If a one-hour press conference is anything to go by, Donald Trump’s manner, style and message after he enters the Oval Office next week will resemble the persona he has enjoyed putting out on Twitter: making shocking or unexpected policy statements, creating confusion, lashing out recklessly and deflecting attention from anything deemed threatening. If anyone thought that president-elect Trump would be a milder, more presentable, or in any way a different version of what his campaign offered up, those hopes will have been disappointed by his performance in New York. If anything, there was more truculence and bluster, aggression and thin-skinned narcissism than ever, in his first press conference for more than six months.
With it came the reminder of why Mr Trump had avoided such scrutiny for so long, preferring social media messaging. Having to face questioning by media organisations is tiresome; something to cut as short as possible. Mr Trump’s bullying of journalists on Wednesday came alongside renewed attacks berating US intelligence agencies, which he believes are plotting to undermine him. A preposterous comparison with “Nazi Germany” showed there would be no moderation. But his efforts to fend off controversial allegations of compromising material supposedly compiled by Russian agents showed he was as much on the defensive as the offensive. Whether the whole episode will do anything to damage his popularity ratings remains to be seen. He is after all the great transgressor that many voters wanted, a man whose vulgarity and provocations seem to have no bounds, nor his capacity to stay afloat despite them all.
However unsubstantiated some of the allegations made against him are, these controversies are unlikely to vanish any time soon. Talk of impeachment is highly speculative but that the word is being uttered says something about the mood gripping a polarised country. The transition from Barack Obama to Mr Trump was hardly likely to be smooth but has now descended into a pit of discord. Conjecture about a Moscow-manipulated Manchurian candidate is making headlines – though Russia is probably happy with a discredited, divisive US president, never mind a puppet. Never has a president-elect, or any US leader, clashed so violently with intelligence agencies he needs to work with, while being apparently so willing to take the Kremlin at its word.
Of course, in the absence of verified proof and identifiable sources, it was easy for Mr Trump to reject allegations as “fake news” and “crap” produced by “sick people”. But asked whether there had indeed been contacts between Russian officials and his campaign team, he ignored the question altogether. If any fog was cleared, it was on one point only: for the first time he acknowledged Russia’s role in hacking his rivals – probably.
Getting to the bottom of such questions – not least why a two-page synopsis of the most lurid claims was attached as an annex to the intelligence agencies’ briefing on hacking – will test the media. Likewise, Mr Trump’s repeated refusal to release his tax returns, and his announcement of unimpressive steps aimed at ending accusations of conflict of interest with his family business, require close focus. His presidency is laced with controversy and scandal before it has even started. So far he has thrived on his power to disrupt and his claims of victimhood. If anything, the events of the past week have made him more, rather than less, bellicose and reckless in his dealings with American institutions.
Theodore Roosevelt once called the US presidency a “bully pulpit”: a great place from which to frame the outlook of a people. This week brought proof that the pulpit is about to be used not in its original sense, but by a bully, to swagger and to avenge rather than to inspire or seek reconciliation. He has not morphed into a figure able to heal a fragmented country, as his controversial and inconsistent cabinet nominations indicate.
Mr Obama, who knows well that his legacy is at stake, tried to lay down a few markers in his farewell speech, advising Americans concerned about the state of their democracy: “Show up. Dive in. Persevere.” The constitution is beautiful, he said, but “really just a piece of parchment … We, the people, give it power”. The media, the Democrats, and especially Mr Trump’s own party have a duty to hold him to account. But in the end, it’s the active involvement of citizens that will matter the most.
