Give peace – and Trump – a chance

The biggest problem with US President Donald Trump is that he is difficult to take seriously. Partly because he has a shoot first, think later mouth and is prone to saying illogical things, and partly because the global, mainstream media routinely portrays him as a buffoon.

Yet, in the past few days, Trump has done what few of his White House predecessors – whether liberal Democrats or conservative Republicans – have dared do: give notice that America wants to get out of its self-proclaimed role as the “global policeman”.

In a visit to American troops in Iraq over the festive period, Trump said as much, explaining that the US was tired of bearing most of the burden of anti-terror campaigns, while its allies did comparatively little.

Trump’s pork-barrel politics – of wanting to “make America great again” by concentrating on domestic issues – has been criticised across the political spectrum.

Ironically, he has also been criticised for announcing earlier this month that US troops would be withdrawn from Syria … by the same people who accused Republican administrations of being warmongers.

The US has, since World War II, been involved – directly or indirectly – in more conflicts around the planet than any other country.

It has military bases in more countries than any other – which makes its claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to conquer the world ring a bit hollow.

Trump has already smoked the peace pipe with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, something his predecessor, Barack Obama, never did.

The world has, it cannot be denied, moved further away from a nuclear conflict in 2018.

The US president has many failings: he is hardly a hippie “peacenik” from the ’70s and his true motives are unclear.

But shouldn’t everyone let him carry on and give peace a chance?

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