Kerry CorbettThis article is the first in our ‘New Normal’ series in which we try to make sense of a seemingly
fast-changing world.
Back in the good old days a President-elect remained relatively mute during the transition period, apart from an interview here and there, and perhaps a brief Christmas message. The incoming President, however, is not one for playing by the rules; and why should he when breaking them has proved so effective for him so far?
The transition into the unknown world of Presidency might well be daunting for Trump but, luckily, he has a companion to hold his hand throughout. He feels able to turn to this friend in the wee hours of the morning, to vent his frustrations and share his joys. He can be himself, no filter is required.
Yes, Twitter has become his closest confidante, and as he tweets, furiously and often, the world is getting a flavour of what the ‘new normal’ will be under President Trump. Given this unorthodox insight, South Korea has employed an official whose sole responsibility is to monitor his Twitter activity. Mark Carney has announced the Bank of England will do the same; such is the sway his tweets have on global markets.
One doesn’t have to examine his Twitter feed too closely or for too long to see that this new normal appears neither promising nor pretty.
Some tweets, removed from the context, would be entirely innocuous; they could easily be mistaken for the rants of a deluded hermit. They might even be quite comical, had they not emanated from the man who will occupy the White House in little over a week. Take his unhinged New Year’s wishes, for instance:
It’s perfectly normal for a celebrity to harp inanely on through Twitter to get instant gratification from followers, but what is clear is that Donald Trump has not yet grasped that being a celebrity and being President are two entirely different things.
When he takes to Twitter to taunt foreign powers and denigrate international institutions he reveals a complete lack of understanding of diplomacy and why it cannot be adequately conducted in 140 character tweets. This is all too clear in his stubborn rampage against China, in which he has, amongst other things, challenged the One China policy and accused the country of acts of aggression. Note the clumsy spelling:
The Chinese response to this ongoing onslaught has been composed and largely silent, confirming who the adult in the room is, and who is the amateur. That said, comments from the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, are a reminder that whoever threatens China’s core interests would be shooting themselves in the foot, a Chinese retaliation may in time be ‘significant,’ as warned by President Obama.
International diplomacy has one overarching aim: to avoid conflict. The careful system of protocol therefore recognises that rash actions have serious consequences; diplomacy is not ‘a child’s toy’ as China’s state media agency, Xinhua, has sternly reiterated. Perhaps up until this point in his charmed life Donald Trump has not had to give much consideration to the consequences of his actions, but unfortunately his actions are now capable of unleashing grave repercussions on a global scale. His boorish tweeting about nuclear weapons is therefore nightmarish:
As Jonathan Alter, columnist for the Daily Beast, cautions, it is precisely this type of nonchalant bravado which starts wars, even nuclear wars. During the election, many warned that Trump should never have access to the nuclear codes, now the inevitability of that is nothing short of physically sickening.
A man whose own campaign team had to remove his access to Twitter because of the liability he represented, is about to assume a power with a scope for destruction infinitely greater than his Twitter account. Americans know only too well the dangers of a toddler with a loaded firearm; this is a petulant toddler with nukes.
All of this, of course, comes at a time when the President-elect publicly expresses his personal mistrust of his own country’s intelligence agencies. Paranoia is not a presidential quality.
