DO MORE THAN OTHERS

No matter how shocking the statements about the inexplicable steps of the eccentric U.S. leader are, the analysis shows that they all clearly fit his campaign promises to American society, from which he received a mandate for the presidency.

America Above All

Celebrating his 500^th day in office, Donald Trump said “many believe” that he achieved more than any other American president.

He attributes his achievements to the tax reform, development of the armed forces, the reduction of crime and illegal immigration, strengthening of borders and economic growth. After a long legislative battle, he managed to ratify the tax reform in the Congress controlled by Republicans without a single vote of the Democrats. According to experts of the Centre for Tax Policy, Trump’s tax reform is considered the most ambitious reform since the presidency of R. Regan and will mostly benefit the poorest and richest Americans. But most importantly, it will benefit the working citizens and about 71% of taxpayers will save on taxes up to several thousand dollars. Although the country's budget will not receive more than $1.5 trillion, the reform will stimulate people to work.

President Trump faced a tough counter attack to his so-called immigration policy of “zero tolerance” in relation to illegal migrants. Despite harsh criticism not only of human rights activists, the press and opponents, but also his own wife, Trump signed a decree according to which children will be taken away from adult migrants unless their kinship is confirmed or if their adults are a threat to their safety. In all other cases, families should be together.

The Supreme Court approved the decree limiting immigration from countries posing a terrorist threat thanks to a conservative judge Neil Gorsuch, who entered the Supreme Court through the Senate as Mr. Trump’s candidate. According to another important decision of the Supreme Court, the Union of Civil Servants lost the right to automatically collect contributions from government employees. In addition, Trump managed to cancel the requirement for compulsory health insurance, which, he claims, contributes to a reduction in the price of medicines. The law signed by Trump gives mortally sick patients the right to try experimental drugs that have not yet passed registration procedures. The White House administration also took a number of measures to ease restrictions for banks, energy companies, commercial schools, and other corporate structures. Although due to the resistance of Republican Senator J. McCain, he failed to abolish the health care reform carried out by his predecessor B. Obama, a number of provisions of this law were abolished by administrative measures.

Thanks to these innovations, not only the nationwide rating of D. Trump rose very high, but even the U.S. stock market grew by 50%, which, in turn, is a heavy blow to his opponents and radical opponents in the White House. This is not only his victory, but also the victory of his political base. Moreover, the Republicans, already lining up with him in one row, are trying to get ready for midterm elections to Congress in November 2018. Meanwhile, Trump's success lies in his consistent policy to fulfil his campaign promises, which, according to American analysts, is a very rare occurrence in the history of the United States. Incidentally, this strategy is carried out by a non-systemic politician Trump, who declared the principle “America above all” as the core of his political platform.

Domestic affairs do matter

This is the fundamental difference between his vision of the global role of the United States and the one of his predecessor. If the global leadership of the U.S. was Barack Obama’s top priority, then Trump expresses the need to focus more on domestic affairs. To achieve this objective, he is ready to change all the rules that have been in effect for decades. In principle, there is nothing surprising in his efforts, since the most important task of any government is the creation of a profitable state. For President Trump, who is also a successful businessman, a classic postulate of Marxism about the “economic basis and political superstructure” has probably become the meaning of life. His pre-election promise to open hundreds of thousands new jobs by returning businesses to the United States just provides for the creation of economic power through the re-development of the real sector of economy. In principle, this means reindustrialization of the U.S. economy and rejection of a purely speculative and supranational financial economy. National interests require the return of industry in the U.S., creation of new jobs and improvement of the welfare of Americans.

That is why Trump’s economic program revealed during his first appeal to the nation was supported by 72% of the respondents. Hence, Trump as a diligent host is focused on the implementation of the principle of “Domestic affairs first!” The agreements he signed with Saudi Arabia and China for hundreds of billions of dollars characterize Trump as a practical businessman who advocates the supply of orders to American companies. But, according to most experts, simultaneous geopolitical and economic (duty-tariffs) war against almost all, initiated by the U.S. president, increases the level of uncertainty.

At the same time, the countries that regard themselves as the U.S. allies are particularly unhappy. Apparently, Trump considers only Great Britain and Israel to be true allies of the United States.

