Big blow for Obama as Trump takes over big job

As US President Barack Obama leaves the White House, it is a new ball game in America. The nightmare scenario is all real now. The unthinkable is there for all to see.

This will be among the biggest reversals of policies ever by an incoming president, a man who thinks it is a fallacy to see Russia’s Vladimir Putin as an enemy of the US.

While he is ready to work with Mr Putin, the new President, Mr Donald Trump, sees China as a top enemy of the US, with Beijing warning of war if he dares block its operations on disputed islands and recognises Taiwan as an independent state.

Mr Obama had described it himself a year ago at a White House Correspondents’ diner, telling of what a Donald Trump presidency would mean. He said: “The Republican establishment is incredulous that he’s the likely nominee. Shocking! They say Donald lacks the foreign policy experience to be president. But in fairness, he has spent years meeting with leaders from around the world: Ms Sweden, Ms Argentina, Ms Azerbaijan”.

He added: “And there’s one area where Donald’s experience could be invaluable. That’s closing Guantanamo... Because Trump knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground”.

But, after the tears that rolled down the cheeks of the many guests at the event that Mr Trump skipped, what the president did not realise was that most of his projects would be declared redundant by a Trump White House.

Among targets is the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, as it is famously known, the president’s beloved climate change projects, his executive orders on gun control, and his open-arm approach to migrants who yearn to step on US soil.

ROLLED BACK

All these will be rolled back by the man who will take over as Commander-in-Chief on Friday.

The most painful, of course, will be the repeal of Obamacare, a process already set in motion by a vote in the Senate and the Congress.

Mr Trump says he will introduce a new health scheme that will guarantee medical cover for “everybody’’, but he is yet to present his blueprint against Mr Obama’s scheme that forbade insurance companies from denying health care to pre-existing conditions, abolished lifetime caps on care, and allowed children to stay on their parents’ policies until age 26.

Some of the issues that came up as Mr Trump prepared to take the White House reminded one of a crazy dream. The head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Mr John Brennan, launched a scathing attack on Mr Trump, warning him to watch what he says and suggesting Mr Trump “doesn’t understand the challenges posed by Russia”.

The CIA chief added on Fox news: “He is going to be, in a few days’ time, the most powerful person in the world, in terms of sitting on top of the United States government and I think he has to recognise that his words do have impact”.

Mr Trump is facing a plethora of accusations, among them being that he hired prostitutes during a visit to Moscow and that the Russian intelligence has videos of it.

In response, Mr Trump accused Mr Brennan of having leaked the spy dossier on his Moscow escapades. He said: “Was this the leaker of Fake News? This is all a distraction... It’s all part of a narrative to delegitimise the election”.

'INCRIMINATING' VIDEO

The dossier alleges that a former British intelligence agent reported that Moscow had ‘‘incriminating’’ video of the president-elect.

Mr Brennan said the intelligence community was only “making sure that the president-elect was aware of what was circulating, adding: “I think there are some very salacious allegations in there.’’

Mr Trump’s arrival at the White House is the biggest victory for President Putin’s many machinations. The list is long: his prime enemy, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, has been warned by Mr Trump that it will not be business as usual. Even the World Trade Organisation cannot take it easy.

In Africa, the signs are that it will be no longer business as usual as Mr Trump questions the funds used in the war on terrorism, Aids and the Agoa free trade scheme. His view is that Africa’s corrupt leaders may be gobbling America’s hard-earned dollars.

As he leaves the White House, having started no war but ended two in Afghanistan and Iran and killing top terror mastermind Osama bin Laden, it may be many years before the Obama legacy can fully be appraised. He leaves office as among the most popular presidents, with an approval rating of 60 per cent, but having lost two elections where he campaigned vigorously, first Brexit and later a Trump presidency, the president is a vanquished figure.

Henry Owuor is foreign and diplomatic editor, 'Daily Nation'.

[email protected]