With anger and division: this is how Donald Trump leaves the White House
Recount of the presidency of the tycoon who leaves with the stain of a second political trial.
Donald Trump dreamed of "another four incredible years in the White House", but leaves the presidential residence frustrated, abandoned by much of the Republican side and with a second impeachment in tow, days after a group of his followers stormed Congress .
The New York billionaire, symptom and multiplier of the fractures of the United States, leaves a wounded country, full of doubts and anger. A country whose image abroad suffered lasting damage, far, far from the "city that shines on the top of a hill", according to the famous formula of Ronald Reagan, icon of the Republican Party.
With the offenses, provocations and mockery of him, the 74-year-old president wrote a separate chapter in the history of the United States. For four years, Americans have witnessed, enthusiastic, anguished or frightened, the unprecedented spectacle of a president who came to power with a bang and no restrictions were imposed.
The defeat to Democrat Joe Biden was especially painful for a man who divides the world into "winners" and "losers" and who, unlike his three predecessors (Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton), will be a president. single mandate.
A mandate that exposed the vulnerability, but also the strength and resilience of American democracy, especially after Trump refused to acknowledge his defeat in the November elections.
The images of his followers breaking into Congress with Trump and Confederate flags, looting offices and leaving graffiti demanding the assassination of journalists, convulsed the world's leading power.
"Donald Trump is the most dangerous man to ever hold the Oval Office," Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro said during debates about the opening of a new impeachment trial against the president.
"Donald Trump is the most dangerous man to ever occupy the Oval Office"
The 45th US president tested the limits of democratic institutions, leading some to fear the possibility of a true coup.
Diplomat Fiona Hill, who was on her national security team for a time, spoke of an attempted "self-coup," carried out "in slow motion" and "in broad daylight."
The Army, justice, local politicians and the media acted as levees. "The good news for the United States is that Trump's self-coup failed. The bad news is that his followers continue to believe in a big lie that he won the election," Hill summarized.
Trump, who came to power after connecting with a sector of the United States that felt forgotten, always refused, however, to assume the role of unifier. Even at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has claimed nearly 400,000 lives in the United States, when the country was seeking a stable and reassuring voice, he stubbornly rejected any show of empathy.
The president was ironic about the use of the mask, dismissing it as a sign of the politically correct positions that he seeks to avoid.
In his stubbornness he relentlessly attacked Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's most respected immunologist, who worked with five other presidents and who tenaciously stood as the voice of science.
Trump minimized the health threat by presenting himself as a "superman", even after testing positive and being hospitalized, he missed the opportunity to show compassion in the face of the pandemic.
Institutions, often abused, have proven their strength and a number of indicators - starting with employment numbers - were good for a long time before the devastating impact of the coronavirus.
But his tenure was riddled with scandals, in stark contrast to that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. The septuagenarian in the red tie damaged the presidential office, attacked judges, legislators and officials and fueled racial tensions.
Beyond borders, he intimidated America's allies, displayed an unsettling fascination for authoritarian leaders, from Vladimir Putin to Kim Jong Un, and struck a brutal blow at the mobilization against climate change.
Prone to exaggerations, the triumphant face of unbridled populism, the man who, according to writer Philip Roth, uses "a vocabulary of 77 words," has made his admirers and detractors lose their sense of measure.
"The show is Trump, and there are sold-out shows everywhere. I have fun doing it and will continue to have fun." The phrase, taken from an interview that the real estate mogul gave to Playboy magazine in 1990, could have been pronounced yesterday. And apply to each of the days of him at the head of the world's greatest power.
The billionaire, who proved to be a skilled speaker at his rallies, accomplished the feat of positioning himself as the spokesperson for the "forgotten" and the "deplorable," according to a derogatory phrase used by his 2016 Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. .
Showing a true political nose, Trump understood the fears of a part of Americans, mostly white and older, who felt despised by the "elites" on the East Coast and Hollywood stars in the West.
"The show is Trump, and there are sold-out shows everywhere. I have fun doing it and will continue to have fun."
This great consumer of hamburgers and Diet Coke, who had become known in American homes thanks to the reality show 'The Apprentice', relentlessly applied a simple rule: occupy the media space at any cost.
Disregard for science, estimates, falsehoods: his statements forced the team of fact-checkers of The Washington Post newspaper to create a new category: "The Bottomless Pinocchio", for false or misleading statements repeated more than 20 times.
From the West Wing of the White House, where the presidential offices are concentrated, Trump dug the gap between two America: the red (Republican) and the blue (Democrat). And far from appealing, like Abraham Lincoln in 1861 to "the part of light in each one of us," he tirelessly played with fears.
Since announcing his candidacy in 2015, he has outraged the public by presenting irregular immigrants as "rapists" and "criminals." And during the 2020 campaign he presented himself as the sole guarantor of "public order" in the face of the threat of the "radical left" which, he said, could turn the United States into a "Venezuela on a large scale."
In a country that likes moments of national unity, however fleeting they may be, Trump rarely wanted to find the tone to heal wounds, even after a natural disaster or bloody shooting.
Always an avid viewer of Fox News, he launched virulent attacks on what he called "corrupt" and "dishonest" media to fuel divisions. And in a remarkable fact, the former owner of the Miss Universe pageant is the only president in history whose popularity rating never surpassed the 50% mark during his tenure.
Both his opponents and his supporters agree on one point: Donald Trump has, in fact, delivered on some of his campaign promises. As he had announced, he threw down a series of hard-negotiated treaties or pacts, among which the Paris Agreement stands out, signed by almost every country on the planet in an attempt to limit the dreaded global warming.
But this fidelity to the campaign commitments was made since the demolition. With respect to his initiatives, the balance is leaner.
On the issue of the Iranian nuclear program, for example, he broke the tough deal negotiated by his predecessor. He also increased the pressure on Tehran, eliminating even the powerful Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, but he never presented a real strategy.
The grand Middle East peace plan, entrusted to Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and adviser, never came to fruition. However, he can boast of sponsoring the normalization of the relations of the Hebrew state with three Arab countries: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.
The death in October 2019 of the leader of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group Abu Bakr al Baghdadi during a US operation in Syria will undoubtedly remain a milestone in his presidency.
His greatest audacity, for which he was dreaming aloud of the Nobel Peace Prize, did not have the expected result. There were two summits with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, there were hugs and complicity during a historic visit to the demilitarized zone, there was "chemistry" and "magnificent" letters, but the effort was in vain.
Nothing changed on the central issue of denuclearization. In the complex and changing geopolitics of the 21st century, Trump personally took aim at Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and Theresa May.
The most scathing warning did not come from his political opponents, but from Jim Mattis, head of the Pentagon. In his resignation letter, this general reminded the president of the United States of a simple rule of diplomacy: "Treat allies with respect." -
"I know that an election will not solve the problem, our divisions are deep ..."
Despite his mandate, he will always be, without a doubt, a separate former president. It seems unimaginable that one day he and his living predecessors will take part in a "family photo" in one of those moments of national unity that America loves so much.
Trump begins his exile in Mar-a-Lago weakened. In incredible loneliness. But not completely on the spot. His ability to mobilize crowds remains his main asset and they have the ability to paralyze part, only part, of the Republican Party.
To those who believe that Biden, a longtime political veteran and reassuring figure, closed Trump's hiatus once and for all with his victory, Obama issued a warning. "I know that an election will not solve the problem," he said. "Our divisions are deep."
