The Trump Approach

Donald Trump had never professionally answered to anyone but himself or his bankers before he became President of the United States. He's ruled the Trump businesses by sheer force of personality. Since his election, Trump has shown little interest in learning the ways of his new job, choosing instead to continue operating in the same old "I'm the boss" mode.

The depth, breadth and responsibility accompanying the presidency appears of little interest as he transitions from running a private company to being the leader of our very public country. He remains focused on showmanship, one-upmanship and retaliation against those who disagree. President Trump has positioned himself to become an empty vessel at the helm of our government.

Days before assuming office he described his preferred approach to learning about a subject - very short briefings:

"I like bullets (points) or I like as little as possible. I don't need, you know, 200 page reports on something that can be handled on a page. That I can tell you."

Tell that to the millions of people affected by his first round of executive orders that included an immigration order, a healthcare order, an order stripping sanctuary cities of federal money, and a hiring freeze on a swath of federal employees. Trump’s executive orders rewrote policy and began to undo President Barack Obama’s decisions. In less than two weeks Trump has shown us that he can wreak havoc domestically and internationally.

Executive orders rule for Trump. Signing a document is something he knows. Legislating takes time and a knowledge base. Making a public spectacle of the signings is also something he knows. They feed into his comfort zone of assumed power. Sitting behind a desk is his prop of power recycled from his television days, and his Trump Tower office. He's also recycled his "You're fired" Apprentice TV show line, and brusk dismissal style when firing Acting Attorney General Sally Yates. He fired Yates after she declined to defend his executive order on immigration which suspends all refugee admission for 120 days, restricts immigration from seven Muslim countries, and bars all Syrian refugees indefinitely. Trump added a dramatic phrase to describe his reasoning for her dismissal. The White House statement said that she "betrayed" the Department of Justice."

The starkness of the word 'betrayed' may have come from his closest advisor, Steve Bannon. This is the man who became CEO of the Trump campaign during its August internal coup. As the extremist former head of the alt-right Breitbart news site, Steve Bannon has made it clear that he walks on the dark side and thinks on the dark side. Increasingly he seems to have found a willing subject in Donald Trump to help activate his style of thinking. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani says Bannon "has a great understanding of the American public and why Trump won the election, and he tells Trump about what people are really upset about and what they're really concerned about. Trump generally agrees with him."    

It’s apparent that Steve Bannon has increased his clout on an almost daily basis, becoming the man now closest to the president. Bannon is widely reported to be responsible for drafting President Trump's executive orders. In the latest White House power play, Trump has moved the senior White House advisor even closer, naming Bannon to the National Security Council Principals Committee. It is the first time in history that a president's chief political strategist will have a formal seat in the Situation Room. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Director of National Intelligence have been moved out, except when needed. The most sensitive of security decisions are made by the NSC. Many have expressed concern about the re-shuffling, as well as Bannon's new position. With good reason.

Here are some of Bannon's thoughts in his own words. It's important to repeat these statements. They have been reported in numerous media publications.

"Darkness is good. Dick Cheney, Darth Vader, Satan. That's Power."

"We're going to build an entirely new political movement."

"The media should keep its mouth shut"

"The media bubble is the ultimate symbol of what's wrong with this country."

"I'm a Leninist. Lenin wanted to destroy the state, and that's my goal too. I want to bring everything crashing down, and destroy all of today's establishment.

We're just beginning to see the impact of electing a president who has had no previous government experience. The White House inner circle has become even smaller with Bannon's voice ringing the loudest. It's a voice that matters only as much as Trump allows it to matter, but it is clear that Steve Bannon has become whisperer-in-chief.

It's Time For A Women's March - Again

Photo from private collection of Marilyn Salenger

The day after President Donald Trump's Inauguration, an estimated 200,000 women and supportive men are expected to gather in our nation's Capital for the Women's March on Washington. Their numbers continue to grow as sister marches are being organized in cities across the country and around the world. Mothers, daughters and grandmothers will be marching together, generation to generation, in a solidarity of concern for our futures as women.

We have taken to the streets of our country to protest for equal rights since the early part of the 20th Century. Marches became an integral and critical part of success because they drew attention, and still do. The women pictured above were marching in a Labor Parade as part of the Women's Trade Union League in 1911. They were marching down New York City's Fifth Avenue protesting for higher pay, shorter hours, fire safety, sanitary working conditions and child labor laws. 

Two years later in 1913, thousands of women suffragettes boldly and bravely marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. the day before President Woodrow Wilson's first Inauguration. They were attempting to be heard and seen in front of their biggest audience yet. The women walked "in a spirit of protest against the present political organization of society from which women are excluded." Their march had been years in the making, working to encourage women to fight for a right denied them since our founding days. Their historic battle resulted in the 19th Amendment to our Constitution officially granting women the right to vote in 1920.

100 years after those first marches, inequality and sexism remain a part of women's lives. There is nothing right about it. This past election raised its awareness once again and brought us to the first steps of next generation activism.

A divisive presidential campaign provided a basis for the sweeping show of support the Women's March is attracting. The frustration level felt among many women reflects how we were dealt with during the campaign, and how our lives will potentially be affected during a Trump presidency. The march will provide a place to purposefully vent.

What began with a Facebook post the day after the 2016 election now has the potential to become another landmark event for women.  Like those marches that came before, this one is seizing the moment. 

