Defining a year with a single word defies logic and common sense.\u00a0 Yet, in many ways, 2017 was a year defined by the word outrage that crossed political, economic, social, cultural and emotional boundaries in the United States. The source of much of this outrage was fear of the future. Fear unleashed anger.\u00a0 And anger became outrage.<\/p>\n
Diminishing standards of living; wage stagnation; the skyrocketing costs of health care and education; and the increasing gaps between rich and poor were grounds for fear of the future.\u00a0 In this highly polarized, divisive and entirely partisan political environment, for many Americans, the target for this outrage was failed and failing government.<\/p>\n
Cleaning up \u201cthe swamp\u201d in Washington became a metaphor for this resentment against govenment and one reason why Donald Trump was elected president. His first eleven months in office were marked by this partisan outrage that is still growing.\u00a0 And presidential tweets, many coarse and crude, were accelerants to fueling outrage.<\/p>\n
Democrats were outraged that while Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, she lost the vital electoral college. Further, the president\u2019s continued use of incendiary language calling Mrs. Clinton \u201cLyin\u2019 Hillary,\u201d and Senator Elizabeth Warren \u201cPocahontas\u201d inflamed Democrats.\u00a0 And Trump\u2019s commitment to undo President Barack Obama\u2019s legacies and programs provoked long-term animosity that has not abated.<\/p>\n
Republicans were outraged by the refusal of Democrats to accept the election results.\u00a0 Indeed, the subsequent investigation over Russian involvement and interference in the elections was seen as an attempt to de-legitimize the president\u2019s victory. The end of bipartisanship in Congress was blamed on the Democrats refusal to work across the aisle.\u00a0 Most votes followed party lines.<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s truculence in not condemning or confronting Russia and Vladimir Putin drew outrage from both Republicans and Democrats.\u00a0 Even his National Security Strategy released before Christmas was highly crticized for failing to place any priority on advancing democracy, human rights and Western values.\u00a0 And of course his twitter war of words with North Korea and Kim (Little Rocket Man) Jung Un promoted outrage on both side of the 38th parallel dividing the two Koreas.<\/p>\n
Perhaps nowhere was outrage more strongly expressed than in the \u201c@me too\u201d movement over sexual harassment.\u00a0 While the president and losing Arkansas senatorial candidate Roy Moore vehemently denied all charges of sexual harassment, beginning with the undoing of Fox News heavyweights Roger Ailes and Bill O\u2019Reilly earlier this year, a veritable tidal wave of outrage consumed a litany of famous celebrities and members of Congress.\u00a0 This movement is far from over.<\/p>\n
The combination of outrage at home has been matched abroad.\u00a0 In international politics, the president\u2019s initial refusal to embrace Article 5, the centerpiece for NATO\u2019s security; withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Climate Accord; and failure to certify the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to prevent Iran from obraining nuclear weapons were regarded as an American global retreat ending seven decades of Washington\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n
BREXIT was a measure of Britons\u2019 dislike of being bound to bureaucrats in Brussels.\u00a0 The wave of right wing leaning governments coming to power in Europe likewise reflects public rejection of liberal Western norms.\u00a0 The president\u2019s recognition of Jerusalem has sparked outrage in the region; in the UN against this action; and in a large majority of the Muslim and Arab worlds.<\/p>\n
The obvious solution to tempering outrage in American politics is beyond any chance of obtaining it.\u00a0 Govenment must be seen as working for the people. But the unspannable gap of polarized politics makes bipartisanship, civility and compromise impossible.<\/p>\n
Closing this gap can only by accomplished in the short term by presidential leadership.\u00a0 Because President Trump\u2019s theory of governing rests in maintaing his base of about 1\/3 of the electorate whose fear of the future and disdain of government are prime motivations, no incentive exists to change this philosphy.\u00a0 The conclusion is as predictable as\u00a0 are continued presidential tweets.<\/p>\n
As much as outrage dominated 2017, 2018 might even be worse. Few bright spots dot the near horizon.\u00a0 The Tax Law may keep the economy viable for the short-term.\u00a0 China may become more responsible towards North Korea.\u00a0 And riots in Iran may force the Imams to listen.\u00a0 But do not count on any of that.<\/p>\n
The good news is that for Americans, no existential dangers threaten us.\u00a0 The bad news is also clear.\u00a0 We know a major cause of this outrage. But will that matter?<\/p>\n
______________________________ ______________________________ _____<\/p>\n
Dr. Harlan Ullman has Served on the Senior Advisory Group for Supreme Allied Commander Europe (2004-2016) and is currently Senior Advisor at Washington D.C.\u2019s Atlantic Council, chairman of two private companies and principal author of the doctrine of shock and awe. A former naval person, he commanded a destroyer in the Persian Gulf and led over 150 missions and operations in Vietnam as a Swift Boat skipper. His latest book is Anatomy of Failure:\u00a0 Why America Has Lost Every War It Starts. The writer can be reached on Twitter @harlankullman.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defining a year with a single word defies logic and common sense.\u00a0 Yet, in many ways, 2017 was a year defined by the word outrage that crossed political, economic, social, cultural and emotional boundaries in the United States. The source of much of this outrage was fear of the future. Fear unleashed anger.\u00a0 And anger became outrage. Diminishing standards of living; wage stagnation; the skyrocketing costs of health care and education; and the increasing gaps between rich and poor were grounds for fear of the future.\u00a0 In this highly polarized, divisive and entirely partisan political environment, for many Americans, the target for this outrage was failed and failing government. Cleaning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americas","category-harlan-ullman-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4877"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4877"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4878,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4877\/revisions\/4878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cass-ro.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}