STATESIDE STORIES: TIME WILL TELL!
The Transition: Incumbent President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump at the White House, 10 November 2016 /WhiteHouse-Pete Souza
–
by Mary Foran
Amazingly enough, they actually met for the first time on November 10th, 2016, the Thursday after Donald J. Trump was elected to replace President Barack Obama in January.
The New York Times quoted Trump as saying “it was a great honor” to meet President Obama in the Oval Office of the White House, and that he found Obama to be “a good man.”
That, after Trump had run a campaign for office in which he questioned Obama’s birth legitimacy as a true American, and his policies.
Well, they shook hands and met for 90 minutes, longer than expected, and in an article by Julie Hirschfeld Davis of the New York Times, Trump was quoted as saying “I have great respect [for the President]. We discussed a lot of different situations, some wonderful, and some difficulties.” He went on to say that “I very much look forward to dealing with the President in the future, including counsel.”
Riot police, Washington DC / Elvert Barnes via Flickr, CC BY-SA2.0
Meanwhile, anti-Trump forces took to the streets in protests that seemed to start out peacefully, but then brought out police officers in riot gear to control vandals and those resorting to outright violence.
For those who had set their Presidential hopes in the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, there was shock at the upset, quite a bit of disappointment, and actual fear at what would become of the union with a Trump win.
Pres. Obama with 108-year old World War II veteran Sgt. Bill Mohr, 11 November 2016, Blue Room / White House-Pete Souza
So close on the heels of “The Vote” came Veterans’ Day, with President Barack Obama laying a wreath in Arlington Cemetery, to remember those who had fought and died for the nation, and the world.
According to an article by Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post, Obama pled for unity among Americans, and was quoted as saying, “We can practice kindness, we can pay it forward, we can volunteer, and we can serve.” Obama added, “Whenever the world makes you cynical, whenever you seek true humility and selflessness, look to a veteran.”
Trump Hotel Las Vegas: “Perhaps a successful businessman can successfully run a government” / Loadmaster David R. Tribble, CC BY-SA3.0
Moving on, Trump’s team immediately started lining up names of lobbyists and Washington insiders who would possibly make up the new administration. Ironically for Spanish historians, the changeover is being called “The Transition” in the States: totally different circumstances, but a similar “changing of the guards” scenario.
Now the question is: will Trump make good on his promises to rebuild the U.S. economy, build a wall between Mexico and the States and have the Mexicans pay for it, bring jobs back to the country and fix the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare?
Only time will tell, and 70 year-old Donald J. Trump has to “learn the ropes” and still be the leader that the voters were hoping for in the next four years.
Perhaps a successful businessman can successfully run a government as well. The people, who spoke with their votes, are impatiently expecting that!
