Donald Macleod: 100 days in, Trump is the most dynamic President since JFK

MUCH has been said about the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency.

Politicians, bloggers, satirists, talk show hosts and prophets of doom have all queued up to pass judgement, mostly derisory, on The Donald’s leadership.

Did his bombing of a Syrian military airbase sent a clear message to Putin and Assad?

Have they worked out that they their slaughter of innocents will no longer be tolerated or has he exacerbated an already desperate situation?.

Equally, will his hard line approach with North Korea force the despotic Kim Wrong ’Un to the negotiating table or push the world into the abyss?

For a new, democratically elected leader of the free world, the comparisons to previous presidents have come as never before.

Every single thing he has said or done has been pulled apart, dissected and shoved under the media microscope.

For good or bad, he has single-handedly turned the world of politics on its head and ripped up the old and established rules of engagement.

I would argue that he is the most dynamic political force since the days of President John F Kennedy.

Unfortunately, though it is early days yet, Trump is not the charismatic and unifying force that Kennedy was.

Kennedy, as with Trump, was a product of his times. He knew how to manipulate the media, though not as skilfully as Trump.

JFK was someone whose voice resonated with large swathes of a disenfranchised electorate and gave them hope.

More importantly he wasn’t afraid to stand his ground – the Cuban Missile crisis being a case in point.

Well, neither is Trump, nor is he guilty of making electioneering promises and pledges then not carrying them out. He, unlike almost every other politician ever, has hit the ground running, signed off on all manner of economic policies and investments to make America great again.

Unlike Obama, he has drawn a line in the sand in Syria that the Russians and Syrians would now be very foolish to step over.

And the same goes for North Korea. I’m sure Kim will back down quietly and things will be smoothed over.

Trump has made mistakes, and he will make many more, I do not doubt that.

But he is proving himself a strong and capable leader, if not as great as Kennedy, at least as important as fellow Republican Ronald Reagan.

As he wrong-foots everyone, whether by accident or design, he is dangerous only to those who wish the US harm.

Like it or lump it, he is the President the US people voted for, and the man who will be held to account by them in four years.

The time for spitting the dummy out about him becoming President is over.

He is expected to visit the UK later this year and may spend some time in Scotland. If he does, he should also be thanked for the millions he has invested here and the employment he has created.

After all, he is of Scottish heritage, another Donald A. MacLeod if you like (Not as handsome or as enigmatic as me but then again who is?)

If Scotland is to ever be taken seriously on the world stage and regarded as a fair and forgiving nation, we should make this great President feel welcome, not an outcast and an unwelcome stranger.