Georgia Hudson: Why Donald Trump is destined to disappoint America

AS a plain-speaking Yorkshire woman who has lived in the American Mid-West, and worked on several political campaigns, including Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, we shouldn't over-dramatise Donald Trump's election.
Donald Trump is destined to disappoint Americans, argues Georgia Hudson.Donald Trump is destined to disappoint Americans, argues Georgia Hudson.
Donald Trump is destined to disappoint Americans, argues Georgia Hudson.

His campaign, full of inflammatory comments and outbursts on Twitter will be his heyday, because Trump’s presidency will be a disappointment and that, in my experience, will be the real danger.

I’ve seen the aftermath of broken promises when I was working as a fundraiser on Obama’s re-election campaign. I spoke to countless disaffected Americans who had voted for Obama in 2008, but weren’t voting for his re-election because he had broken many of the promises he made during his first bid for the presidency.

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It was hard to convince voters to give Obama a second chance when, despite his promises Guantanamo was, and still is, open, the middle classes were getting taxed more, and billions of taxpayer’s dollars had been poured into bailing out bankrupt ‘fat cat’ financial institutions. We had to work hard to get people out to give Obama a second chance.

However the promises that Obama could not keep were within reason – just straightforward things like healthcare reform, better educational opportunities for all, and greater social mobility were his priorities.

Trump’s promises, however, are completely detached from reality; building a wall, reorganising Nato and the renegotiation of long negotiated trade deals. Are these really the foundations for making ‘America Great Again’? I fear what America will do with Trump’s broken promises.

I acknowledge predicting, with any degree of certainty, the outcomes of a Trump presidency is difficult. We have such little detail about how he plans to implement the ideas and policies that got him elected. However, based on what we do know about how America works, it won’t be long before Trump’s troubles begin.

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I predict the demise will start with poor approval ratings in his first 100 days. None of his big-ticket promises will have got out of the starting blocks. The great power of the institutions of state and government departments, many of which Trump has alienated in his campaign, will be ranged against him, making progress slow for an administration not used to working in such a politicised environment.

To add to his woes, the ratings will also reflect the negative views of those Americans who only voted for him because he wasn’t Hilary Clinton, they will, by now, have realised what their vote has delivered.

As the first term progresses, America will see that Trump is without support from his party, which didn’t fully support his campaign and will continue to be distracted by their internal battle to decide if they’re slightly crackers or dangerously deranged.

Mid-term elections in 2018 will come around quickly and based on a slow-moving start to Trump’s presidency we can expect a backlash in the House, with Democrats taking the majority of seats. This will further slow progress and the implementation of the radical changes that Americans are expecting, and the rest of the world fears. The prosperity he promised the middle classes will slip away, undocumented non-citizens will remain in America, and I doubt any of the roads, airports and hospitals he claims are in ruins will be rebuilt.

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Whilst we can initially breathe a sign of relief that Donald won’t be as dangerous as he sounds, the fallout from a nation disappointed with their president could be devastating.

Trump had a remarkable number of people vote for him who had never voted before, including women, black and Hispanic voters and the disaffected ‘blue collar’ worker. Failing and disappointing them could lose their participation in politics for generations, leaving America’s fate, yet again, to be decided by a small, largely white electorate.

We could see a more worrying scenario in 2020. Having had Obama struggle to deliver on his promises, followed by Trump, an anti-establishment, ‘truth telling’ President also fail to deliver real change, Americans will be, as we say in Yorkshire ‘brassed off’, and could choose someone even more alarming.

I’m reluctant to have sympathy for a nation that will be disappointed with Trump – they elected him. But, having lived and worked alongside Americans from all backgrounds and political persuasions, I know that they are desperate for change after being promised it so many times, only to be left disappointed.

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Americans need a leader who can improve social mobility, make higher education more affordable, bring jobs back to depressed cities and restore their pride in their great country. In this sense, Donald Trump’s failure will be bad news for all Americans because I do fear what a nation, failed by what seems to be their boldest choice yet, will do next.

Georgia Hudson is an operations officer at Leeds Beckett University.