Aftandilian in The Arab Weekly on Trump’s Campaign Promises

Trump_speaking_in_Manchester,_New_Hampshire

Gregory Aftandilian, Lecturer at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, published a recent Op-Ed discussing whether United States President-Elect Donald Trump will be able to follow through on some of the policy promises he made during his campaign.

Aftandilian’s Op-Ed, entitled “Trump’s Extreme Views Likely to be Checked by System,” was published in The Arab Weekly on December 4, 2016.

From the text of the Op-Ed:

Despite his pen­chant during the campaign for making outrageous and offensive pronouncements, US President-elect Donald Trump is likely to moder­ate these stated views when faced with opposition from establish­ment figures and institutions that remain prominent players in the US political system.

As a candidate for president, Trump seemed to relish con­troversy, which gained him the media spotlight and aroused his political base. He defied the pundits who predicted Trump’s offensive statements would lead to his demise. He instinctively knew such comments would resonate with a significant segment of the American electorate. Even though he was consistently backed by less than 45% of the electorate, he benefitted from a high voter turn­out among his supporters, which allowed him to win the presidency.

It is unclear whether Trump actually believed what he was say­ing or was simply pandering to this political base. His appointments and statements since the election suggest he is catering to both his base as well as the establishment. For example, while he has appointed controversial figures, such as retired army lieutenant-general Michael Flynn to be his national security adviser, who, like Trump, has made offensive comments about Muslims and Islam, he also has appointed the chairman of the Republican Party, Reince Priebus, a more mainstream figure, as his White House chief of staff.

You can read the entire article here.

Aftandilian spent over 21 years in government service, most recently on Capitol Hill where he was foreign policy adviser to Congressman Chris Van Hollen (2007-2008), professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and foreign policy adviser to Senator Paul Sarbanes (2000-2004), and foreign policy fellow to the late Senator Edward Kennedy (1999). Learn more about him here.