Zoe Gabel

ENG102

Dr. Wynne

18 March 2017

This year held one of the most controversial elections in history. The effects of this

election have both separated and brought together Americans of different ethnicities and cultures.

There are many aspects about Donald Trump that either forced people away or drew them toward

him. To examine the election and the outcome of Donald Trump becoming our new president

there are some questions that need to be answered:

1. What do people think about Donald Trump becoming president?

2. Is Donald Trump as qualified as our previous presidents?
3. What is the Trump administration doing about the allegations and fight against him?

This literature review will examine the Trump presidency and its progress so far. We will look at

opinions, polls and facts to provide insight on each question.

What do people think about Donald Trump becoming president?

Although there are many people who have confidence in Donald Trump and his future

actions as president, there are many more who do not. There are also several people who once

had confidence in his presidency and have recently switched their opinions. Trumps actions this

year so far have had a negative effect on many people who had trust in him to make their lives

better or easier. For example, Pat Roberts says that there are a lot of questions on the part of the

people who took the president home after the dance (Elliott 34.). This is referring to the people

who voted for Trump and are questioning him or themselves in reference to his presidency.
Throughout his article, Chaos Theory in Time magazine, he discusses the negative actions that

Donald Trump has made, from lawmaking to just general comments and decisions. There have

been several posts from Facebook to Twitter with people expressing their remorse for voting for

Trump. Many of those who did not vote from Trump are being reassured that their vote against

Trump was the smartest move for them and the country. As they knew from the beginning

Trump seems to be running a cartoon version of a presidency, and his proposals could, if

successfully implemented, be ruinous. But so far, at least, Trump has been mercifully

incompetent (Milbank n.pag.). Milbank points out many flaws in Trump throughout his critique

of the president. As you can see in Figure 1, the Gallup polls say that his approval ratings from

January to March have decreased as his disapproval ratings are increasing. This is more proof

that he is declining in popularity as his presidency progresses (Gallup n.pag.). Even an official of

Priebus said, he is the weakest character they can put in there (Elliott 37.). People are

becoming tired of the rule-maker breaking the rules and causing more pain and division in the

country than any other presidents to date. There are however also people who approve of Donald

Trumps presidency. One Tweet found stated that Donald Trump is sacrificing and downgrading

his life for the American people, people just need to have patience with him so he can make the

right moves. It is seen by some that Trump cannot be as successful as he can be without the

support of his people, with peoples support he can continue doing what he sees as right for the

country (Elliott 43.).

Do you approve of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?
2017 trends based on weekly averages from Gallup Daily tracking
Approve Disapprove No opinion

% % %

2017 Mar 6-12 42 52 6

2017 Feb 27-Mar 5 43 51 6

2017 Feb 20-26 42 53 5

2017 Feb 13-19 40 54 5

2017 Feb 6-12 41 53 6

2017 Jan 30-Feb 5 43 52 5

2017 Jan 20-29 45 47 8

GALLUP

Figure 1. 2017 Approval and Disapproval Trends

Is Donald Trump as qualified as our previous presidents?

Although a difficult question the WaPo poll (Figure 2) finds that 60-37 that Trump is not

qualified to serve as president (Sargent n.pag.). The poll also finds that 59 percent of

Americans say that Clinton has the better personality and temperament to serve effectively as

president (Sargent n.pag.). In Sargents article, there are many opinions from American who

both did and did not vote for Trump. He does polls and interviews to strengthen his and their

points. Even though that answers the question on whether people believe he is qualified to be

president, it does not answer the question on if he is as qualified as our former presidents. To

answer this we must look at our previous presidents and their qualifications.
 Figure 2. Is Trump qualified poll

Zachary Crockett, who looked into Donald Trump and our former presidents to form his article

and found that in the offices storied 227-year existence- from George Washington to Barack

Obama- there has never been a president who has entirely lacked both political and military

service (Crockett n.pag.). Trump has apparently broken this barrier and lacks not just one but

both. He went through historical presidential archives and compiled each presidents total years

of service to the country prior to being elected. He defined public office as any elected or

appointed government position and military service as active duty in any capacity, including

leadership positions (Crockett n.pag.). As seen in Figure 3, previous U.S. presidents (1789 to

2016) came into office with an average of 13 years in public office and 5.6 years of military

service. Crockett also found that three-quarters of all presidents held federal government

positions just prior to being elected: 18 were U.S. representatives, 16 were U.S. senators, and 14

were vice presidents. Eight served as Cabinet secretaries, six as secretaries of state, and seven in

the foreign service. At the state level, 17 presidents were previously governors More than half

served in the military, nine of whom were U.S. Army generals.

