Consequences of Donald Trump Wire-Tapping Claims
Early in the morning on Saturday, March 4, Trump wrote a series of Tweets accusing his predecessor, Barack Obama, of wiretapping his phones at Trump Tower during the run-up to the election. Here is the series of tweets: Tweet 1: Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism! Tweet 2: Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wiretapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW! Tweet 3: I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election! Tweet 4: How low has President Obama gone to tap my phones during the very sacred election process? This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!
The recent tweet-storm from President Donald Trump accusing his predecessor of wire-tapping his communication can be written off merely as part of his usual unsubstantiated diatribe. However, these tweets have far-reaching repercussions. The worst of repercussions concern the President’s image and his political career, the Presidency, relationship with key national allies like Britain, and the American intelligence community. Firstly, in as much as these claims are damaging to the former President Barrack Obama, the implications are more lethal for President Donald Trump himself with respect to his image and political career. A president is usually the symbol of national unity, and such, expected to maintain a certain behavioral pattern replete with respect and void of inflammatory speech-quite the opposite of what the President does constantly. In what Geraghty (2017) calls a shortsighted approach to governing, President Donald Trump seems to have buried his presidential and personal image with this latest series of tweets. Before the election, the inaccurate tweets could have been seen by analysts as his way of gaining popularity through media attention. However, the mode of communication continues into his presidency when he should be focusing on delivering his promises to the Americans. Consequently, the President does not seem serious and make himself the epitome of hearsay. The dented image may make people fail to act on his serious requests in future since he is used to making unsubstantiated allegations. Geraghty (2017) also notes that despite the call to apologize, the President’s administration has defended his tirade, further exacerbating the situation. In particular, an administration that, despite having all the authority and the requisite expertise, insists on advancing unsubstantial claims cannot be trusted. In fact, the doubt spreads to other areas of governing and Americans will soon begin to question the ability of the President to lead the nation to prosperity if his administration cannot even release accurate statements. The high-handedness and impunity with which the President leads America is entirely detrimental to his political career.
The tweets and content claims are similarly harmful to the Presidency. Presidency describes the executive arm of any government that operates around the office of the president. Led by the President, the Presidency as an entity runs a nation and ensures success of its variety of affairs. As its leader, the actions of the president directly affects the Presidency. President Donald Trump’s accusations against Barrack Obama has certainly affected his presidency. At the height of the allegations, discontent and discombobulation ripped through the Presidency. While certain members of the administration attempted to absolve the President from the tweets through speculations, the public and experts could read malice and confusion given that most of the statements made very little sense. The confusion has a ripple effect of making the White house pre-occupied with trying to set the record straight and succeed in their damage control attempt. The overindulgence with damage control is highly likely to reorient the focus of the administration away from the matters of national importance like security and other social issues. Besides, it will take up most of the time that the administration could use in delivering the set promises, thus, underperforming extensively. The first 100 days of Donald Trump’s Presidency are nigh and it may fail to meet the target in the face of such inflammatory tweets and attempt to control the backlash. Slow development, therefore, becomes an inevitable long-term consequence of these f5requent tirades.
In the same vein, U.S’s relationship with such key national allies like Britain is on the brink of breaking given the tension that the March 4th tweet-storm generated. According to Foster (2016) Donald Trump is highly likely to change the nature of Britain-America special relationship. In the periods leading up to these infamous tweets, Donald Trump had already clashed certain British politicians, among them, David Cameron the former Prime Minister. At some point, the British parliament even held a debate seeking to ban Donald Trump from ever stepping foot in the UK. While the debate failed, the MPs greatly criticized the President (Foster 2016). The tweets only served to worsen the situation and weaken the previously strong links that America enjoyed with Britain. Geraghty (2017) records that numerous British government officials had expressed their distaste with the allegations that their security agency played a role in the alleged wiretapping. While they are yet to make an official communication specifying their standpoint, the mere show of anger is likely to compromise various aspects of the special relationship. Foster (2016) quotes Donald Trump alluding to the rough relationships, “It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship, who knows.” Since the president is not even keen on mending the gradually deteriorating relationship, it may be completely severed in the future. Consequently various trade deals are highly likely to be compromised. The tweets will also trigger the silent rivalry between Donald Trump and Britain on other sectors like foreign policy. Donald Trump allegedly supports Russia’s Vladimir Putin who, according to Foster (2016) is in the wrong books of Britain. The tweets, therefore, only serve to further prick the wound, which undoubtedly stretches the diplomatic relationship between the two world economic giants.
The final yet adverse consequence of the March 4th tweet-storm concerns the national intelligence and security frameworks. Kwong (2017) quotes former CIA chief John McLaughlin lamenting of the “deplorable so far” relationship between Donald Trump and the intelligence officials. Following the tweets, former director of national intelligence James Clapper held a press conference to refute the allegations that they wiretapped Donald Trump’s communication. House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes added that “We don’t have any evidence that that took place. . . . I don’t think there was an actual tap of Trump Tower” (Geraghty 2017). The response by the security officials raises the question of how Donald reached his conclusion. As the war with the security officials continue, Americans are left exposed, and come out as the ultimate sacrifice in the ongoing war between their leaders. Kwong (2017) suspects that the officials could boycott or even undermine the Oval Office. The shear lack of respect with which Donald Trump treats the intelligence officers may dampen their spirit and induce laxity in their efforts. Security is undoubtedly one of the serious national aspects that can never be politicized or compromised from whatever angle. The potential compromise of security in the face of these inflammatory tweets may weaken the security mechanism and invite internal attacks probably greater than the 9/11. Massive loss of lives is imminent and inevitable if the current trend continue.
Conclusively, regardless of the aim of Donald Trump’s inflammatory tweets, there is an overdue need by the administration to set the record straight. In other words, substantiate the claims and have those found culpable face the law. Otherwise, an apology is necessary to evade the greater consequences that are expected to result from the diatribe.