Lumped with Trump: one year in

The majority of the polls were against him. The majority of voters voted against him. But New York billionaire Donald Trump was inaugurated US president on Jan. 20, 2017.

Almost a year into his presidency, Trump has undoubtedly garnered the world’s attention. From North Korea to the United Kingdom, the president has become a household name.

Trump’s first year saw much action. He dismantled Obamacare, relocated the US embassy from Tel Aviv, Israel to Jerusalem and opted to leave the Paris Climate Accord. The president additionally appointed Neil Gorsuch as Supreme Court justice, and signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Dec. 22.

The Cardinal Times investigates how Portlanders regard Trump.

Tigard resident Yashar Imani, who is of Iranian descent, believes Trump’s year has seen some progress.

“What he’s done for the economy and stocks is great,” Imani says.

But he worries over Trump’s recent actions.

“I don’t like how disrespectful [Trump] is and doesn’t take his job seriously as it is. He’s the leader of the world’s most powerful country but he still makes tweets like the recent ‘Rocket Man’ tweet.”

The tweet to which Imani refers was when the US president described North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as “Rocket Man” and claimed the supreme leader sought to speak to South Korea for the first time.

Another immigrant to Portland, Mirna Ghamrawi, fears the New York mogul’s “hate rhetoric.”

“As a person born in Lebanon who immigrated to the USA many years ago, I am deeply impacted by the hate rhetoric fueled by Trump,” Ghamrawi said.

She is concerned that her family could be negatively affected.

“My mother, who visited the USA many times, is too afraid to visit again because she wears the hijab and is afraid for her safety and dignity,” Ghamrawi added.

As a mother of an adolescent girl, the Lebanese migrant is daunted that “sexual harassment and misogyny go unpunished” in Trump’s America.

Another Lebanese citizen mounts a different perspective.

“[Trump] reminds me a lot of Lebanese politicians, [who] are practically all warlords from the war. They look after their own clan who vote for them,” he said.

“It makes it harder for Lebanon to build a nation because of that,” he added.

The Lebanese man stated that the Lebanese also perceive Trump as a “strong US president who is being tough with the world,” who pushes others to “align with American interests.”

“All other countries aren’t looked down upon for looking to their interest, why should the US be any different?” he asked.

The Lebanese citizen hopes Trump will end “the war in Syria and help with the reconstruction,” adding that no country is interested in the “reconstruction.”

However, he is not without his worries.

“I’m worried [Trump] will encourage sectarian conflicts in Lebanon; it all seems like it’s divide and conquer in terms of [his] Middle East policies,” he said.