Figure 3.
There was several Republicans who once claimed Barack Obama, who was previously a senator

for 12 years, too unseasoned for the White House, however we now have a president even less

experienced. One supporter even tweeted that [Trump], Thank God, is not a politician. The

question that is being disputed by Americans is whether or not that is detrimental or beneficial to

the country given that the job of president is greatly based on politics. In the words of my

mother, Mary Gabel, Donald Trump is less qualified than I am to be president, I would have run

if I knew that one needs absolutely no knowledge about politics to be elected. At least I have the

common sense to realize the real issues of the world and know how or at least know to try to fix

these issues. (Gabel. Interview.). From these sources we gain knowledge and evidence on

Trump and his qualifications. It is evident that he is not as qualified as other presidents which

leaves it up to Trump to either prove it wrong or right.

What is the Trump administration doing about the allegations and fight against him?

There are many people voicing their opinions against Trump, including those in the media.

Obviously, there are some posts or claims that are not even worth addressing due to their

inaccuracy, however, there are accusations that Trump has responded to. Haberman and a few

others reviewed many of the comments that the Trump administration has addressed and

analyzed their approaches. In a Twitter post he rejected reports of polls showing that a majority

of Americans oppose his travel order while in another he appeared to lash out at suggestions

that his chief strategist, Stephen Bannon holds the real power in the West Wing (Haberman

n.pag.). Although his twitter posts reflect his efforts to try to stop allegations about him, his

administration and he does not seem to do much to end or change the peoples opinion. He may

comment on a subject but never act on the comments to prove that his denial is the truth. One

example, in relation to the suggestions that Trump is not the one with the control, President
Trump seemed angry about the Bannon-in-charge story line, which was featured in a Time

magazine article and in a Saturday Night Live skit showing Mr. Bannon as the Grim Reaper

directing Mr. Trumps activities in the White House (Haberman n.pag.). On twitter he said that

the reports were fake news and that they sought to marginalize him. Beyond his comment on

twitter, we did not hear much else from Trump. We instead heard from Bannon speak about his

role as the chief strategist and assured us he was not making all the decisions. This did not give

people the confidence in Trump. People are asking why he would have Bannon respond when the

complaint was about Bannon doing too much already? Trump has said the fake news doesnt

tell the truth, it doesnt represent the people, it doesnt and never will represent the people, and

were going to do something about it (Davis n.pag.). However, people are skeptical, they have

heard that we are going to do something about it before from Trump and have yet to see action

on his part. In a meeting with a handpicked group of reporters, picked by press secretary Sean

Spicer, they were assured that the White House would relentlessly counter coverage it

considered inaccurate (Davis n.pag.). However, this private meeting raised eyebrows because it

was less than three hours after the press conference were the allegations were mentioned. Many

wonder why Trumps statements could not have been said in the press conference earlier that

day. Trump and his administration are working on addressing the many claims against him both

successfully and unsuccessfully.

Conclusion

In conclusion, there are many aspects of Trumps presidency that are questionable to

Americans. Trumps job is to prove to Americans that he can do the job they thought he could or

couldnt do. There are many people who think that Trump can eventually do a good job as

president and many more who believe he cannot. His credentials or lack of such has also made it
more imperative for him to prove he is qualified to serve the American people. There also needs

to be more pressure on him and his administration to shut down the bad news and accusations

against Trump before he can even dream about being successful as president.
 Works Cited

Crockett, Zachary. "Donald Trump Is the Only US President Ever with No Political or Military

Experience." Vox. Vox, 11 Nov. 2016. Web.

Davis, Julie Hirschfield, and Michael Grynbaum. "Trump Intensifies His Attacks on Journalists

and Condemns F.B.I. Leakers." The New York Times. Politics, 24 Feb. 2017. Web.

Elliott, Philip. "Chaos Theory." Time 27 Feb. 2017: 34-44. Print.

Gabel, Mary. Interview.

Gallup, Inc. "Presidential Approval Ratings -- Donald Trump." Gallup.com. N.p., 02 Mar. 2017.

Web.

Haberman, Maggie, Charlie Savage, and Michael Shear. "White House Says Bathrobe Anecdote

Is All Wet." The New York Times. Politics, 6 Feb. 2016. Web.

Milbank, Dana. "So Far, Trump Has Been Mercifully Incompetent." Washington Post. N.p., 17

Mar. 2017. Web.

Sargent, Greg. "Donald Trump Is Not Qualified to Be President. And the American People

Know It." Washington Post. The Plum Line, 18 July 2016. Web.