After a chaotic first six months in office, the President of the United States of America has vowed to keep turning to social media for support. However, Donald Trump’s presidency, which he so dishonestly grabbed from Hillary Clinton, is doomed to fail eventually.

Facing fresh new allegations linked to a probe in Russian interference in last year’s presidential election, Donald Trump is now trying to play down the report that he had personally intervened to draft an initial misleading statement by his son, Donald Trump Junior regarding a secret meeting with a Russian lawyer.

But why are some political leaders so untrustworthy? I guess it’s the same all over the world! Let’s take these leaders as an example: Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister of Malta and his rich Panama buddies in Castille; Vladimir Machiavelli Putin in Russia; Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey; Viktor Orban in Hungary, Donald Trump in the United States. These high officials claimed (before they were elected) that they wanted to fix, rather than cripple, democratic institutions during their first few weeks in office. As time goes by, however, it becomes crystal clear that their only aim was to consolidate power. Effective resistance by opposing parties is still a very long way off, especially in Russia, Turkey and Malta.

If Donald Trump remains in office, he will most certainly deal a major blow to the rule of law. He is already showing what he has in mind as he wants to end an independent investigation into his Russian ties. A few days ago, for example, he and his allies stepped up attacks on the special counsel investigating last year's campaign connections to Russia. He is also trying to push the attorney general out of office and thinking of prosecuting Hillary Clinton about her email saga and, as if this was not enough, Trump is also toying with the idea whether he, as President, can pardon himself of any guilt!

When will the Republicans in Congress finally try to stop him?

 

Jos Edmond Zarb

Birkirkara