Trump is now on message and on track for a second term – but one Democrat woman may stop him
THE first high-velocity bullet punctured the afternoon air with pinpoint accuracy. It hit its victim with deadly effect. In a despairing bid to cling to life, both his hands reached towards his neck. But when he was hit by another shot, he was already dead or dying, with parts of his brain visibly splattered about his body.
The assassination of President John F Kennedy is immortalised forever in those haunting few moments of film shot on a home movie camera on that fateful day in November 1963.
The footage is now accessible to each succeeding generation in the endless canyon which is YouTube. In all its graphic horror, it is a reminder of a singular event in both American and world history that is forever frozen in time.
Yet despite much documentary evidence as to what happened, such as that film sequence, countless unanswered questions still remain regarding one of the most infamous murders in history. As a consequence, an astonishing 2,000 books have been written about the Kennedy killing. Did the assassin Lee Harvey Oswald act alone? Were the Russians involved? Was Kennedy shot as part of a mafia plot? At the outer end of the speculation, his vice-president, Lyndon Johnson, has been accused of having a vested interest in getting him killed.
Yet with the passing of the decades, no solid evidence has emerged to support any of these theories. There is indeed a vast difference in both style and substance between Kennedy and Donald Trump in their role as US president. So it is ironic that Trump should have had the final say on whether previously secret documents linked to the assassination should be made public. Given his erratic nature, what would be his approach to such a sensitive historical issue?
The papers were released some days ago, but they provided no real new insights into the Kennedy killing. Intriguingly, some documents are still regarded as too sensitive to be made public. What critical information could they contain after all this time?
In fairness to Trump, he went along with the recommendations of the American security establishment. But the holding back of certain papers has fuelled the suspicions of those who argue that we still don’t know the full story surrounding those epoch-making moments in Dallas.
On a different level, this hankering back to the era of John F Kennedy is a reminder of the politics of another age. Unlike the situation now, the Democratic party back then was able to do down the Republicans because it had the singularly best candidate to win the battle for the White House. Whatever his flaws, which have inevitably been magnified with the passing of each decade, Kennedy had grace, charm and magnetism as a vote-getter.
But at this point in time, the Democratic Party seems bereft. Selecting somebody who can stop Trump being re-elected in 2020 is already something of a nightmare. One year on from the shock defeat of Hillary Clinton, the man currently occupying the Oval Office looks all set to win a second term. The biggest plus he has going for him is that there is nobody with mass electoral appeal to take him on.
And the judgment of those harbingers of future events is clear. The bookies, as of now, rate Trump 2-1 favourite to win a second term. The frontrunner on the Republican side is Congresswoman Elizabeth Warren, but the bookies clearly deem her a rank outsider with odds of 12-1. Despite what his critics might like to think, unseating Trump will be a massive challenge, regardless of who stands against him.
As time goes by, he is emerging as one of the canniest political operators of all time. A powerful weapon in his armoury is an instinctive and symbiotic bond with his core electorate. In the main, they are in sync with what he says and does. There may be some drop in support here and there but his base is holding rock solid. Outrage from this side of the world, or from the media bubbles in Washington or New York, cloud a singular
reality. Donald
Trump is on message and on track for a second term as president.
He has been involved in all those White House hirings and firings and various policy plans of his, such as the dismantling of Obamacare, have come unstuck. And he has tested the nuances of international diplomacy when taunting the North Korean leader as ‘rocket man’. But it is all grist to the mill for his millions of devotees. They know in their hearts that he will never ‘build that wall’ to halt illegal immigration from Mexico. But every time he says he will indeed go ahead with the project, it gives them a warm glow. They know it is their man calling the shots in the White House.
And when he rubbishes ‘fake news’ coming from CNN and the like or whips up yet another rally with the mantra ‘let’s make America great again’, it is further evidence that Donald Trump is one of the most unique communicators of our age. His fortunes are also favoured by that most important tail wind, a booming economy. America is enjoying its lowest unemployment figure
Trump is there for the long haul – he is not going to combust and will be a formidable opponent
for some time and the stock market has been hitting record highs. It allows his supporters to luxuriate in the resonance of one of his most popular electioneering slogans – jobs, jobs and more jobs. Soon, a sense of low-level panic will engulf the Democratic Party hierarchy, when they finally realise that Trump is not going to politically combust. He is there for the long haul. Regardless of who challenges him in 2020, he will be a formidable opponent.
Those old enough to hark back to the Kennedy era may wonder wistfully if the once all-powerful clan can throw up somebody to rekindle magical moments from days of yore. The pick of the current crop seems to be Joseph Kennedy, grandson of Robert, who was, of course, assassinated like his brother. But whatever his personal attributes – which have not been tested on the national stage – he seems to lack the inner fire to fight his way to the White House. And so is there anybody out there capable of bringing the Trump bandwagon to a halt? Should the Democrats think the unthinkable in this time of peril for the party? There is one woman who just might work a miracle. She says she does not want to run. But can she be persuaded otherwise? She is articulate, smart, and is an engaging public speaker. She has that indefinable quality called presence. Her view of the world is diametrically opposed to that held by the current president of the United States. Her name is Michelle Obama.