Arab and Western newspapers have recently published articles and reports on Trump’s one year in the White House, some of which were reasonable while others were stamped by ‘wishful thinking’.
Many Arab analysts went to think that Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has negatively affected his popularity in the US. Opinion polls have proven that Trump’s popularity inside the US was between 32 and 38 percent in the last three months, but this was before he took Jerusalem’s decision.
Western analysts compare Trump’s popularity with that of his predecessor, Obama, whose popularity has not slumped down from 38 percent. Trump’s popularity rate during the first 10 months of his presidency is the lowest among US presidents in the past seven decades.
This decline may mean nothing at all for an elected president for four years. Trump does not trust the US media and public opinion. He has long accused them of lying and acting against him. Trump has described these surveys as false and fabricated. Such polls cannot affect the US’ curent president.
Arabs and Muslims were deeply unsatisfied with Trump’s decision over Jerusalem. The move made the US lose its moral responsibility in the peace process. The Trump decision has hurt more than 1.5 billion Muslims around the world and is a blatant violation of the Holy city of Jerusalem. However, the decision is not the main cause of Trump’s popularity impairment.
There are other concerns that determine the popularity of the president, concerns that may not include his foreign policies, especially in the Middle East.
The American public opinion is controlled by powerful lobbying groups. The whole thing is manipulated behind the scenes. Right-wing fundamentalist groups and interests of oil and arms have played a crucial role in Trump’s victory in the elections.
Trump’s image is perceived differently in various parts of the whole world.
President Obama was hated in the Arab region because of his failure to address the Syrian and Iranian files and also because of his support for the chaos that overthrew many Arab regimes. According to opinion polls, Obama’s popularity achieved 60 percent during his rule. Surveys stated that Obama was the fourth popular American president after Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt and Bill Clinton. Obama’s popularity among Democrats reached a record of about 95 percent, while 18 percent of Republicans said they approved his presidency.
President Trump will not be ousted from presidency just because of Middle East resolutions, whatever their impact on our region. The difficulties facing his first term are mainly due to investigations into the Russian intervention in the US presidential elections. Now, the focus is on Steve Bannon, the former senior adviser to the president. The US intelligence services have the authority to either proceed with the investigations or shut them completely. The intelligence services had a significant role in supporting Trump when it announced the penetration of Hillary Clinton’s e-mail, placing her in a very bad position.
Trump’s foreign policy has nothing to do neither with his popularity in the US nor with the course of investigations into the Russian intervention. Obviously, other factors are shaping Trump’s future in the White House.
