© Gage Skidmore
After 4 years at the head of one of the most powerful countries on the planet, the results of the mandate of the Republican president are mixed. America is more divided than ever as, internationally, unilateralism has become commonplace.
If Donald Trump had with difficulty exchanged the “Trump Tower” for his residence at the White House, it would seem that today he no longer wants to move. Since the announcement of the victory of Democratic candidate Joe Biden this Saturday, November 7, the president has denounced electoral fraud and demanded a recount of the votes to extend his stay in Washington DC If some do not wish to see Trump leave the Oval Office, of others are celebrating his future departure. There are many reasons for these oppositions. This national division grew stronger throughout the Trump presidency. The outgoing president does indeed seem to leave behind a mixed and contested mandate.
Put an end to Obama (or almost)
Upon his inauguration, President Trump benefited from remarkable economic conditions which, for many experts, were essentially due to the reforms of the previous government. The effects of the Obama administration’s policies are being felt: workers’ wages are rising for the first time in a long time, the country’s annual growth is stronger than expected.
This situation allows it to create more than 1.65 million jobs in four years. The only downside: these measures do not benefit the popular classes but the middle and wealthy classes. By reducing taxes for companies and individuals, it is, according to some, widening the gap between the richest and the poorest. It causes a significant deficit in the finances of the State, then hardly able to invest in other areas such as Obamacare (American health insurance).
The introduction of American-style health insurance, like all the other reforms and plans put in place by Barack Obama, was rejected by the Republican president upon his inauguration. He signs a decree to repeal it in correspondence with his political agenda. It firmly marks the break between his mandate and that of his predecessor. Project which fails, the House of Representatives resists and he does not manage to have it repealed. He can only promise a final repeal during his, potential and hoped-for, second term.
Another brick in the wall
From the start of his 2016 campaign, Donald Trump insisted on one point: he wanted to end immigration. Unsurprisingly, he then resumed the wall project between the United States and Mexico. Upon his inauguration, he issued a decree on border control and immigration. It can now return asylum seekers to the border illegally under international law.
Detention centers are multiplying and to this day still separate more than 500 children from their parents. Many of these individuals are fleeing significant violence and authoritarian regimes, particularly in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and to another extent, Mexico. The main consequence of this policy is to favor smugglers so that migrants reach the United States illegally.
Yet 4 years later, only 56 kilometers of the wall were built. In early 2019, Congress opposed the release of five billion dollars for the construction of it. The same goes for its promise to make Mexico pay, which has preferred to agree to ensure border control and the management of migrants wishing to enter the United States, in particular applicants awaiting asylum whose file is reviewed by US authorities.
America that suffocates
Everyone will remember this year 2020 and the mandate of Trump, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. Mobilizations organized in response to the many incidents of police violence against racialized people that have punctuated these four years. They are breaking out across the country following the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd after police arrests. “I can’t breathe” (trad. I can not breath anymore) becomes the new slogan of the movement, taking up the latter’s last words.
The violent events were violent in Minneapolis, which became the real symbol of Donald Trump’s mandate. Beyond this massive mobilization, Donald Trump and his administration are identified as a potential accelerator of racial tensions in the country. His renewed support for the police force as well as his closeness to the far right made him a direct and main opponent of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Tensions at their peak when the president sends the National Guard against protesters in Washington DC Police violence has given rise to the idea of an overhaul of the American police system under the aegis of the slogan “demantle the police”. police) chanted through the streets of Minneapolis.
The Black Lives Matter movement, beyond its international resonance, has also fueled general opposition to the president, ending his mandate.
Death to multilateralism
During Donald Trump’s presidency, cameras around the world are turned towards the United States. From mobilizations against police violence to unpredictable international strategies, the place of the United States on the world stage has never ceased to be questioned.
Donald Trump opened his term with a controversial meeting with Kim Jung-Un. He thus marks history by being one of the rare American presidents to negotiate with North Korea. This first decision, showing an openness to negotiation, was quickly overtaken by a unilateral policy. It becomes characteristic of Donald Trump’s international policy.
His first feat of arms was in particular to criticize NATO, by ” brain death “And over-funded by the United States, according to him. This distrust of international organizations has been confirmed with the WTO (World Trade Organization), which the United States has been blocking for many months by refusing to appoint its judges within the organization. The coronavirus pandemic will have finished shattering these institutions of international cooperation. At the start of 2020, the outgoing president is increasingly virulent towards the WHO (World Health Organization), which he criticizes for its proximity to China. After suspending its financial participation, the country officially leaves the institution in April.
The international treaties in which the United States was committed do not escape Donald Trump’s strategy. The Paris Climate Agreements will notably see the United States withdraw from the pact on November 5, 2020. A decision without much surprise given the climate-skeptical attitude of the outgoing president and his team during these four years.
As he leaves the White House, Donald Trump leaves what many call an “America at the end of its rope.” The coronavirus crisis will have finished burying his mandate, his inability to act in the face of the situation. It becomes, in the eyes of many, responsible for several hundred thousand deaths and millions of infected. This non-management of the pandemic was able to show the limits of the liberal American political system thought out and defended by the outgoing president. Joe Biden’s victory then acts as a breath of fresh air for many American citizens.
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