It has been 13 months since Donald Trump was elected U.S. president, but the administration chaos in Washington is still ongoing. One of the questions asked by those who attended the “54th Munich Security Conference” was, “Who is speaking on behalf of the U.S. and whose word should we trust?” German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who admitted he did not know where to look to understand the U.S., said, “Acts or Promises? Tweets?” Speaking at the conference, Trump’s National Security Adviser Gen. McMaster said that proof has been found that Russia intervened in the U.S elections. Yet, Trump quickly posted a tweet and criticized McMaster’s statement.
Americans asked that Trump’s famous tweets be ignored at Munich’s platforms and defended that the U.S.’s commitments toward its allies were continuing. However, their efforts to convince are not satisfying. Because, in addition to generals such as John Kelly, James Mattis and McMaster, who are said to be responsible for balancing Trump, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s position is also unstable. Even though this has been denied by the White House, the media is publishing the lists of people who may replace these names. In my February 11 article, “Beyaz Saray’da yaprak dökümü devam ediyor” (The White House continues to lose blood), I had implied that Trump was having problems with McMaster as well. McMaster was in Ankara at that time. I had avoided getting into the details to prevent speculation.
There is a lot of hearsay about the conflict within the Trump administration. Reince Priebus, White House chief of staff before John Kelly, had made a striking statement and said, “Take everything you've heard and multiply it by 50.” One other issue is that several names in the White House are in office without permanent security authorization. The list also includes Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner. The White House stated that Kushner, who has access to the most confidential information, including the intelligence information notes submitted to the president daily, does not require permanent security authorization. Yet, “National Intelligence” head Dan Coats has said in a statement that those who have no permanent security authorization should have restricted access to sensitive information. We can say that Kelly is currently brooding over how he will get out of this crisis.
The elections in autumn of 2018 contain high rip-offs for Trump and the Republicans. Hence, the “Conservative Political Action Conference” (CPAC) was quite clamorous. France’s National Front leader Marine Le Pen’s niece Marion Marechal-Le Pen and the U.K.’s former UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage were also among the speakers at the conference. Trump was one of those who got carried away at the conference. American youth, on the other hand, were leading the wave of protests against personal armament. The wave driven by high schoolers was targeting weapon lobbies, primarily the National Rifle Association (NRA), and the “Republicans.” Surely, this development that needs to be highlighted in bold, will have grave political consequences for Republicans.
While the U.S. is shaking with these protests, Trump pulling the move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem to an earlier time is, of course, aimed at eliminating the internal chaos with the external. Coinciding the moving process to May 14, the day Israel was established, is a lifeline for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who is in a tight corner in the country. Hence, U.S.-based pro-Netanyahu businessman Sheldon Adelson announced that he is ready to provide financial support for the construction of the embassy. Adelson is Trump’s most generous donator. Trump, who needs money for the elections, would not want to lose the support of the Israeli lobby or Adelson.
On a different note, world-renowned Evangelist Preacher Bill Graham, who was considered the spiritual guide of Republican U.S. presidents, died Wednesday at age 99. Graham’s death opened to debate the decaying American conservativism. As a matter of fact, American Evangelism has aged and is on the verge of death. Support to the Republicans and Israel among Evangelist youth is increasingly diminishing.