In principle, all the “allies” from the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) and NATO complaining about Trump’s unexpected behaviour will somehow have to adapt to his policies. Firstly, the TTP was the main obstacle to the policy of re-industrializing the U.S. economy and creating new jobs, which was publicly announced by Trump even before the election. Secondly, the World Trade Organization (WTO) established in early 1995 (based on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) to liberalise international trade and regulate trade and political relations among the member states, has already fulfilled its necessary mission for Washington. The U.S. needed it when they were leaders of the world economy and needed large markets to sell their products. Today, the situation has changed dramatically and China has taken the leading position in terms of GDP, and Chinese goods have flooded the American market with a low exchange rate of the national currency and cheap labour. This is what Trump considers being a protectionism and does not think the fulfilment of WTO requirements is mandatory, especially since it is not an international organization in the legal sense.

A similar approach can be traced in the decision to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC). During the Obama presidency, after Washington achieved certain goals in the Middle East using its favourite theme of “human rights”, this organization suddenly became “hypocritical”. That’s because UNHCR began making serious claims to the U.S. regarding human rights violations. Apparently, the situation when a certain organisation pointed to the U.S. shortcomings irritated Mr. Trump so much that he felt that the mission of UNHCR as a tool to achieve the American goals was over, considering that it was the U.S., which have been making verdicts about those who respect or violate human rights.

In foreign policy, the Democrats and the Republicans have a clear separation of the ‘tools of trade’. If the Democrats exploit the issue of ‘human rights violations’ in order to pressure certain states, the Republicans’ favourite themes are the proliferation of nuclear weapons and terrorist threats, which require the demonstration of the U.S. military power. Hence, Mr. Trump’s decision to leave the UNHCR is completely in line with this strategy. As for the discontent of Europe with Mr. Trump’s actions, it was the European leaders who somehow arrogantly rejected the proposal of B. Obama on the creation of a free trade zone between the U.S. and the EU. But when the same arrogance came straightforwardly from Donald Trump, they started talking about the need for dialogue and concerted action. On the other hand, Mr. Trump’s criticism towards NATO is associated with the reluctance of the U.S. to ensure the security of its European allies practically alone. After the Second World War and up until today, the U.S. was the architect of the system and the guarantor of security on the European continent. But after the collapse of the USSR, the European countries of NATO began spending less money for defence in violation of their obligations to raise spending to 2% of the national GDP. As a result, the U.S. bears almost 72% of all defence costs of NATO; a situation which greatly irritates Donald Trump, who knows the value of money. This explains his claims to the leadership of the bloc. Incidentally, the Obama administration have appealed, in a more delicate form though, to European colleagues for years to significantly increase military spending in the face of emerging global threats. Now, the more categorical Donald Trump proposes to his NATO partners a very specific requirement: either pay for your own security, or Washington stops placing this burden on the shoulders of American taxpayers. Hence, NATO no longer meets the national interests of the United States, as it was several decades ago. Then why pay for it? Trump believes that European states must pay to Americans for ensuring their security. Poland's willingness to spend $1.5-2 billion to create a permanent U.S. military base on its territory in opposition to potential Russian aggression is a striking example. According to Donald Trump, it is the prerogative of a superpower to receive serious dividends from its status, and not at all to distribute them, even to the allies. However, in all his undertakings, Donald Trump demonstrates a greater preference for bilateral cooperation than multilateral, especially in supranational organizations, in which decisions must often be made on the basis of consensus, which contradicts the hegemonic aspirations of the United States. Practically anti-globalization foreign policy of Donald Trump, aimed at weakening supranational structures and the revival of the Westphalian system of legal personality, is not accidental. In fact, Washington has already received maximum benefits from the globalization and the policies of supranational institutions, which have become the main obstacles on the way to reforming the world order now.

For instance, the same UN Security Council, in which the main opponents of the U.S., Russia and China, have the right of veto. To create new supranational institutions, where the U.S. opponents will be deprived of such privileges, it is necessary to dismantle the current ones. As for the dissatisfied with the US policy, including the allies, they will be forced to accept the rules of the game. Since the U.S. has at least three obvious advantages over these countries. The first is high technology, in which all of them are in great need. The second is the military power of the United States. And the third, and most significant, is the Bretton-Woods international system for organizing monetary relations and trade settlements based on the dominance of the U.S. dollar, which placed the entire world economy in dependence on the national currency of the United States. All of the above points prove that the policy pursued by Donald Trump, who made an impression of an unpredictable and even mysterious person, has a clear and focused character. And the principle: “Do not impose our principles on anyone. Let them live as they wish, if it does not threaten our security. We do not have to spend money on them” is an important part of this policy. Playing an open game, he disarms his opponents and creates a new atmosphere in international relations, where ostracism has always been in demand. This quality, coupled with a consistent policy to fulfil campaign promises, allows Donald Trump to start and win.