With his latest #press conference a wipeout and widely panned by the global media – and with Sweden virtually putting him in his place – many are looking to see if Trump's next few weeks in the #White House will take on a firmer footing. Or is this the scattered timbre of the new presidency of the United States of America?
Many have been left gasping for answers in a month that has seen a lot of firsts for the nation. It's the first time a president has passed a bill that fundamentally changes the country's #immigration policy in the first few days of his office.
It's the first time the national security adviser has been fired with a month of gaining the position.
Trump and the new age of 'trutherism'
Some have called it a new era of 'trutherism', as Damon Winter did in the New York Times on Saturday. Quoting French theorist Guy Debord’s book #The Society of The Spectacle, Winter postulated that we are living in a time of “unanswerable lies,” when truth has ceased existing or has been reduced to mere opinion. Troublingly, the spectacle itself – trump and Trumpism – warrants it own justifications by going around in circles, repeating and reaffirming without answer or confirmation of a fact, so that the spectacle becomes the only known thing.
After the inauguration crowd size became such a spectacle, the technicalities of headcount was then presented as an unnecessary burden.
The truth, for #Kelly Anne Conway in many highly charged media appearances, became an encumbrance that was spun in many different directions.
As each successive new day brings a new lie, indignity or indignation, many have felt that they no longer know what the truth actually is. There were many mistruths told be #Trump in his campaigns, and many promises not fulfilled.
There has also been a belligerent denial of the actual question itself, this by Trump himself in press conferences – where he has insisted that the media are liars and to blame.
Is this the kind of president we can expect for the next three years? A reactive and suspicious leader who doesn’t seek justification for his #mendacities but rather continues to pummel his detractors with yet more lies?
Whilst a poll carried out by Fox News last week shows that 90 percent of Republicans are happy with how Trump is handling various issues, many in the mainstream media are fighting for answers. #Republican supporters might like the populist style of his latest press conference, with its lack of concern for truth and an attack on elites and news gatherers, but the media and those on the left are irate.
Foreign policy and America's global standing is highlighted
Others are criticizing the president's chaotic and destabilizing attitude to foreign policy, with some commentators suggesting that his cavalier approach to global issues and diplomacy are a new area of weakness for the US. Detractors say that a vulnerable world is looking to a #United States that has clarity of thought and a solid and trustworthy leadership, no matter what side of congress they stand on.
Whatever the truth of the matter, Trump will most probably continue to elicit opinion and outrage in the coming months. That is, unless he takes a tip from traditional political advisers and starts behaving more like a #president. And not a salesman in presidential clothing.
