Dangerous times as Trump crosses every red line in his path
We are living in dangerous times now a demagogue has captured and secured the White House. The bombing of Syria has opened up the real possibility of engaging once again in an unwinnable war.
The willingness of the American people to elect an authoritarian personality to the highest office in the western world is understandable; political elites had distanced themselves from the lives and needs of ordinary citizens, providing Trump with a platform for invoking the divisive rhetoric of nationalism.
From the start, Trump was determined to bully the world into submission to his will. Our worst fears were realised immediately after his inauguration, when like a child let loose in a sweet shop, he made a bee-line for his desk to exercise the power to sign executive orders, menacingly displaying his angular signature.
What was soon to emerge was that the writing was on the wall for decency and truth, as Trump openly despised basic wellestablished and valued aspects of liberal democracy. The norms, values, beliefs and mutual expectations that define our way of life steadily counted for nothing.
Throughout the world, dictatorships set out to repress freedom of expression in the media, weakening independent institutions by strangling all opposition. Trump has crossed every red line that was seen as a barrier to the exercise of his ego.
Trump rules by impulsive gesture, evident in his infantile use of tweeting and his scatter-gun approach to hiring and firing.
He has released chaos on the conduct of political life, violating the most basic elements of a liberal democracy as his egocentricity runs riot in the vilification of all opposition.
Trump seems hell-bent on saying and doing anything that keeps him centre stage in the conduct of the affairs of the world, including the intensification of action against Syria. Every president of the US seems to have needed a war in order to secure their place in history. We can only hope Trump’s needs are met by less catastrophic means.
Philip O’Neill
Oxford, UK