Trumpian nightmare: We can only hope American voterswakeup
TRUMPLAND is a world where a passport stamped Caucasian is needed, preferably with the male box ticked too. Anyone lacking the foresight to be born white can expect difficulties. During his three and a half years as Potus, Donald Trump didn’t invent his nation’s racial problems – a history of slave-ownership followed by Jim Crow laws enforcing racial segregation laid the groundwork there – but his trademark rhetoric has fuelled the flames.
His conspiracy theory tweet suggesting a 75-year-old protester shoved and injured by Buffalo police could be an agitator is a case in point. It’s a smear. But not one beneath President Trump, apparently.
Now, he is preparing for a series of rallies to run for the presidency again, the first of them next Friday in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
There is a perception within the US that American values are the envy of the world. To accuse someone of being un-American is quite the insult – it suggests an individual’s behaviour is incompatible with lofty American standards.
In which case, it’s a mystery why more Americans, especially within the Republican party, haven’t called President Trump out on his un-American behaviour. Unless American values have altered? And innuendo, mockery and downright lies, all used to sow division, are the new industry standard?
Some signs of dissent are apparent. The highest ranking US military officer this week disassociated himself from his commander-in-chief’s actions, when General Mark Milley apologised for appearing in a photo opportunity with a bible-toting president after demonstrators were teargassed. But disagreement with the Trumpland ethos is less vocal than it should be.
Take his insistence on holding election rallies when mass gatherings are regarded widely as unsafe. He knows this, despite making a series of misleading claims about Covid-19 and his administration’s handling of it. A disclaimer must be signed by anyone wanting to attend a rally, excusing him from any responsibility if infection occurs.
His country has had two million cases of coronavirus infections and at least 114,000 deaths. More people have died from the virus than US military personnel during the Vietnam War, as reporters reminded him earlier this week. But President Trump wants rallies and President Trump is getting them.
Supporters are asked to tick a box which reads: “By clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to Covid-19 exists in any public place where people are present. By attending the Rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to Covid-19 and agree not to hold Donald J Trump for President, Inc… liable for any illness or injury.”
These rallies lend him validation. But he’s encouraging his followers to put their health at risk to feed his ego.
And maybe, too, because his Democratic rival is leading in the polls currently. President Trump is relying on his rallies to rouse his core vote.
Joe Biden will never have a better chance of gaining the Oval Office than by riding the wave of the Black Lives Matter movement.
But he is error-prone, besides having been a Washington insider for half a century. And nothing is beyond President Trump – neither the law nor custom and practice mean anything to him compared with his terror of appearing to be a loser.
Each candidate takes a different approach to postal voting. Joe Biden and the Democrats support it on public safety grounds but Trump warns against it on the grounds of potential fraud. “It will be the greatest Rigged Election in history,” he tweeted. Again, public safety is irrelevant to him.
“Now is the time of monsters.” The words are the Italian philosopher Gramsci’s, incarcerated by Mussolini, who noted that the old world was dying and the new world was struggling to be born. This happens cyclically – time will tell if we are living through just such a period.
In the past, protests against President Trump have consisted largely of the marginalised or minorities who couldn’t dent his position, let alone sweep him away. Can current demonstrations for racial justice achieve critical mass?
The US is synonymous with the American dream, yet today it is a tarnished place where the dream has rusted over.
President Trump managed to seize power because too few were living that dream but what has he done to set that right? Increased employment for blacks, you may say. Perhaps in low-level jobs. But genuine equality of opportunity is a myth.
Besides, the impact from economic decisions frequently take years to filter through – any upturn on his watch can’t be credited to him alone.
Looking on from Ireland, we see a great nation which has lost its footing. Here, we are accustomed to regard the US as a friendly big brother; a world power in our corner thanks to the Irish-American lobby. That wasn’t always the case – US interests always took precedence – but US support has made a difference for Ireland.
It mattered during Brexit negotiations with Britain over trade discussions, and was vital during the peace process. And during the early years of our State’s history, the politically organised Irish-American lobby forced the independence issue on to the agenda and pressed the US government to recognise the Free State. This was pivotal for Irish politicians on the world stage.
America had its own colonial revolution, of course, but without the Irish-American influence its leaders would have left the Irish question to British domestic politics, as President Woodrow Wilson insisted it should be. We know what we owe America.
But what of America’s debt to its founding ideals? The US is accustomed to think of itself in terms of American exceptionalism: Ronald Reagan referred to the “shining city on the hill” and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright spoke of her “indispensable nation”. Its presidents have a tendency to view themselves as leaders of the free world.
Every international power thinks it is exceptional. Britain was bearing “the white man’s burden”, as Rudyard Kipling characterised it, France rationalised its colonies as “la mission civilisatrice”, or the civilising mission, and other colonisers have expressed similar views. Clearly, that exceptionalism doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.
But many have looked up to America, despite its faults, and are dismayed to see it diminished by Trump – who was elected in plain sight, destructive agenda and all.
With his dog-whistle rhetoric, he baits and belittles others. Hilary Clinton was Crooked Hillary, Elizabeth Warren was Pocahontas; from Muslims to Mexicans, people have been demonised.
This is a man who promotes racism for votes; supporters cheered as he told an audience that coronavirus had many names but he preferred to call it “the plague from China”.
News is fake unless he tweets it. Nepotism is wrong unless you’re a Trump.
The Republican party has chosen the coward’s way of endorsing President Trump and his destructive Trumpland for the White House again.
Whether or not he wins in November, that party has failed.
A disclaimer must be signed by anyone wanting to attend a Trump rally, excusing him from any blame if Covid-19 infection occurs