Forum provides insight on Guam's future under Trump

Donald Trump’s surprising victory as the newly elected leader of the free world struck a nerve with many liberal voters who have struggled to accept the outcome of last week’s election as they imagine what Trump’s presidency will look like.

For many Guamanians, most of whom overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton in the island’s presidential straw poll, Trump’s rise to power hasn’t created a local scare to move off-island, according to Michael Bevacqua, chairman of the Independence Guahan Task Force.

“Social media posts appeared all over Guam, interestingly enough, not necessarily people saying they are going to move to Canada or any other country, but instead saying ‘shouldn’t Guam decolonize? Shouldn’t Guam become independent?’” Bevacqua recalled after the election.

Guam’s political status vote, or plebiscite, to measure the native inhabitants’ preferred relationship with the U.S. has been delayed since 1998. The plebiscite is a non-binding referendum giving native inhabitants the options of independence, statehood, or free association. 

Independence Guahan, which is one of three task forces under the Decolonization Commission, hosted a lecture forum at the University of Guam on Tuesday night in an effort to answer the question of what Trump’s presidency will mean specifically for Guam.

“Most people know that Donald Trump makes controversial statements, that he seems to contradict his statements, that he speaks very strongly,” Bevacqua said. “But it’s hard to figure out what exactly the type of president that he’ll be.”

Addressing a classroom full of students and other citizens, Bevacqua explained that the question is difficult to answer, in part, because Trump hasn’t had any previous experience in public office or the military.

“(Trump) is objectively the most unqualified person to be president of the United States, given the metrics that are usually used, where you are a government official who served the people or you are a military officer who led troops into battle,” Bevacqua said. “Donald Trump did neither of those things.”

Bevacqua said, it’s difficult to pin down the type of president Trump will make is because he’s changed his position on a handful of issues over the course of the election.

“(Trump) has the temperament and personality where he changes his position all the time,” Bevacqua said. “He has very thin skin, so he if you attack him, he tends to attack you back, without any sense of strategy or proportion, and so it’s very difficult to figure out what Trump presidency will mean in general … 'cause even a week later he’s changed most of his positions.”

Over the course of his campaign, Trump has contradicted his own Republican Party’s platform as well as disagreed with his own running mate, Vice President-elect Mike Pence, on Syria policy. 

Bevacqua pointed to UOG President Robert Underwood’s recent op-ed with the Pacific Daily News, in which he references the GOP platform and its views on exempting the territories from the federal Jones Act, which requires all goods being transported between U.S. ports must be carried out by U.S.-made-and-operated ships.

Underwood also noted Trump’s recent message to the territories, in which he states, “no more will those who reside in the territories or commonwealths be ignored.” Guam has joined a chorus of states, like Hawaii and Alaska, as well as other territories, calling on Congress to exempt the non-contiguous states from the Jones Act.

Underwood wrote that the time to get Congress to lift the Jones Act restrictions from Guam and other states and territories would be within the next two years, under Trump’s administration and with a Republican-led Senate and House of Representatives.

While that could pose as a positive outcome for Guam, Bevacqua raised the concern of a trade war with China.

Citing Trump’s campaign promise to declare China as a currency manipulator, which economists believe would start a trade war, Bevacqua pointed out that the U.S. spent $481 billion on goods from China, such as shoes, jewelry and cell phones.

Bevacqua went on to note other news reports that have warned about the possibility of an actual war between the U.S. and China if Trump keeps his promise. He also touched on China’s newly unveiled DF-26 missile, titled “Guam Killer,” which is said to have a range that could reach the military bases on island.

Another major focus of Trump’s campaign was his harsh stance on immigration and immigrant workers. During his acceptance speech of the Republican nomination in July, Trump said “the American people will come first once again.”

Guam has already felt an impact in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s sharp decline of H-2B visa approvals this past year. Bevacqua said that Trump’s stance on immigrant workers also is causing concern in the region.

Congressman Gregorio Kilili Sablan, Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands’ delegate to the U.S House, has said he’s concerned about Trump’s immigration policies. He’s also expressed hope that Trump would “temper down on some of his tough statement.”

Many of the audience members also raised the issue of Trump’s Cabinet appointments. Some were more worried about the people Trump’s choosing to surround himself.

Earlier this week, Trump announced that Reince Priebus, the Republican National Committee chairman, will be his chief of staff while Stephen Bannon, a right-wing media executive, has been chosen as chief strategist at the White House — a move that has pleased white nationalist leaders including former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.

“Trump himself is really not that scary, because he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but the people he’s putting in charge are even scarier,” one audience member stated.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani reportedly are on the shortlist for Secretary of State while departing Sheriff Joe Arpaio, of Maricopa County, Arizona, is on another short list for Homeland Security Secretary.

Arpaio is known for his tough stance on immigration in the state that passed the controversial law SB1070, which was meant to crackdown on undocumented immigrants by allowing police officers to request immigration documentation from anyone suspected of living in the U.S. illegally.

As for the list of potential candidates Trump is considering for the Interior Department’s Interior secretary position, which oversees the nation’s public lands as well as its territories, former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are in the running.

Palin ran as Arizona Sen. John McCain’s running mate against then Sen. Barrack Obama for the presidency in the 2008 election. Brewer, like Arpaio, is known as a hardliner against illegal immigration, signed SB1070 into law in 2010.