Donald Trump campaigned on a promise of real change. (Sounds Dutertistic?)
The message resonated with the “forgotten men” and the “forgotten women” who apparently did enough to get more than the electoral votes required to elect Trump the 45th President of the United States.
It was one of the most divisive campaigns in recent US history. But Trump promises to heal all that. On the eve of his inauguration, he told supporters it is “time for us to come together as one united people.”
He also made a bold promise: “We are going to do things that have not been done for our country for many, many decades.”
Going by his campaign slogans and promises, here is what “Trumpanomics” proposes to achieve:
– Create 25 millions of new jobs over ten years and reverse industrial decline. (Huh? His term is only four years. )
– Bring jobs back to America. Be tough on countries taking away jobs from Americans.
– Bring back American cash parked offshore. (The cash has actually started to return because of the recent increase in FED interest rate.)
– Double economic growth. (He is inheriting from President Obama an economy that is actually on the mend.)
– Renegotiate NAFTA.
– Slap a 45 pct tariff on Chinese goods, a 35 pct tariff on Mexican goods. (and spark and trade war?)
-Make the US military the most powerful in the world. (Marching order from the incoming Commander-in-Tweet.)
.– Build a wall to keep off illegal migrants.
– Cut corporate taxes from 35 to 15 per cent.
– Cut red tape by 70 per cent.
– Abolish Obamacare.
The question now is will he, or can he, deliver? Those who voted for him believe, or at least hope, that Trump can deliver.
Tens of thousands of Trump believers gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in support of the incoming president. But elsewhere in Washington and across the United States, huge numbers also turned out to protest.
Detractors brand Trump’s rhetorics are pure grandstanding. They further lament that millions of Americans were caught up in the lies and promises peddled by Trump. Billionaire George Soros labelled Trump an “impostor”.
Still, Dow Jones responded with a 9 per cent uptick since Trump got elected.
While out-going President Obama was scheduled to go through the motion of presiding over a peaceful and orderly handover of power, other Democrats threatened to boycott the inaugural events.
Not to worry, according to Trump. “It is OK. … We need tickets (to the events) so desperately.”
As of press time, we have no info on foreign dignitaries who would be attending the inauguration. President Rody Duterte, an avowed admirer of Trump, said he is not attending.
Weeks before the inauguration, the media reported the following:
1. Alleged Russian hacking of the US election to favor Trump, and 2. Alleged possession by Russia of films and documents which could seriously compromise Trump. The accusations were dismissed by Trump as a total fabrication.
What is the unofficial reaction in Moscow to the inauguration?
An enterprising restaurant owner came up with a new dish – a huge, several-layered hamburger sandwich which he calls the Trump Burger. Depending on which side of the political fence they are on, observers believe that the Trump Burger is truly representative of Trump.
To supporters, the burger is “larger than life”. Detractors, however, find the burger “difficult to swallow.”
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(Atty. Ignacio R. Bunye)