The disaster of Donald Trump

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 4 Bouverie Street, London, EC4Y 8AX

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

The disaster of Donald Trump

It would be difficult to imagine a man more ill-suited to high office than Donald Trump, nor a presidency so spectacularly disastrous a mere eight months in. Gung-ho gaffer George W Bush seemed almost statesmanlike in comparison. Even when Trump is calling for peace, love and unity, he gets it wrong.

Trump's campaign has whipped a nation up into a fervour and given oxygen to the most abhorrent of racist, white supremacist throwbacks to the darkest chapters of America's history. When violence spilled over in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12, culminating in what appears to be a white supremacist terror attack and the murder of civil rights activist Heather Heyer, Trump could only respond with a limp call condemning violence on all sides. It was only after a storm of criticism, including from within his own Republican Party, over his failure to denounce the white supremacist groups responsible, that he explicitly denounced the KKK and neo-Nazis. Only a day later, he changed his mind again, staging a press conference to defend some of the protesters at Charlottesville as "very fine people", presumably caught up with some very unfine people.

It is just the latest in a string of volte faces from the US president. Trump talks the big league talk on the stump, but as soon as he realises the challenge before him, he switches tack. We've seen it countless times before. The Mexican wall? It's political fluff, the Mexicans aren't going to pay. The Muslim ban? That was never going to work.

We are quickly building a picture of a POTUS who is all sound and fury. Even on tax reform, among his less off-the-wall proposals, Trump's policy proposals are already hitting the rocks. Business leaders will at least be breathing a sigh of relief that the Trump administration has abandoned plans for a border adjustment tax, even as multinational CEOs are distancing themselves in revulsion at Trump's response to Charlottesville. But how now will he be able to plug the revenue gap as he seeks to bring in sweeping corporate tax cuts? Moreover, as salacious Russian scandals circle closer and closer and one senior administration figure after another falls away, will Trump be in office long enough to see them through?

Taxpayers want stability more than anything else and that is the one thing Trump's shambolic administration cannot provide. Without that, all his corporate-friendly measures amount to little more than fake news if they never see the light of day. Sad.

Salman Shaheen

Managing editor, International Tax Review

salman.shaheen@euromoneyplc.com

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The ruling is ‘well-structured’ in its references to the OECD TP guidelines, one expert says, while another argues it overlooks key technical issues
India also brokered its first-ever multilateral APA last year, the Central Board of Taxes announced
A global tax framework may not materialise anytime soon, but a common set of principles is becoming increasingly necessary, Rudolf Winkenius also tells ITR
Kingsley Napley’s claimants are arguing that taxing the provision of education breaches the European Convention on Human Rights
While pillar two can progress without the US, it won’t reach the same heights without American involvement, argues Renáta Bláhová, founding partner of BMB Partners Taxand
There are unanswered questions as to how foreign investors could reclaim money via tax credits, advisers suggested
Amid an ever-changing tax environment, India’s advisory market is bustling with competition ahead of the 2025 World Tax rankings and ITR Awards
The deal comes after PwC had accused Paul McNab of using confidential information; in other news, McDermott hired a new London tax head from a US rival
Looking at transfer pricing simplification is “obviously helpful”, but it should be done in line with current standards, a senior government figure reportedly said
The UK Government’s plans to close the tax gap via increased HM Revenue and Customs investment have failed to impress local tax advisers
Gift this article