{"id":170615,"date":"2016-11-20T06:34:58","date_gmt":"2016-11-20T01:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=170615"},"modified":"2016-11-24T11:57:01","modified_gmt":"2016-11-24T06:27:01","slug":"testing-the-limits-of-american-democracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/testing-the-limits-of-american-democracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Testing The Limits Of American Democracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kumar David<\/a><\/span> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Prof.<\/a>

Prof. Kumar David<\/p><\/div>\n

Trump: Idiosyncratic harum-scarum or cunning impostor?\u00a0Testing the limits of American democracy<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCome fly with us to America while you are still allowed to<\/em>\u201d~\u00a0Actual advertisement by Royal Jordanian Airlines<\/p>\n

This tongue in cheek spoof by Jordanian Airlines would be funny but that America has elected a \u201cpinch me, this can\u2019t be true\u201d wacko to the Presidency. The other side of the matter is that the guy is cunning, a compromiser who at least on this issue turned tail when he saw the obstacles. His aides have said that the threat to suspend entry visas for Muslims is pass\u00e9, no longer relevant, and would be taken down from the Trump website.<\/p>\n

Likewise on Obamacare he seems to have turned tail and capitulated on \u201cpre-existing aliments\u201d and \u201cchildren under 25 on parent\u2019s policies\u201d. He will not dare touch the 20 million newly covered people unless he wants the streets to ignite. By conceding these he has capitulated on the core medical elements of Obamacare, whatever disguise he employs to con his base.\u00a0There will be changes to the institutional aspects (Health Insurance Exchanges) by 2019 but this was overdue and had to done, Clinton or Trump.\"donald-trump\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is more on the cards if one believes that what his aides say reflects what the big bad wolf thinks. One of his aides explained that the Wall was not intended as a physical structure but a \u201cconceptual reference\u201d to tighter immigration and border controls. Another leak is that a message had been sent to Japan not to worry about defence and the nuclear umbrella; \u201cit will be business as usual\u201d. A third is a specific campaign promise on which I reckon Trump will not dare to go forward, his threat to deport non-criminal undocumented Mexicans including children born in the US. If his Gestapo goes after millions of Mexicans, some have lived and worked without papers for years, there will be blood on the sidewalk. Having taken his faithful for a ride he now hopes to fool the liberals and the educated by playing softly-softly. The ruse won\u2019t work; demonstrations are spreading and so far show no sign of abating. Isn\u2019t it the winning side that should take to carnivals and rallies?<\/p>\n

Dig in or capitulate?<\/strong><\/p>\n

An interesting dichotomy is will Trump compromise and capitulate so much that he seems like a continuation the last eight years with cosmetic variations, or will he persist with a sufficient number of his idiosyncrasies to plunge America and the world into uncharted waters? Apart from the points on which I see signs of capitulation (Obamacare, no visas for Muslims, deporting Mexicans and backing-off on the threat to Japan) there are others to a keep an eye on. If we tick this list as we go along the answer should be evident by mid-2017. Here is the check-list:<\/p>\n