Trump should reassess

By John M. CRISP

Tribune News Service

In one respect, Donald Trump is the true “hope and change” president; many who voted for him must hope that he will change his mind about some of the things that he promised to do once he assumes office.

Indeed, daylight is already developing between Trump’s most preposterous campaign promises and the actions that he will actually take as president. His trademark promise, to build a “great, great wall,” 50 feet or higher, on the southern border and make Mexico pay for it, is a good example.

Among many others, here are three more Trump promises that I hope fall by the wayside, as well:

The first is likely to be quickly forgotten: On Oct. 22, Trump threatened to sue all of the 17 or so women who confirmed what he admitted and bragged about in the notorious “Access Hollywood” tape, his sexual predation. He said, “All of these liars will be sued after the election is over.”

Trump denies the women’s allegations, and in our country he is innocent until proven guilty. But he has accused the women of lying in the pursuit of fame and money, and they have an equal right to the presumption of innocence. The truth would come to light in a lawsuit and so would considerable insight into Trump’s character. Trump would probably lose; either way, the nation would lose, as well.

Here’s a campaign promise that Trump is much more likely to fulfill: He has asserted emphatically and repeatedly that when he becomes president he will withdraw U.S. participation from the Paris Agreement on climate change, an effort negotiated by 195 nations to slow down the worst effects of our addiction to energy derived from hydrocarbons.

Increased drilling

Trump and many of the Republicans who support him have invested a lot in denying the science of climate change, and they will have a hard time backtracking. In fact, Trump has promised to make more land available for drilling and to revive the coal industry, policies that will increase rather than reduce greenhouse gases.

Finally, here’s a promise that we can only hope Trump doesn’t keep: A prominent theme of Trump’s campaign has been contempt for the media. At his rallies he has called them “scum” and encouraged his supporters to jeer them. In February, he said, “One of the things I’m going to do if I win I’m going to open up our libel laws so we can sue them and win lots of money.”

This is particularly worrisome because free countries have free presses. A hallmark of all authoritarian regimes is control and repression of the media. Russia is a good example. And in the current issue of The Atlantic, journalist James Fallows considers several ways in which China might be “going bad.” The first way, he reports, is renewed state censorship of all media, including the internet, print and broadcast.

A decade ago, “reasonable” criticism of the Chinese government by the press was allowed, but now the media is constantly reminded that “dissent is not permissible and the party’s interests come first.”

A free, unencumbered press is essential to the very idea of America in ways that are meaningless in China and Russia.

By virtue of his election, Trump deserves a chance to govern. Certainly, he isn’t the first president to ignore facts or to tell a lie. But only a free press can call him out when he makes promises that he can’t keep, won’t keep or that would serve our nation ill if he does keep.

John M. Crisp, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.