The Washington Post has published an article by journalist Mark Theissen highlighting the worst mistakes made by outgoing US President Donald Trump during the year 2020.
Theissen - a political analyst and speechwriter of former US President George W. Bush - chose to start with the worst mistakes Trump made during the year that was about to end, as follows:
1. The issuance of an amnesty for war criminals
Thiessen argues that Trump blatantly ignored the rule of law by pardoning the Blackwater contractors who killed unarmed Iraqi civilians, including innocent women and children.
2. Using the veto to block the National Defense Authorization Act
Trump used his veto to prevent the passage of the $ 740 billion National Defense Authorization Bill, which defines the Pentagon’s policy and military spending, and also stipulates a 3% increase in the salaries of American soldiers, due to a point in the bill that has nothing to do with what Previously, he put Republicans who voted in favor of the bill between two difficult options, either having to withdraw from the vote or bypassing the veto.
3. Issuing an order to withdraw nearly all American forces from Afghanistan and Iraq
The Washington Post article also sees that Trump was apparently dissuaded from making a decision to fully withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan, but reducing the number of American forces in the two countries to 2,500 soldiers in each country does not make any strategic sense, despite the continuing terrorist threat there will be. The United States has fewer troops in Afghanistan and Iraq than there are in Spain.
4. Putting millions in trouble by threatening to use the veto against the aid package for those affected by Corona
The article indicates that Trump refrained for about a week from signing a bill with an aid package for those affected by the Corona epidemic that Congress had recently approved, which forced millions of Americans to be busy during the Christmas holidays wondering whether they would be left to fend for themselves during the worst stages of the epidemic.
5. The failure to ban entry to travelers from Europe
The writer says that Trump announced a ban on entry for travelers from China to the United States on January 31, with the exception of those residing in America, which contributed to saving many lives, but he did not ban entry to travelers from Europe until March 11 - after 6 Almost weeks - because of the objection of his economic advisers.
The epidemic broke out in New York due to travelers from Italy, then New York became the main source of the outbreak, from which the epidemic spread throughout the United States.
6. Controversies with journalists
He also believes that Trump's quarrels with reporters during the briefing sessions on the outbreak of the Corona virus led to the separation of Americans instead of uniting them.
7. Refrain from committing to masks
According to the writer, Trump's refusal to require the wearing of masks in several gatherings - including the election rally held in Tulsa, the ceremony announcing the nomination of Amy Connie Barrett to the Supreme Court that took place in the White House, and the scene of removing the mask he was wearing when he arrived on the balcony of the White House Coming from Walter Reed Hospital after suffering from Corona - all of them have become a symbol of his failure to deal with the Corona pandemic.
8. Failure to distribute more than half of the available vaccines
Regarding the distribution of the anti-Coronavirus vaccine - and speaking to the writer - the Trump administration is undermining the success of the vaccine distribution process by distributing only about 18 million doses of it this year, knowing that the available quantity is estimated at 40 million vaccines, which leaves about 22 million An American without any immunity during this period, which is considered the worst since the beginning of the outbreak.
9. Losing the election
The article also believes that Trump lost an election he was able to win, then refused to accept the results or take responsibility for the loss, and that he lost because he isolated millions who agreed to his policies but were fed up with the chaos.
He added that if Trump had maintained a similar performance to his performance in the presidential election 4 years ago, no level of real or imagined fraud would have prevented him from winning a second term.
10. Martial Law
As for the tenth mistake of the US president during 2020, with which Thyson concluded his article, Trump opened the debate about imposing martial law at a meeting in the Oval Office.
The writer described the suggestion of former Trump National Security Adviser Michael Flynn that Trump declare martial law and use the military to rerun elections in swing states as a crazy proposal, and said that Trump took the matter seriously enough to the point of discussing it in the Oval Office is shameful, as well as his calls for the Republicans elected to cancel the election results .
In another article published by the Washington Post in the same context under the title "The worst pardon of Trump you have not heard of yet," the author of the article criticized the US Department of Justice lawyer Alex Bosansky, Trump's pardon of the contractors of Blackwater, describing it as an abominable act.
"You may have heard of President Trump's hateful pardon before Christmas for the three (from Blackwater) but nothing about Mohr, a former Prince George County police officer who violated the civil rights of a homeless man by shooting her dog at him," Bosansky said.
Stephanie C. Mohr was convicted by a US federal court in 2001 for releasing her dog for attacking and biting a homeless man of Mexican descent who was stopped by police after they received a report of a possible robbery in Tacoma Park, Maryland, which caused severe injuries that he underwent an operation.
The writer believes that among all the pardons during the current year - which witnessed the killing of African-American George Floyd - the pardon of the aforementioned policewoman is the most defiant and inflaming act.