COMMENT | Trump came, saw - and fell into the Washington swamp
COMMENT | When Donald Trump occupied the White House four years ago, he was all on fire. He was determined to clean up Washington seen as a cesspool of iniquity and corruption.
Trump took pride in being an outsider who has beaten all the odds to get elected as president and regarded his victory as a mandate to wash away all the dirt in the intensely political city.
It was a losing battle. The Washington establishment was too tough a nut to crack. It has a long tradition of zealously protecting its turf against any encroachment from the Oval Office and expects every incoming president to dance to its tune.
Practically from day one, Trump went to war against the Washington class, whom he regarded as "bad people" who were ruining America. He has turned his Oval Office into a war room from where he has launched relentless Twitter attacks on all and sundry. His larger missiles were aimed at the press he roundly condemned as producers of fake news.
All presidents, especially those in recent times, are aware that the establishment in Washington is a force to be reckoned with...
COMMENT | When Donald Trump occupied the White House four years ago, he was all on fire. He was determined to clean up Washington seen as a cesspool of iniquity and corruption.
Trump took pride in being an outsider who has beaten all the odds to get elected as president and regarded his victory as a mandate to wash away all the dirt in the intensely political city.
It was a losing battle. The Washington establishment was too tough a nut to crack. It has a long tradition of zealously protecting its turf against any encroachment from the Oval Office and expects every incoming president to dance to its tune.
Practically from day one, Trump went to war against the Washington class, whom he regarded as "bad people" who were ruining America. He has turned his Oval Office into a war room from where he has launched relentless Twitter attacks on all and sundry. His larger missiles were aimed at the press he roundly condemned as producers of fake news.
All presidents, especially those in recent times, are aware that the establishment in Washington is a force to be reckoned with; in fact, it is almost a parallel government which carries a lot of clout in influencing the White House on a wide range of issues domestic and international.
Who are these people that Trump eagerly wanted to bury? They go by various labels: entrenched federal bureaucrats, opportunistic lawyers, ever-ready think tanks, pesky lobbyists, know-all consultants, all-seeing pundits, big-time political donors, tireless activists, indefatigable journalists, seasoned diplomats, influential NGOs and whoever prowls full-time the corridors of Capitol Hill and the White House advocating and pushing their vested interests. They are all considered the "permanent ruling class" in the capital.
Trump may be the top gun, but this ruling class pulls many strings of power, overtly or covertly. When you occupy the White House, the rule of the thumb is you must go along with them, humour them, pat them on the backs, tip your hat to them and try to socialise with them as much as you can.
If Trump had thrown parties or concerts in his palatial residence at Pennsylvania Avenue, and invited the whole Washington jingbang, and jigged with the first lady to the tune of YMCA, or waltzed with all the charming ladies in the ballroom, all of Washington would have gone all out to keep their man for another term and have another round of merrymaking, besides throwing their weight in all his policy-making sessions.
But Trump just couldn't, or didn't want to, fit into this Washington life where "cutting deals" and "horse-trading" are the order of the day. Although he himself was not above doing things of questionable character, business or otherwise, he saw himself leading a crusade to bring down all his perceived enemies from the Washington pedestal. Trump thought he was strutting on higher moral ground when, in reality, he was standing in shallow waters.
Perhaps, Trump was emulating the 39th president Jimmy Carter (above) who came to the White House, also as an outsider, with a mission to lead the country back to a righteous path after the searing years of the Vietnam war and the Watergate scandal.
A devout Baptist, Carter believed himself to be the chosen one to make Washington a shining city on the hill again, and America a beacon of hope for the world.
The peanut farmer had no time with the Washington establishment. He rarely rubbed shoulders with all these "wise men" and socialites nor entertained them to lavish dinner parties. He cut no deals with them. Most of the time, he isolated himself in the White House and ran the country from his pulpit.
But the entrenched Washington crowd did not pay much heed to this Mr Nice Guy. They had little or no interest in his sermons. They saw him as a spoilsport and were eager to see his back after he completed his first term in the Oval Office.
Both Trump and Carter thought they had changed Washington in their first term and that the people would vote for them again for a second term. It didn't happen. Carter lost crucial support of the Washington establishment, especially the media and the academic elites who rooted for him in his first campaign. Trump fared no better: the whole ruling class declared total war on him.
What finally sealed their fate was not the handiwork of Washington but of an external source. For Carter, it was the Iranian hostage crisis that seriously damaged his presidency.
For Trump, it was the pandemic that largely did him in. The invisible enemy arrived all the way from China just in time to ruin all his dream of a second term. He was portrayed as reckless in his handling of the health crisis.
Carter and Trump were so eager to win re-election for a second term in the White House, but both presidents were sent packing back home - one "crushed by the Washington culture" and the other swallowed up by the Washington swamp.
PHLIP RODRIGUES is a retired journalist.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
Unlike Kennedy who worked discreetly and paid the ultimate price, Trump has protected himself by naming his enemies publicly and going after them. If he returns to the White House on Jan 20, he will go after the fake news media,.Big Media, Big Tech, Big Pharma, Fauci, and Gates, among others.