The new President of the United States, Donald Trump, was able to convince 45% of voting Americans to endorse him in his bid to reach the White House. The media throughout the electoral campaign portrayed his politics as populist and radical and yet it was on this platform that he won, so we decided to analyse why his policy proposals were so attractive to the American public.
The good
America is the only superpower in the world and although there are several other countries jostling for position, in terms of both military and economic power, the US is in a different league from its competitors.
Despite this strength, the United States has often signed trade agreements which have benefited their trading partners rather than themselves which is unusual considering the fact that they are in the dominant position to dictate terms and get the best possible deal for themselves. Donald Trump has promised to reverse these trade arrangements and replace them with new deals which favour America, a policy which won over significant support from workers from a range of industries, from car manufacturers to steel workers, who felt that cheap imports were undercutting their produce and putting them out of work.
The president has also vowed to slash corporation tax from 35% to 15%, which many Americans, who are more anti-tax than their European counterparts, have enthusiastically endorsed as a means of reviving the economy.
Additionally, he has pledged a trillion dollars of government funds to improve America's crumbling infrastructure which will benefit the economy in the short and long term.
The bad
Throughout the election, Trump attacked China as the source of many of the economic problems which America was facing and promised to slap tariffs on Chinese goods.
If such a policy sparks a trade war between the two countries, it could potentially trigger another global economic collapse. The Chinese economy has been stumbling as of late and the authorities within the country are desperately trying to have a controlled, paced economic slowdown, the outbreak of a trade war in a export-driven economy such as China could lead to the collapse of the country's economy.
Whilst other political leaders are handling China with kid gloves, so as to avoid triggering a collapse, Trump is preparing for a brawl and could bring down the global economy in doing so.
Trump has also expressed admiration for the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who has been effectively shunned by other Western leaders. At the current time, Russia is not a functioning democracy, with political oppression of opposition groups, human rights abuses and illegal military action in Crimea and Syria. Many despots around the world, will look at Trump's relationship with Putin as a sign that the United States will no longer punish oppressive regimes, so long as they serve American interests.
The ugly
There are sure to be entire books published about this single heading in years to come, but for now we will summarise for the sake of brevity: calling Mexicans rapists and murderers, calling for a ban on Muslim immigration, insulted numerous women, been involved numerous law suits for his university and mocked the disabled. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of Donald Trump's ascension to power has been his ability to commit such blunders and yet retain the support of millions of Americans, but there are millions more who are planning to protest, boycott, block and impede the president at every political turn, whether America will be able to function whilst a cold civil war occurs is a question to be answered in the coming months.