The Women's March formal mission statement includes the following:

“In the spirit of democracy and honoring the champions of human rights, dignity, and justice who have come before us, we join in diversity to show our presence in numbers too great to ignore. The Women’s March on Washington will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women's rights are human rights. We stand together, recognizing that defending the most marginalized among us is defending all of us.”

Organizers of the march said that their event is not about Trump but rather the inequities his actions represent. But it is about Trump. Women are marching because they instinctively know they have to march. Too many feel their voices went unheard in this past election, and too much of what we care about is at a critical state of disregard.

Trump Style of Governing: How Much Can I Get Away With ?

Photo by Gage Skidmore/CC BY-SA2.0

President-elect Donald Trump is a man showing intent to govern in a way that reflects a desire and nature to try and get away with as much as he can, until he receives insurmountable push back. Trump is approaching his presidency by pushing the boundaries of laws, traditions and norms.

Whether it's dealing with Russia, his tax returns, conflicts of interests, his children’s roles, a lack of complete vetting for cabinet nominees or his use of Twitter, we have a president-elect who remains combative with a clear reluctance to let go of his campaign mode of operation. I won. Therefore I am.

President-elect Trump will either rise to the occasion of assuming the presidential mantle, or he will sink. There seems to be little middle ground for a man who has come up in the world working hard to get his own way, although not always succeeding.

Trump and his team have created a transition period filled with strategic chaos being felt around the world. Surrogates continue to be called upon to explain what Trump really meant to say, after he said it, in case people still had any questions. They do this knowing that a morning tweet by the president-elect could undo anything previously said.

The majority of Americans, according to the latest Pew Research survey, give President-Elect Trump "low marks for how he is handling the transition process." There continues to be "widespread concern" about potential conflicts of interest, and his tax returns remain a bigger issue than he lets on. While Trump still refuses to release the tax returns that would provide a factual accounting of his financial interests, 60% of Americans now believe that he has a responsibility to do so. This runs contrary to the president-elect's repeated comments stating that the only people interested in his tax returns are the news media. He once again attacked reporter's questions on the subject at his news conference on January 11, 2017, dismissing them outright. Both the reporters and their questions. 

The level of Trump's continued anger and disrespect for the news media and most anything he doesn't like that they report, sets a dangerous course going forward. A president doesn't have to agree with all that is written or said about him, but freedom of the press acts as a critical check on our government. It stands as the First Amendment to our Constitution for a reason. Not since Richard Nixon have we seen a man, soon to become president, continually attack the media with such vitriol.

The transition period between winning a presidential election and being inaugurated as president of the United States is a time for building an administration who will carry out the new president’s goals. A rollercoaster of ups and downs does not a smooth transition make, and the public appears to be feeling its affects.

The Trump-Schwarzenegger Show

The first month of 2017 opens with a new session of the United States Congress, the inauguration of Donald Trump as our 45th President, and a new season of the show that made Donald Trump famous, “Celebrity Apprentice.” While serving as president, Trump will also serve as the executive producer of the show, currently hosted by former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The confluence of politics and show business is now complete.

“Celebrity Apprentice” and its predecessor, “The Apprentice,” provided a national stage for Donald Trump to hone his media skills and become a household name outside New York City. For those who aren't familiar with the program, it highlights competing teams of celebrities (definition loosely defined) who are given tasks to complete. The host, who also serves as chief judge, along with two sidekicks decide which team leader wins money for charity. High-end show business at its most elementary level. 

Today, “Celebrity Apprentice” has set itself up to be a potential cesspool of conflicts without clear boundaries for its former and current hosts. NBC fired Trump from the show in June after what they called his "derogatory statements regarding immigrants." They replaced him with a well-known Austrian born immigrant, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has his own brand of male macho. Behind the scenes wrangling during the campaign put Trump back to work as the program’s executive producer, creating a substantial new revenue stream for Trump to collect while he is president.

Forbes estimates that Trump as exec producer will make about $2 million per episode this season, in addition to royalties. Corporate sponsorships of the program muddies the waters ever further. At this point, Trump's continued involvement with “Celebrity Apprentice,” is ridiculously inappropriate. He doesn’t seem inclined to stop pocketing money earned while on the payroll of a television network with a substantial news division assigned to cover his presidency.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former bodybuilder turned actor and businessman who parlayed it all to become the Republican Governor of California, appears primed to continue the mix of politics and reality television. In October he announced that he would not vote for Donald Trump for president. In his first “Celebrity Apprentice” show on January 2, 2017, Schwarzenegger called out actor and comedian Jon Lovitz for referring to him as “Arnold,” the name known to millions. "In here it's Governor,” Schwarzenegger said while sitting behind the faux boardroom desk. It was slightly bizarre. We now have a second incarnation of the “Celebrity Apprentice” reality show with a host who wants to use his political title in lieu of all others.

Could we say that NBC is providing a vehicle to showcase another potential presidential candidate while enabling the continuation of a new norm?  Arnold Schwarzenegger's bio on his official website reinforces some of that thinking:

“Most notably, Schwarzenegger made California a world leader on renewable energy and combating climate change with the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, set a revolutionary political reform agenda, and became the first governor in decades to invest in rebuilding California’s critical infrastructure with his Strategic Growth Plan.”

The current convergence of celebrity and politics has unleashed a new generation of probable. The lines between governing, business and celebrity no longer seem to be clearly drawn. When a reality show star wants to be called by his former title of Governor, but closes his show saying “Hasta la vista baby,” you really do have to wonder.