some of them are joking about the connection of Trump’s victory as „he is just more memorable than Harris”.
Nevertheless, several scandals appeared recently concerning some comments of a number of european leaders. For instance, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy called Trump „ a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath”, however now his rhetoric has changed to congratulations of Trump on his win and praising the “special relationship” between the U.K. and the U.S. Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of Poland has been saying that he does not agree with the words of Trump concerning the endorsement of nationalism and patriotism in the United States in 2019 Tusk said at that time: “It is false and dangerous, even if it has many followers and powerful propagators.” However, currently Polish Prime Minister is looking forward to the cooperation „for the good of the American and Polish nations.”
Although some people accepted Trump’s victory as a new chapter in the modern history of the United States that will bring some positive changes to the system, there is a great part of the American society that perceives Trump as destroying most of the democratic values of the US and that he will transform the country into the autocratic state. “People are willing to storm the Capital for him, people are willing to kill for him, for the ideas that he represents”-says one of the journalists on ABC News. The storm of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was exactly what the journalist was referring to and probably the first thing Trump will do after taking office- he will pardon the people, who were convicted of January 6 crimes or even dissolve the investigations against them.
Other questions appear in some of his political program propositions. The deportation of all of the undocumented migrants means sending back around 10,5-12 million of people and will cost the US government a huge sum of money. At the same time, some experts are questioning if the policy of family separation (“zero tolerance”) will remain in Trump’s second term in office, when during his first term this reform provoked a great wave of criticism of his administration in 2017-2018. Under this policy, federal authorities separated children and infants from parents or guardians with whom they had entered the US. The adults were prosecuted and held in federal jails or deported, and the children were placed under the supervision of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Another question concerns Trump’s attitude to NATO. His “America First” approach has been perceived negatively for the organization. He often questioned whether the U.S. should defend NATO allies who weren’t meeting their spending commitments, challenging NATO’s core principle of collective defense (Article 5). Specifically, he pushed for allies to increase their defense spending to 2% of their GDP. Trump accused several NATO members of “not paying their fair share,” arguing that the U.S. was shouldering too much of NATO’s financial and military responsibilities. However, it is less likely for Trump to abandon completely the alliance as it was created due to the US idea of collective defense and represents a strong connection and cooperation between Washington and Brussels.
Speaking of Trump’s possible influence on American political and economic life, his supporters are hoping for a positive change in decreasing the number of tax rates, stopping the illegal migration flow and terminating American participation in 2 major conflicts in Europe and on the Middle East.
However, the negative consequences are also possible to predict in this case. First things first, the abortion laws. Trump’s position has been difficult to understand during the several months of his presidential campaign. When he started his political career, Trump called himself “very pro-choice”. However, in March he suggested a national ban on abortions from 15 weeks of pregnancy, but in April, he changed his mind and said that it should be left up to each state to decide their laws. In October, Trump said he would veto a federal abortion ban possibly meaning that the question of abortions will be decided by each state separately, what can lead to millions of women left without a possibility of a termination of the pregnancy. More likely, bans on abortions will be provided in Republican-popular states, like Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota and others.
Secondly, Republicans want to easier gun control and have promised to undo rules the Democrats signed in since Joe Biden has been in power, what can result in increased death tolls in the US, including more mass gun shootings, more school shootings and suicides with the use of guns.
Another major problem in the US that has lasted for decades is the healthcare system. The Republicans want to get rid of Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act that gives people more affordable health insurance) and believe it should be left up to the healthcare industry to give Americans more affordable options, what means that the cost of prescription medicine and receiving medical care can double or even triple in the future.
And last but not least, Trump’s promise to terminate the wars. In case of Israel, Trump was calling himself “the most pro-Israeli president” in the history of the United States and even helped Jerusalem’s international recognition as the capital of Israel. That means that the Republican government will continue to support its Middle Eastern ally in the war with Gaza and the conflict with go on for several more months at least.
In case of Russian-Ukrainian conflict, it is more complicated to explain. On the one hand, Trump claims to have “very good relationships” with both Mr. Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, in reality, it turns out that he has complicated relationships with both of them. For the Russian government, Trump as a president is something hard to deal with. Democrats were quite predictable in their decisions and actions, but not the Republicans and especially not Trump. Kamala Harris as an American president would be a more “comfortable” choice for the Russian elites as they are still aiming at continuing their participation in the conflict with Ukraine, but Trump can slightly change their plans…
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