Trump’s sloppy administration

Richard Fulton

I grant that President Trump has little experience in government and will make some early mistakes. And I grant that he is trying to fulfill his perception of what should be done early to fulfill his campaign promises.

But given this, it is incumbent upon the president to be more careful with what he wants to do and how he is proceeding to accomplish his goals. I, and others, may disagree with what the president is trying to do, but that is not the point.

The point is that the president must be more careful, more introspective, as he goes about his agenda. Careful staff work is essential. His White House needs an understanding that the president must deal with congress and the judiciary as well as the American people as he proceeds.

He may not want to cooperate with Democrats, but he needs to inform and cooperate with the leadership of his own party in the congress. Indeed, it is politic to do the same with the leadership of the Democrats as well.

He should not forget that the Democrats may not be the majority in congress but they were elected by their home constituencies. Not to mention that the president himself did not get a majority of the votes cast in the election; he was almost three million short of that goal.

All this to say that it is dangerous in terms of domestic politics as well as for international relations to project the image of a stumbling White House staff and cabinet.

The world is watching and making judgements. First impressions tend to last.

Many Americans are watching even closer.

The immigration ban is a case in point. The dumping of the ban on the administrative structure, cabinet members, and congress without any warning or input into the decision to institute the temporary ban on immigrants from seven majority-Muslim countries has created for him and the country a crisis atmosphere.

Not to mention the chaos at airports where officials did not know how to deal with the directive. So they stopped people who had a legitimate case for entry into the country. Other countries (and airlines) had no idea what they should do about visas and entry requirements.

The resulting international and national kickback has diverted the administration’s early goals and increased the unpopularity of the president. Recent polls show he has historically low approval rates for a new president. Scheduled trips abroad are endangered as well.

Michael Flynn, the National Security Advisor, was forced to make a public apology for not consulting or informing congress and administrative agency heads about the specifics of the ban.

Then the president compounds the problem by having his staff hurriedly put out a list of 78 incidents of terrorism that the press (who he continues to attack as the enemy) has not covered. They even misspelled “attake” multiple times. Sloppy work doesn’t give one confidence in the white house staff.

Many on the list were individuals not connected to terrorism. One a man who killed his girlfriend. Now her mother is heartbroken to have her daughter connected with the list.

Only 11 on the list had connections to the seven banned nations, eight were by American citizens, 21 were knife attacks with few deaths, you get the point. The press has shown that they covered nearly all the attacks, some in excess it seems to me.

Many non-foreigner events were omitted; the Charleston church massacre and the killing of Muslims at prayer in Canada last week. Why?

How does one believe what comes out of the White House given their track record of sloppy, ideologically tinged, workmanship? Trump should remember his past and simply say “you’re fired.”

Richard Fulton is an emeritus professor of political science.