Trump as Us President

Trump as US President

Tokarev Vladimir

Tongji University

Abstract

The paper reviews the recent election of Donald Trump as U.S. president. There are going to be three important point to analyze. First point is about the history in the American presidency, and a comparison between Trump and his predecessors. The second part is about the economic reforms, Trump has been called the second Reagan due to his new policies, but unfortunately the situation he is facing differs quiet a lot of what Reagan had to deal with. The third part is about the importance of political experience, or the lack of it. Through this research there will be an attempt to answer the question: Could Trump change US?

Who is Trump?

Donald John Trump, 70, real estate developer, television star with no government experience was elected the 45th president of the United States, in what was a stunning culmination of an explosive, populist and polarizing campaign that took aim at the ideals of American democracy.

Trump was born and raised in the Queens borough of New York City and received a bachelor's degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1968. In 1971, he took charge of his family's real estate and construction firm, Elizabeth Trump & Son, which was later renamed The Trump Organization. During his business career, Trump has built, renovated, or managed numerous office towers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He owned the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants from 1996 to 2015, and has lent the use of his name to brand various products. He became a fixture of reality television as he hosted The Apprentice on NBC from 2004 to 2015. As of 2016, Forbes listed Trump as the 324th wealthiest person in the world (113th in the United States) with a net worth of $4.5 billion.

Trump considered the idea of running for president in 1988, 2004, and 2012, and for Governor of New York in 2006 and 2014, but did not enter those races. He was considered as a potential running mate for George H. W. Bush on the Republican Party's 1988 presidential ticket but lost out to future Vice President Dan Quayle. There is dispute over whether Trump or the Bush camp made the initial pitch.

In 1999, Trump filed an exploratory committee to seek the presidential nomination of the Reform Party in 2000. A July 1999 poll matching him against likely Republican nominee George W. Bush and likely Democratic nominee Al Gore showed Trump with seven percent support. Trump eventually dropped out of the race due to party infighting, but still won the party's California and Michigan primaries after doing so.

On November 8, 2016, Trump won the presidency with 306 electoral votes to Clinton's 232 votes. His victory was considered a big political disappointment for American society, as nearly all the general public gave Clinton as the clear winner.

Trump and his predecessors

After a polemic campaign, against all the predictions, Trump was elected by Americans as their president. During his campaign running for president Trump didn’t show a good side of himself. This are some of the words what were used to describe him: shameless liar, politically incorrect and populist. It might look that a president with such a set of questionable qualities could be something exceptional, let’s take a look into the list of the US Presidents. We don’t need to go too far to see that Trump is not alone, form the list of 45 names we could easily identify at least 10, who have same qualities, or at least could be called strange habits.

The first one on the list is of course George W. Bush (2001-2009) - the owner of the lowest IQ of all presidents (who were able to being measure it). He could barely distinguish Iran from Iraq. Sported a bruise on his cheek, which he had, either when he choked with a salty pretzel and fainted, or his wife, or simply falling drunk.

Bill Clinton (1993-2001) - almost became the second president in US history, who was declared with an impeachment. He had an affair with his secretary Monica Lewinsky in the White House and then lied under oath that it was not. And Lewinsky was smart enough to keep the dress for several years with traces of his sperm. As a result, it turned out to be that the secretary had more brain than the president…

Richard Nixon (1969-1974) - he did it quiet well, if not for the Watergate scandal: he organized a wiretap in the campaign headquarters of his rival, and when the story came out to the public, he tried to obstruct the investigation. This only aggravated the situation and, with the prospect of imminent impeachment, Nixon had to resign early.

Before Trump was elected - John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) - was the richest US president. Despite poor health was a womanizer (among his many mistresses was Marilyn Monroe). The short period of its presidency was marked by an unsuccessful invasion in the Bay of Pigs, the Berlin crisis and the Cuban missile crisis, which once put mankind on the brink of full-scale nuclear war. He died from a shot of a sniper rifle, until today the circumstances weren’t clarified.

Herbert Hoover (1929-1933) - perhaps he is the one who could be the most comparable to Trump, since he lacks of political experience and he was also a rich businessman. But he was not lucky enough to be elected to the presidency on the eve of the Great Depression: with the fall of the New York Stock Exchange in 1929. He was so unpopular that houses made of boxes and old blankets, whose number is growing day by day, became known as "Hooverville." His economic policies did nothing but worsen the crisis. Some people argue that he had little hope to save the US from the collapse, due to the economy was in a fall into the void, and no matter the decision he made it was mainly the matter of time to recover.

Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877) - a good soldier and a bad president, his attempt to unite the North with the South after the war failed. But when it came to bribery and corruption, by their standards it grew to an incredible extent. In addition, he made into a public office more than 40 of his cousins, uncles and nephews, and raised himself a salary by two times.

Andrew Johnson (1865-1869) - was promoted after the death of Abraham Lincoln. He quickly alienated the entire Congress against him, had quarreled with the Senate, made a conflict in the cabinet of ministers and was the first President of the United States, to whom tried to evict from the White House via impeachment. The only bright spot in his biography - the purchase of Alaska - still underestimated by his contemporaries.