Leader comment: Trump starts picking fights
Now the US president has accused the media of dishonesty, while also belittling – by Twitter of course – the massive turnout in protest marches and gatherings on Saturday over women’s rights.
It is nothing other than worrying when the most powerful man in the Western world is arguing about how many attended his inauguration, and then claiming that his own estimate is right, without offering any evidence to support his contention. Indeed, all independent evidence and estimates of the numbers who attended strongly suggest that he is heavily in the wrong.
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Hide AdAfter the many provocative, and at times contradictory, statements made by Trump in his hugely controversial election campaign, there had been hope, albeit slim, that proximity to the highest office would see a moderation in his rhetoric and some attempt to strike a placatory, unifying note in his inaugural address. Quite the opposite proved the case.
Now come ominous signs that a siege mentality may already be setting in. That in turn suggests a presidency that from the very first is set to be at war against all and any – the Press, his own party, Congress and the governments of other nations, who fail to bow before him. It’s not a promising start.