I’m An Admirer Of Trump, But Can’t Support His Current Stance – OpEd

It seems at times that I am one of the few persons who have been seeing positive aspects of the President Trump administration during the last four years and consistently writing articles in favor of several moves initiated by the US president. I have refused to accept the several abuses heaped on Trump and funny caricatures regularly appearing in the media in the US and elsewhere. Certainly, in my view, Trump has done reasonably well as US President, as much as several other Presidents earlier, if not better.

His successful peace efforts in the Middle East region, his efforts to bring the North Korean President to the peace table, the decision to withdraw forces from Afghanistan not only to save American lives but also to stop the counter productive strife in Afghanistan are noteworthy.

He certainly stood by his election promise of “America first” made during his first Presidential election campaign and tried to prevent the US from becoming a “migrants den”.

Clearly realizing that China has to be controlled not only to protect American interests but also to ensure world peace, Trump adopted a bold strategy by initiating a trade war with China, which his predecessor Obama during his eight years of administration did not adopt. On the other hand, Obama went out of the way to keep China in good humor, which was readily revealed by the widely reported incident of Obama receiving the respected Dalai Lama of Tibet through the back door of the White House, so that China would not be displeased.

All said and done, Trump campaigned hard during the recent Presidential election, but the people voted more for Biden than for Trump. Trump need not be displeased about this, since in spite of the vigorous anti-Trump campaign by sections of the US media and the hate campaign by his critics, a large number of American people have understood the merits of his administration and voted for him. His vote share is quite large, though not large enough to beat Biden in the contest.

Possibly, one reason why Biden got more votes than Trump was the negative campaign carried out against the president that he has failed to manage competently the COVID 19 crisis. The ground reality is that no other President could have done anything better, in the absence of the ability of medical researchers to identify and develop a suitable vaccine in time.  People will realize this in the coming days when President Biden takes office.

In any case, now that Trump has lost the election, he has to concede that Biden has won and should leave the White House. Instead, he has thought it fit to doubt the election machinery and has been stating that the election has been rigged. This looks like the reaction of a third world politician, who often tries to create controversies in a counter productive manner, when defeated in the election process.

Apart from the fact that no valid reason has been advanced so far by Trump to establish that the election has been rigged, the fact is that the election machinery is manned by a large number of Americans at various levels and it is impossible to believe that they all would have participated in falsifying the votes counted.

President Trump disbelieving the election machinery amounts to disbelieving a large number of Americans who have been part of election machinery. This is in bad taste.

Having been the President of America for four years, Trump should care for the reputation of America as a vibrant democracy with an honest electoral process. He is giving a tool for the critics of America all over the world to laugh at the quality of present day politics in the USA. A President not caring for the reputation of America and deliberately creating a bad image of America in the world is unpardonable.

Even if Trump is convinced that the election process has not been fair, he can resort to legal process without repeatedly talking about the “mischief” created by the election machinery. He should assure his citizens, which he is yet to do, that he will leave the White House and not give scope for controversies in allowing the next President to take over.

Let Trump continue his “legal  war” in a dignified way and wait for the verdict. 

Trump should realize that he can still contest in the next Presidential election after the first term of Biden and seek a mandate from the people. He should not now spoil his image permanently by creating controversies.

Today, because of Trump’s stance, the entire world is looking at the USA with disdain and doubt. This is humiliating the American people who are finding it difficult to hold their head high, when they participate in international gatherings.

History may judge that Trump should have behaved better after the election.