His amazingly thick skin makes him the most insensitive US President ever.
by K Natwar Singh
President Donald Trump, to the relief of most Americans, but also of humankind, will vacate the White House on 20 January. What will history make of him? He will not be forgotten. He has wantonly diminished the headlights of the American Constitution, one of the greatest in the world. He hired able and competent individuals to his staff, then fired them on the phone or on Twitter. His sugared charlatanism discredited American politics. Sometime in the future a psychologist should study the furniture of his mind.
His amazingly thick skin makes him the most insensitive President ever. He is indifferent to what decent, normal people call truth, morality and ethical conduct. He has, before demitting office, pardoned well known crooks and thugs, even though he is in fact a lame duck President. To this day he continues to declare the presidential election was flawed. Actually he maintains he was the winner.
What is his vision of America and the world? Soon after assuming office he had a public swipe at NATO. Then followed his obsession with North Korea—yes, North Korea of all places in the world. Nothing came of it. In brief, he does not perhaps understand the meaning of compos mentis. On the contrary, he is not in control either of his mind or his tongue.
Will he attend the swearing in ceremony of President Joe Biden on 20 January? That one should ask such a question is a left-handed tribute to his unpredictability.
President Trump had little interest in South America and none in Africa. One must however concede that he has daringly changed the foreign policies of several Arab countries and bestowed fresh respectability to that extraordinary nation, Israel.
On the whole, his interest in India is not phoney. During his visit to India last February he did not put a foot wrong. He has got on well with the Prime Minister. A well-known English daily got it spot on. It wrote in its editorial, “When Donald Trump visited India…bilateral ties were elevated to a ‘comprehensive global strategic partnership’. It mainly meant that defence imports from the U.S were galloping and that the White House acknowledged India as the most useful regional power. The ever-looming shadow of Pakistan over Indo-U.S ties had finally been overtaken by the realisation in Washington that Islamabad is important only in the context of Afghanistan but India’s external canvas is exponentially wider.” However, there is a serious lacuna. The US undoubtedly recognises our security needs, but there have been no economic concessions.
How will Mr Trump act after 20 January? It is not in his nature to verbally restrain himself as past Presidents do. He will not sit still. He will make life difficult for his successor for whom he has no respect. More importantly, he will not let the Republican Party slumber. He will make it into a sharp political weapon to ensure his re-entry into the White House in 2024.
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That Congress is suffering from several maladies is a national tragedy. The one person who can or could keep it from going to seed is, it seems, seriously unwell. For the first time, Sonia Gandhi was not present at the annual function organised at 24 Akbar Road to observe the one hundred thirty fifth anniversary of the founding of the Indian National Congress. Rahul Gandhi was also absent. He is abroad. Speculation is rife about his whereabouts. I shall give him the benefit of doubt. He has gone to Italy to be with his ailing grandmother, who is, like me, in her nineties. Had Rahul Gandhi made known the purpose of his tour, mystery would have been avoided. The Gandhis are congenitally secretive about their foreign jaunts. Why? Their party colleagues and workers are entitled to know how and where their leaders are, and how long they will be away.
Now that Sonia Gandhi is more or less non-functional and in semi-purda, she is temporary Congress president. A full time, dedicated president is needed. Apparently, Rahul Gandhi is not keen to occupy the “gaddi”, in spite of his mother wanting him to do so. On whose shoulders will the burden fall? No one is in sight. Hence the Gandhi Raj will continue. But sooner, rather later, like the later Mughals become a footnote in history, except for the great Jawaharlal Nehru.
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The RSS has brought out a one thousand page (this may not be the exact figure) book on Gandhiji, depicting him as a good Hindu. I intend reading it to find out how Shri Mohan Bhagwat and his co-authors have delineated the Mahatma’s personality.
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