This Friday marks one whole year since the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States. In an election result which shocked the world the previous November, the tycoon had vowed to “Make America Great Again” and thus won the support of enough disillusioned blue collar Americans to win via the electoral vote. After a campaign which was filled with inflammatory rhetoric and unapologetic racism, the warning signs were all there. Anyone with an ounce of sense was concerned as to what might come of a Trump Presidency, but, there was also a minuscule hope that the pressure, expectations and demands of such an elite office would “moderate” his behaviour accordingly…

It didn’t. One year on, the Trump administration has been very much as bad as people feared. The repulsiveness and moral ineptitude which shaped his hugely controversial campaign has continued unabated as the standard bearer of his premiership, all without a shred of self-consciousness, decency or humility to go along with it. Only in the campaign itself did President Obama speak out against Trump, noting that the Presidency of the United States “was not a Reality TV show“. As much as that term may be too generous to describe the present situation, without a doubt Donald’s swelling ego-centrism and childlike tendency to be the centre of all attention has turned the White House into a sour, twisted joke.

Except, it isn’t funny. Trump’s actions and decisions as President have been nothing short of abysmal, perhaps even disgraceful. The race baiting jibes which magnetized his base were unapologetically shoved into the fabric of policymaking itself. Opporunistic travel bans, the branding of entire regions of the world with repulsive language unfit for a President, the endorsement of fascist groups in his allied states, the endorsement of pro-segregation candidates in elections (Roy Moore) and the failure to confront violent white supremacy are but a few of ever the growing mountain of incidences excrementally pouring out of the oval office. Time and time again, the President has shamelessly and willingly utilized racist sentiments to set his narratives and reach out to his “base”.

But that isn’t the end of it. He’s setting off on a rampage of environmental desolation, withdrawing from the most comprehensive climate change in History, now the only country in the world to reject it; he’s piling up a bombfire of Obama era environmental regulations on coal, oil and carbon emissions, some which came in the aftermath of the gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Beyond that, he is a diplomatic disaster and a danger on the world stage. He has reduced the horrors of nuclear war to the gratification of his own ego, threatening it casually, recklessly and ignorantly in defiance of norms which have long opposed their usage. He has insulted countries, peoples and leaders around the world on a whim, alienating and taunting even his closest allies.

His every achievement has been based on outright lies, hysterical exaggeration and misinformation. On an almost daily basis he claims credit for the rising stock market on twitter, despite that it has been concurrently rising for years. He takes unreserved credence for the U.S economic recovery too, despite the fact it was well in the wings before he came along, never mind that the very nature of the Presidency itself has very little direct power in how to direct the American economy… unless of course it is signing off tax cuts for the ultra wealthy. When has been criticized, he has simply tried to say his predecessor Obama, or “loser” Hilary Clinton are worse. Everything unfavorable to him has been dismissed haughtily as “fake news”, a term he has tweeted statistically once every three days… thus at least over 100 times in a single year. He has emphatically and enthusiastically rejected the truth itself, bolstering the attitude that no legitimate criticism of him is authorized to exist.

So what can be concluded? For all America is globally popular for its iconic culture, films, entertainment, technology and food, Trump, on the other hand stands as the physical embodiment of its “ugly side”, the America the world has despised, than adored. He is a manifestation of the country’s lingering racism and prejudices, the appalling ignorance that persists in some areas of its society, the injustices that continue to drive a country built on “justice”, and of course, the ugly Republican politics which thrives on these morbid sentiments. There should be no doubts amongst any critically minded person that the Trump Presidency is a walking, moral catastrophe with no redeeming features whatsoever. It is ultimately likely as the term progresses, the administration will can grow in its its vulgarity, its detachment from reality and its determination to plague America and the world with a nastier, cheaper and ill-fitted form of politics which will damage the country’s global image for years to come.

Will the decent GOP voters who thought he couldn’t be worse than “Crooked Hilary” re-think their position?

Donald Trump somehow managed to become the President of the United States at the beginning of this year having scraped an election by snapping up a host of working class swing states in the North East and Midwest (despite losing the popular vote). His opponent, Hilary Clinton, was constantly beset as an unpopular and uninspiring candidate radiating the image of a sinister establishment figure who could “not be trusted”. Thus, despite a campaign offset with enormous controversies and serious questions of suitability, Trump was able to claim the day through people who somehow felt he was the “least worst option”, whilst certain Democrat leaning groups failed to turn out in necessary enough numbers to get their candidate over the line.

Six months later, none of the narratives established by Trump’s campaign or his supporters really hold up to scrutiny any more. The very conceptualization that he could “not be worse than Hilary” or that Hilary was truly the “dangerous candidate” to America (in terms of foreign policy) could not look more stupid, or deceptive, in the light of what we have seen already. Alternatively, whilst Hilary failed to inspire many, the numerous warnings which came from her campaign that Trump was truly unfit for office in terms of competence, experience, integrity and leadership could not look more accurate (and I believe that perception is only going to increase as time goes by).

Thus the truth is now, whilst Clinton would not have been an inspirational or particularly loved President, she would not have been the incapable, reckless, dangerous and ridiculous mess we see now. She would not be threatening nuclear war over twitter, or dismissing all criticism of her as “FAKE NEWS” statistically once every thee days. She would not have invoked public outrage by appearing to apologise for the KKK and white supremacists, have withdrawn from the most comprehensive international treaty on climate change in Human history or openly alienated U.S allies around the world. At worst, Hilary would have been “normal”, a continuation of the status quo, but it seems that millions, so lost in disillusion, anger and apathy, forgot just how important a “normal Presidency” ought to be to them, all the way to the point of willingly surrendering that normality and reason for something that would turn out much worse.

Let’s face it, it was obvious as well, Trump is a Trojan horse to the Presidency, yet, I’d say it was still possibly the most poorly disguised and unconvincing Trojan Horse in American history. All empirical evidence, all arguments, all debate, pointed to the fact Trump was blatantly unfit, yet millions of Americans, blinded by their disillusionment and resentment, seemed to just stop caring. In the process, they took for granted everything a”business as usual” Presidency brings; safety, stability, normality. Now, American society is crying out for those things more than ever as the country spirals downwards on a dangerous path towards racialised conflict and disunity.

Thus, six months or so on, the obvious has finally dawned on all but the most extreme of his supporters.