Freddy Gray

It's been said a lot that, for all the supposed closeness between Russia and the new US administration, the Trump-Putin axis could soon turn into dangerous enmity. Strange friendships make fast feuds. And if Trump is a proper nationalist, if he is the thin-skinned narcissist that everybody says he is, he will react strongly against the widely held idea that he is some orange Kremlin patsy. What then should we make of the departure of Michael Flynn, Trump's national security adviser? Flynn has resigned amid allegations that he misled Vice President Mike Pence as to the nature of some telephone calls in December with the Russian ambassador to the US. Flynn had assured Pence that these conversations had not touched on the sensitive matter of American sanctions against Russia.

Donald Trump now looks the weakest US president of recent times. His approval rating is historically low for a new Commander-in-Chief. And the 9th District Court of Appeals has now refused to reinstate his executive order on immigration -- an order which, if you stop breathing in all the media hot air surrounding it, isn't all that dramatic a presidential move. The immigration order now seems likely to go up to the Supreme Court -- Trump, typically,  tweeted 'see you in court' after learning of the decision. He could win there, especially if his administration can get their Supreme Court nominee Judge Gorsuch in place quickly. But the delay will make a mockery of the order, a 90-day freeze, because almost 90 days will pass before the Supreme Court can rule on the decision.

America's new visa policies are shocking, everyone agrees on that. Even Donald Trump’s administration calls its US entry vetting ‘extreme’. But before everyone calls Trump a fascist again, before everyone reaches once more for the Hitler and the Nazis comparisons, consider this: Trump’s 'America First' nationalism is defensive, not aggressive. It may be clumsy, it may be offensive, and it will of course be unfair on lots of immigrants. But it is not war-mongering. In this respect, Trump is very different to the post 9-11 George W Bush. He is also different to Barack Obama, who wanted peace but whose internationalism inevitably dragged him into more disastrous conflicts.

He could be the greatest disaster ever to befall America. He could go down as the man that Made America Great Again. What's certain is that Donald Trump is the most radical US president for centuries. Trump's inaugural speech was predictable -- in the sense that we have heard Trump say it all before. In terms of rhetorical brilliance, Obama outdid him dramatically at Andrews Air Base 45 minutes later.  Nonetheless Trump was mind-blowing in the sense that the new president of the United States, a billionaire eccentric, was standing in front of Capitol Hill and attacking 'the establishment' for having ripped off the American people. 'Capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost,' he said.

Donald Trump will not find satisfaction as the 45th President of the United States of America. He really wants to be king. Just look at the gilded-bling madness of his penthouse on the 66th floor of Trump Tower in Manhattan, or the sprawling exuberance of his holiday palace in Mar-a-Lago, Florida: Trump aspires to be an American emperor, the Big Mac Rex with triple cheese. Winning the White House is great, but it’s not enough. Trump now seems determined to treat the Oval Office as just one of his courts — the principal court, perhaps, at least for four years, but one of many. He wants to lord it over Washington DC in partnership with his daughter princess, Ivanka, and her dashing husband, Mr Jared Kushner.

Donald Trump hasn't given a press conference for 167 days, but this was some comeback appearance. The President-elect came out swinging, to put it mildly. Responding to sensational reports that Russian intelligence might have kompromat – a comprising piece of evidence, possibly a sex tape involving ‘golden showers’ – against him, Trump was angry, full of righteous indignation. He said that ‘sick people’ in the media had concocted the story. He called it ‘fake news’ and ‘garbage'. He suggested that, because he was a ‘germaphobe’ he was unlikely to have allowed prostitutes to do disgusting things to him in a Moscow hotel room.

The choosing of Exxon mobil CEO Rex Tillerson as America’s next Secretary of State – which is expected to be confirmed today -- seems a typical Donald Trump move: crass, profoundly annoying to the president-elect’s enemies, yet at the same time perhaps very clever.  The political class is, naturally, aghast: a corporate titan in charge of American diplomacy. The horror! Environmentalists are disturbed, too: an oil exec as Secretary of State – what about the planet? And nervous Russia watchers are appalled most of all: at Exxon, Tillerson has cultivated close ties with Vladimir Putin, which of course taps into fears that the Trump presidency will be a puppet operation for mastermind Vlad in the Kremlin.

It might be better for everyone if, in the spirit of Yuletide Fake News, we all pretended that Donald Trump’s Twitter account was a spoof, or at least an alter of the man's many egos. The President-elect, for one, doesn’t take his pronouncements on Twitter too seriously. Or does he? It’s safe to say that there is a growing disconnection between the Donald J. Trump who is putting together a reasonably normal cabinet (‘Mad Dog' Mattis, aside, perhaps) ahead of his first 100 days, and the Twitter Trump who seems to be threatening China, undermining the democratic process that just got him elected, and generally still trolling humanity.

Is Donald Trump about to do the impossible? No, I don’t mean become President of the United States. That’s in the bag. I’m asking if he is going to Make Journalism Great Again? He has, as we all know, humiliated the media. The media which created him, then tried and failed to destroy him. Thousands upon thousands of journalists are now feeling ashamed of themselves — even if they can’t yet admit it — for having got the story so wrong. But is their industry suffering? Is it heck! Trump’s decision to carry on attacking the New York Times on Twitter even after winning the election might upset the paper’s editors, but the money men at the Grey Lady must be rejoicing.