How did Trump break the myth of the "state of institutions" America?

Abdel Rahman Abou El Ela - Al Jazeera Net

Over the past decades, the United States has known - or wanted to know - as a "state of institutions". With every election season, there is little talk that there is little difference between the Democratic Party candidate and the Republican candidate. Institutions ".

But with President Trump's ascendancy to the White House in early 2017, everything has changed, and with the 45th President's decisions accelerating, Trump has been singled out in the face of old American institutions such as the Congress, the Pentagon, the State Department and the judiciary, as well as the media.

The withdrawal of US troops from Syria and Afghanistan, the construction of the border wall with Mexico, the declaration of a state of emergency, the ban on the entry of citizens of six Muslim countries, the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, and the siege of Qatar are all just a sample of decisions and positions. He succeeded - often - to impose on everyone, leaving a big question: Where is the state institutions?

Resignations and resignations
The first half of the Trump era saw more than 50 resignations or dismissals of officials who were in his administration.

His tenure began with strong criticism of the FBI and his manager, James Komy, was sacked over investigations into what was said to be a Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, before Justice Minister Geoff Seashin was dismissed because he was not pressured to stop the investigation.

On 19 December 2018, in a tweet on Twitter, President Trump suddenly announces "the withdrawal of US troops from Syria after defeating the terrorist organization", thus without coordination with the Department of Defense or Congress.

Less than 48 hours later, Secretary of Defense James Matisse announced his resignation and said in a letter of resignation that he was stepping down so Trump could appoint a defense minister compatible with his ideas.

A day later, the United States envoy to the international coalition to fight the state organization, Brett McGurk, announced his resignation in protest of President Trump's decision.

Observers said Matisse's departure had been expected since Trump announced he would withdraw his troops from Syria despite objections from allies of the United States and senior US military officials.

"Less than three months ago, National Security Adviser John Bolton identified a large-scale mission of US forces in Syria that seemed to reflect a credible foreign policy plan, but as was the case during Trump's chaotic presidency, it was not." "Who will protect America now?"

The Washington Post published a report by its correspondents Greg Jav and Karon Demerjian, who said Matisse's resignation reflected not only his political differences with Trump, but also doubts about Trump's ability to be the top US commander at a critical moment on the world stage.

In the face of Congress
In the case of the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in his consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018, Trump contradicted the positions of Congress, the State Department and the US intelligence.

While these institutions have adopted tough positions toward Saudi Arabia, especially Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump continues to defend bin Salman and refuses to hold him responsible for the killing of Khashoggi despite leaks from CIA sources about her conclusion that the Saudi crown prince was involved in the Khashoghi killing.

With Qatar's siege crisis in June 2017, the president's chants provoked a crisis within US institutions and came as a surprise to all.

Trump's attack on Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism at first, contradicts the US State Department's assertions that support Qatar and the interests of the Pentagon. Qatar has the largest US military base in the Middle East.

In the face of Congress, there were numerous irregularities, and the Democratic and Republican parties - the Trump - agreed to oppose Trump's decisions.

For months, the positions of the two parties have been consistent to investigate the alleged Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election in support of Trump, which could, if proven, isolate him.

Weeks ago, Trump was forced to veto a congressional measure that would have hampered his attempts to secure funding for a wall along the border with Mexico by declaring a national emergency.

Last month, Trump signed a national emergency law to circumvent Congress, which refused to allocate about $ 5 billion to fund a border wall with Mexico.

America saw the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019 the longest government closure in its history, lasting 35 days due to lack of agreement on the budget or partial funding of the government, with Trump insistence on including the construction of the wall in return for the Democrats.

On March 14, the US Senate voted to end support for the US-Saudi war in Yemen, a bipartisan blow to Donald Trump's foreign policy.

The draft passed a majority of 56 to 46, with seven Republicans challenging the president and standing with the Democrats, while White House advisers recommended that Trump veto the resolution.

Battles with the judiciary and the media
"The false media New York Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS, CNN is not an enemy of me, but of the American people, the media does not serve the people, but their own interests."

This is only a tirade for Trump less than a month after he entered the White House as president, a feud since he was a candidate for president, campaigning against the media he considered biased to his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump said that "the level of deception was out of control," citing the coverage of the allegations of his campaign contacts with Russian officials.

Trump has often accused CNN of publishing false news, and the White House has withdrawn the entry of Jim Acosta, the network's correspondent, whom Trump described as "brazen" in an altercation between them at a news conference.

Last September, Trump attacked an article in the New York Times as "cowardly" and called on the newspaper to hand over his clerk to the government immediately.

Western politicians rarely enter into a confrontation with the judiciary, but Trump entered an early clash with the judiciary following his decision to ban the entry of citizens of six Muslim countries to the United States on the pretext of protecting their security from terrorism.

With the refusal of the judiciary Trump's decision to launch the latter an attack on the institution of justice and issued a new executive order in defiance of him.

Although the improvement of the US economy is the most important of the next president of the business world, a study prepared by a team of economists at prominent US universities published days ago showed that President Trump's trade battles - particularly with the EU and China - cost the US economy 7.8 billion Lost its GDP in 2018.

All this raises the question: Is the United States still a state of institutions or is the advent of Trump to rule it into a state similar to the Third World countries, the president governs "no rule of his rule"?

In his book Political System and Society Change, renowned political scientist Samuel Huntington argued that Third World countries are in a state of chaos or political crisis because of the lack of sophisticated political institutions that can adapt and survive with significant societal changes.

Huntington also pointed out that societies with strong political institutions could suffer from this deterioration if their institutions were not maintained, and that is precisely what the United States has been witnessing in recent years.