At noon on Friday in Washington DC, Donald Trump was inaugurated the new president of the United States, capping his improbable run to the White House and promising an epic shake-up of politics. There is uncertainty surrounding Trump and the instability ahead. From the 44th to the 45th president, it has been a jarring shift as Trump readies to take the US and the rest of the world to uncharted territory.
For instance, moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is the kind of unilateral move that could be explosive. But it is a distinct possibility after eight years of hostility and tension between the now former President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, culminating in the US refusal to veto a UN call to end Israeli settlements.
Viewing the general picture, it is not known whether Trump will throw himself into the Palestine question or will prefer to remain on the sidelines and stay away from an issue that has for decades frustrated consecutive American presidents. The announcement that his son-in-law Jared Kushner will serve as the president›s Middle East envoy seems to indicate that Trump plans to take on the thorny issue.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is but one of a wide range of status quo issues that Trump seeks to change. He has called into question the role of NATO and the future cohesion of the European Union. Both institutions are fundamental pillars of American foreign policy. Long-standing US domestic policies such as a commitment to free trade face an overhaul.
There are more questions than answers concerning many of the issues facing Trump. Will he tear up or drastically alter the Iran nuclear deal? Will he pull the US out of the Paris climate deal? How will he reset relations with Russia and Vladimir Putin? Will he really build a wall between the US and Mexico while kicking out millions of undocumented workers? What about Muslims entering the US, especially Syrian refugees? What can or will he do about Syria? Will he have a good working relationship with members of the Gulf Cooperation Council? Given that Trump’s angriest rhetoric has been directed at China, what will relations with Beijing be like? Will he really create that many jobs and will he really be able to stop terrorism? And will he really be able to unite the country following one of the most divisive and polarizing presidential election campaigns in history?
Because he has been fuzzy on the answers, it is difficult to predict how Trump›s administration will address these issues and what the result will be. The world waits to see whether Trump will hold true to his campaign promises.
What is the world expecting - and hoping for - from a Trump presidency? Despite an election campaign and transition 18 months long, there are many unknowns about what he intends to do in office. Trump will now actually start to shape politics rather than talking about it.
His rhetoric runs counter to some of our most basic assumptions. As such, Trump had no shortage of detractors during the election. He arrives in Washington with the lowest approval rating of any president in 40 years — about half as much support as Obama had at the same time in 2009.
He is certainly a non-traditional politician who achieved an unexpected electoral victory despite controversial and divisive views.
The one sure thing is that Trump will be an entirely new sort of president, determined to tear down all the assumptions we had of the status quo. If he is willing to learn and act sensibly and understand that there are going to be consequences and actions for everything he says and does, then he should be given the benefit of the doubt. He should be given the chance.
