The 78-year-old Donald Trump strolls into office as the 47th President of the United States tonight, marking a power transition from the Democrats to the Republicans. The two political establishments that ran the world’s most powerful and wealthy nation in iterations, depending on electoral verdicts every four years, have kept the core of the Americas in good stead. The Republicans are the favourites of the rich and the elite; and the Democrats are more mass-based with a more humanitarian approach in their dealings with the wider world. Wars are fought often under Republican rule, and they show a tendency to prove their nation’s might through tough global engagements. Democrats are, by comparison, doves of peace. Yet, between them, seasons change.
Donald Trump, his image fortified by his business acumen and impressive but often crude presence on television debates, rode to victory and to the White House as President for the first time in 2017 for a four-year-term. He won back the presidency in the December 2024 polls under the Republican banner, and raised the banner of Make America Great Again (MAGA) and America First. A controversial figure, he blows hot and cold. His first term had not seen high action matching with his bombast. This time too, he hints at annexing some islands and ending the war in Ukraine, in which the West is indirectly involved against Russian aggressiveness. Visa regulations are likely to be tightened, affecting the interests of techies from India. There would, yet again, be more controls against illegal immigrants from Mexico, Canada etc. Trump has already put Canada on notice.
Notably, despite the tough talk, American presidents generally function on the basis of the policies set by their party leadership. Yet, they exercise their authority in good measure. Movie-idol Ronald Reagan entered the White House at the height of the hostage crisis involving Americans in Iran. The fundamentalist regime in Teheran that flexed its muscles against Jimmy Carter for months suddenly shifted gears and released the US hostages — even before tough-talking Reagan settled down into his presidential chair. George Bush Junior, who led the war against Iraq and ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, also ensured the overthrow of more dictatorial regimes in the Middle East-West Asia region. Barack Obama, who rode into office with perceived high energy, adopted soft lines. But, his visit to Cuba in 2016 as US President, ending 90 years of hostilities between the two nations, was a historic step. He, however, failed in his efforts at ending the fight between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East region. Another landmark event was the pullout of the US troops from Afghanistan in the 2020-21 period, decided by Trump and implemented by Joe Biden. This ended two decades of US military engagement in Afghanistan, which was started by George Bush Jr following the lethal Al Qaeda attack on the US. A second Trump presidency is unlikely to take the world by storm.