By Jon Harris:
In a time of uncertainty, there is a tendency to worry more about supposition than hard facts. We see it every day on every TV station and every news feed. Worry. Worry about what might happen. Worry about what could happen, not what is going on. The stories of what might happen are legion—everything from a world war to the complete collapse of the United States. There have been moronic calls for an impeachment and even a military coup to remove President Trump. Claims of mental defects come from people who have never interviewed or examined him. Rumors, innuendos, plain lies and “fake” news we hear every day just keep the cycle spinning.
This election upset the political apple cart. Few in the media saw the outcome of the presidential election with the inauguration of Donald Trump. Since he has taken the reins, policies and executive orders have been rolling out of the White House at a very quick pace. Granted, not everything is vetted or entirely formed, but the broad strokes that President Trump paints are having an enormous effect. The way in which President Trump governs is very foreign to many in government service and is entirely misunderstood by the mainstream media. President Trump is operating as a businessman. He is making an executive decision, good or bad, and then adjusting as needed. President Trump’s way of seeing how things need to work, not just accepting the way things have always been, is a new paradigm. The press, as well as the world, will have to come to grips with this way of governing.
Politicians abroad are not immune to the supposition, either. The European Union is voicing their concerns because they do not understand where the new president is heading with respect to Russia, foreign policy, trade, and many other areas. There is so much second-guessing that it has become a hindrance to fostering good or continued relations.
Several governments have come out making strong statements against what President Trump might do, not what he has done. Several nation’s leaders are making stands on conjecture, not facts. These leaders’ actions are a symptom of listening to false stories, basing actions on rumors and “what ifs.”
Right now, every word, tweet, and memo are second-guessed—parsed and dissected in an attempt to read between the lines. What is clear with President Trump is that his messages have very little space between the lines. His statements are straightforward, and sometimes to his detriment, unguarded.
So many in the government, the media, and world leaders have all based everything in the past. They have never dealt with this type of hands-on politics. Those who have made their careers in government or dealing with the government are having to learn new ground rules. The main issue seems to be that those same people refuse to accept that their understanding of how things are going to work no longer applies.
There are already many examples to look at where “business as usual” is no longer in the cards. For example, President Trump personally pressured Lockheed Martin about the cost of the new F-35 strike fighter. The result was a 700 million dollar savings over the life of the contract. Trump also got personally involved with General Motors, Hyundai, Walmart, Ford, Carrier, and Bayer AG. His strong arm tactics—those learned in the world of big business—resulted in thousands of new jobs, cost reductions, and billions in investments by the companies in the US economy. For all the speculation around how the president operates, he is showing results. Other presidents have not personally involved themselves in this manner.
We heard over and over again during the campaign how China was taking advantage of the US. China has been building artificial islands and fortifying them into military bases. The Chinese are setting up no-go naval passages and demanding that planes identify themselves, even in international airspace. China has been flexing its muscles, both militarily and economically. Now, with President Trump, business as usual is not working. James Carafano of the Heritage Foundation said, “Trump has already put the Chinese off their game. It seems they don’t know what to make of him and how to best respond. They face a president who seems willing to challenge them both on the military and economic [fronts], and they seem unprepared for that.”(1) So the unpredictable President Trump has given China pause. In my mind, that is not a bad thing.
We also see the idea that “an enemy of my enemy is my friend” in Presidents Trump’s statement about Russia and Putin. “He’s a leader of his country. I say it’s better to get along with Russia than not. And if Russia helps us in the fight against ISIS, which is a major fight, and Islamic terrorism all over the world—that’s a good thing,” Trump said.
Is there anything wrong with this stance? We followed this logic in WWII when we aligned with Russia against a shared foe. Now the enemy is not the Axis forces, it is Islamic terrorism, and that is a real problem for Putin as well.
NATO and Europe have been moving to strengthen their military stance against Russia, but with President Trump seemingly not following the decades-old patterns, the leaders of Europe are conceding that a political solution with Russia and the Ukraine is the only real way to proceed.
There is also a method to the madness. As opposed to the Obama administration that had an overabundance of thirty-something academics or “whiz kids,” this president’s cabinet is filled with people who understand his tactics and know how he works. This may be a clue into who he has selected to run his administration. Trump’s cabinet may not have decades of political experience, but they have decades of decision-making under their belts, and President Trump seems to like it that way. Old political strings do not bind the people he has put in his cabinet. The president is doing what he thinks is best. Right or wrong, that is what he was elected to do.
What we are seeing is action without the polish. President Trump does not show any signs of worry about how he is perceived. His decisions are not based on politics first and the good of the nation second. As President of the United States, he is in charge, so he is taking charge.
Is this the best way to run the country? As none of us has ever seen this before, we don’t know. That unknowing is exactly why there is so much resistance to his actions. They are not typical of polished politicians. The positions he is taking are not weighed against what this group or that group thinks. He is doing what people in business do. He hints and seeds the other side with tidbits of information. He says what he might do without backing himself into a corner where he has to follow up on the threat. He causes reactions and then works from there. Not understanding this, the press goes into a tailspin. This is a negotiating tactic. This is how agreements are made. He says enough to scare or entice the other party into giving something. This is how a competitor—in this case, a world government or leader—is positioned so as to be more open to negotiations.
With Russia, President Trump is using the same approach and has dangled the possibility of sanction relief in front of Putin. In fact, numerous Russia analysts outside the government have opposed lifting sanctions, while some have also cautioned against legislation that could weaken Trump’s leverage with Putin by signaling, early in the administration, that the new US president’s powers are limited. “I think it’s a bad idea, almost as bad as some in the Senate, which would deprive President Trump of the opportunity to set his own policy,” said Dimitri K. Simes, president of the Washington-based Center for the National Interest.(2)
We have had eight years of politically based decisions. We have had eight years of American influence in the world whittled away. We have seen the rise of the Islamic State and countries where we once had standing falling into ungovernable disasters.
Trump is a new type of president with a new administration, new tactics, new people, and new personalities. Will it be successful? In my opinion, we need to let this play out and see.
Jon Harris is an OpsLens contributor and former Army NCO, civilian law enforcement officer, and defense contractor with over 30 years in the law enforcement community. He holds a B.S. in Government and Politics and an M.S. in Criminal Justice.
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