It will not be an easy future for the White House. Not only must it finish setting up its Administration and continue in running the country, it must also wait for the results of the investigations that have haunted it over the last 8 months. The results will decide the immediate political future of the United States.
Caesar’s wife
The White House must remember the age old saying that “Caesar’s wife must be seen to be above suspicion”. This is the very conundrum in which the Oval Office now finds itself. The Administration that won an incredible victory on November 8th also has to fight to show that the victory was obtained in a legitimate manner.
The doubts and accusations arising from the allegations of Russian interference in the election and then the revelations of contacts between Trump team members with the Russian Ambassador to the United States are not minor issues that can be quashed by simple denials.
The allegations put into doubt the election win and may signal a new dangerous turn in the new Cold War between the United States and Russia. For this reason the task has been placed with America’s intelligence community to either show that they are true, or that they are false. In either case, the officials involved must provide incontrovertible proof of their findings.
The citizens of the United States have the right to know with absolute certainty that the Administration is legitimate.
Sadly and worryingly, a large part of the populations harbours serious doubts due to the revelations of recent months.
These doubts are being addressed and will provide answers, but it will take time.
Example
While President #Donald Trump’s frustration at the allegations may be understandable, he must be the person to set the example of patience for the country and he must do so in two ways.
Initially the President must moderate his language and reactions to any developments in the allegations regarding his Administration. The country must see the Oval Office in control and his habit of late night tweet attacks does nothing to bring calm over the issues.
The second way is even more serious and related to the first.
The President and his staff must do nothing to put into doubt their trust in the activities in the intelligence community as a whole and in the investigators involved in particular.
To do so would put into doubt whatever results they obtain in their investigations, either in confirmation or denial of the allegations. The matter must end with these results and putting doubt on the intelligence community into the minds of the public will only ensure that the matter will cause problems for more than necessary.
It may well be useful for his staff to advise Donald Trump to put a statue of Pompeia in the Oval Office to ensure that he remembers her husband’s lesson that Caesar’s wife and Presidents must be above suspicion and, like Justice which uses this lesson every day, that it must be seen to be so.
