This week marks the first 100 days in office of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the US.
In just three months, he has caused such havoc and uncertainty around the world with his policies that the world is right to be concerned about what comes next.
The first 100 days have given some clues of what his legacy might be, with emerging evidence suggesting it will mostly be negative to the US and the world.
Internally, he has shown disdain for important US institutions. These include courts, the central bank, universities, the media, the public service and the legislature.
This week, the unthinkable happened when a judge was arrested in her own courtroom. The judge, critical of the administration’s mass deportations policy, was allegedly arrested for protecting an undocumented immigrant in court. Unprecedented stuff.
Up until now, Trump has operated within the law and respected courts’ judgments; but the arrest of a judge is a new low.
During his first term in office, the centre piece of his immigration policy included erecting a high wall to block foreigners from entering the US. This time he is hounding them out of the US.
Using his henchman, SA-born billionaire Elon Musk, he is cutting down the size of the US public service, one of the world’s respected, without following due process. He accuses it of being a waste and, in the process, has compromised the integrity of data sovereignty.
His contempt for independent media, which he calls legacy media or fake news, has grown during his second term. Still, he has yet to jail journalists critical of him and his administration.
Fears are, however, growing that the intimidation tactics, such as the arrest of a judge without offering her an opportunity to hand herself to police, are meant to instil fear and may escalate into the imprisonment of the administration’s opponents.
A week ago, he openly criticised Jerome Powell, the head of US Federal Reserve, for not cutting rates. He is looking at legal means of sacking the respected central banker.
Since coming to office, Trump has opted to implement his policy agenda without the legislature. He uses executive orders or decrees. This means that his agenda has neither bilateral support nor support from the Republicans, his political party.
On foreign policy, he has chosen the most destructive path. He treats his allies with derision, and calls them freeloaders.
He has slapped them with trade tariffs. Earlier this month, as the tariffs showed signs of harming the US economy and its consumers, he pressed the pause button for 90 days — except for China. The latter has forcefully retaliated, sparking fears of a Sino-American trade war.
In what smacks of an extortionist scam, he is asking US trade allies to make bilateral deals with him. His administration claims that it is in receipt of dozens of proposals from countries affected by the tariffs. This sounds more like a global protection racket, and less like a mutually beneficial trading arrangement.
America’s trade partners have responded differently to Trump. China, the world’s second-largest economy, is in a tit-for-tat skirmish with Washington. Europeans are mulling strategies of how to respond without open confrontation with Trump. These strategies include appeasement (deals with him) and less reliance on the transatlantic alliance. The latter is receiving serious consideration.
Trump has also cut foreign aid to the world’s poorest nations. He is dismantling the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the source of US soft power, and has threatened to shut down US embassies in several countries. This will be disastrous, and another sign of America Alone.
On stopping wars, he is bullying Ukraine into a deal with Russia that gives parts of Ukraine to Russia and he will most likely not support Kyiv joining the Western military alliance.
Judging by the first 100 days, the next 100 may be bumpier.
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