A slash, crash and burn president must be met with strength and heart

Today Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States. Or maybe he is the first president of the United Stan of America or even the first CEO of Trump-America Inc. Yet again, for all we (don’t) know, he may be an ex-president very rapidly. Because if there is one thing we know, it is how little we know about what the coming years will look like.

Still, the message delivered by Trump during his inauguration speech and the action already taken shows that what we must be prepared for is a slash, crash and burn presidency. It was not a message of vision and calling for joint action to move forward. The conservative American commentator Jennifer Rubin characterised it this way:

Addressing a shockingly sparse crowd, he painted a picture of a hellish America that can only be restored by turning inward, deciding the world is a burden and our allies are thieves.

Just a quick look at the words he used shows his inability to lead and his willingness to divide and conquer

It is a sad fact that we in Europe need to spend so much energy on the US presidency. But there is no denying that Trump will have a detrimental effect on our lives. His way really will be slash, crash and burn. He is intent on slashing health care, abortion rights and immigration rights. He will through his protectionist and nationalistic actions crash the US and world economy. And his attack on any kind on progress on environment and climate change made by Obama puts the world on a path to hot hellish future.

We must not believe that Trump will change, he will try to do what he says. Again, to quote Jennifer Rubin:

There has never and will not be a better Trump. His vision is dark, false and frightening. He leads by stoking nativism, protectionism (which actually makes us poorer) and seething resentment. God help us all.

I don’t have a God that I can call to my or our side. The power we need to muster have to come from within and between us. We need to stand strong and reject any notion of normalising what Trump tries to do. That will also mean vigorously fighting the small trumpkins in Sweden and EU that will seek to build on Trumps path to power.

But we can never solve problems with strength only, we need to fight hard with a clean heart. Small acts of courage matter:

I am going to wear the expression “bleeding-heart liberal” as a badge of honour. Looking around at the world, there aren’t nearly enough bleeding hearts out there. Compassion is an asset. What a society we have where sensitivity is so roundly mocked. Sensitivity is strength.

I often quote Winston Churchill. For the coming years we need to fight like the British did during the Blitz, We don’t know if we will win but we can be sure to loose everything by giving up from the start. One way ahead is starting to tell the stories we want to create. Stories are stronger than individuals and brings us together.