President Donald Trump entered the Oval Office with historically low approval ratings.
In the most recent Intelligence Squared U.S. debate, participants argued for and against the motion of "give Trump a chance."
During his first few weeksin office, Trump has made several decisions that have sparked nationwide protests, made statements that have drawn intense media scrutiny and led him to criticize various media outlets as "fake news." Debaters arguing against the motion cite these instances and his campaign as reasons why the American people shouldn't give Trump a chance. They say the American people already know what job Trump will do in the Oval Office.
But those arguing for the motion say its anti-democratic not to give Trump a chance. They say the American people shouldn't forget the decisions Trump made in the past, but they should give his administration room to "succeed or fail on its own terms." The debaters also say not giving Trump a chance only lessens the possibility that his supporters will join the other side and oppose him in the next election.
Despite their differing political leanings, columnist and attorney Gayle Trotter and Bloomberg View columnist Clive Crook teamed up to argue for the motion. Former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum, who is now a senior editor at The Atlantic, partnered with former Bill Clinton speechwriter Michael Waldman, who is currently president of the Brennan Center for Justice, to argue against the motion.
