By ZEKE MILLER AP White House Correspondent WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will host Jordan's King Abdullah II at the White...

Global News Through a Greek Lens
Global News Through a Greek Lens
In a few days Donald Trump will become, again, president of the United States. As the elections revealed, about half of the voters (actually less than half, 49.9%) are eager for that day to come, while the other half (48.4% to be exact) dread the occasion.
According to his supporters, Trump will reinvigorate the country, forcing foreign foes to respect/fear it more, while at the same time restarting the economy and reversing some social changes they find objectionable.
According to his opponents, Trump will cause great damage to the country by antagonizing NATO allies and warming to illiberal leaders like Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban and Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In the economic sphere, his ideas about tariffs and taxes will cause great hardship and damage an economy which, with all its shortcomings, is doing quite well.
Whatever the outcome might be, the United States is at a crossroads. Democratic countries are depending on the rule of law, those in power to behave in a restrained way, and a well-working civil service (the term “deep state” is objectionable to me as it attempts to portray state bureaucracy as an illegitimate entity) to run the state. If Trump’s last term in office and his pronouncements since are any indicator, the US is in for a bumpy ride.
For at least the next two years, the Republican Party, which has become “Trump’s Party,” will be in control of both the presidency and the two Houses of the US Congress, which would allow them to pass whatever legislation the president wants. Traditionally, the US court system has been able to limit certain legislation and executive actions deemed unconstitutional, but things have changed. The current US Supreme Court has indicated that the president has wide powers, especially when it comes to his role as commander-in-chief. This might allow Trump, for example, to label certain groups as terrorists and authorize military actions inside countries such as Mexico (as some have been speculating lately). Additionally, some of Trump’s allies, most notably his vice president, have opined that the president can ignore the courts and chose to enforce, or not, certain laws in both foreign and domestic matters. Thus, the rule of law, as has been understood up to now, might not be a limit on the president in the future.
Trump has exhibited little personal restrain and respect for tradition, and has threatened to use the powers of the executive (Department of Justice, FBI) to hound and punish his political opponents. During his last term in office, the civil service and high-ranking generals were able to frustrate his designs because they saw themselves as serving the country and the constitution, not the individual president. But this time Trump, and his advisers, have vowed to fire large numbers of civil servants and replace them with individuals personally loyal to him.
Ordinarily one would argue that the first possibility, envisioned by Trump’s followers, might materialize and there is no need to panic. The problem is, if one pays even a little attention, that the policies that Trump’s followers want to be enacted depend on the president assuming quasi-dictatorial powers. Mass deportation of illegal immigrants, denial of equal rights to many Americans, restrictions on reproductive rights, limits on what public education can teach, among others, will require the type of extreme, and even unconstitutional, policies we have seen in non-democratic countries like Russia, Hungary and Turkey.
Whichever of the above two scenarios come to pass, starting in 2025, the heralded US Republic might not resemble the one I encountered when I first came to the United States of America in 1981.
https://www.ekathimerini.com/opinion/1258271/τhe-united-states-at-a-crossroads/
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