‘Make America Sane Again’ should be the slogan for 2024 White House race
There was a time when people who pay attention to American politics looked at any forthcoming presidential election with a sense of excitement. That’s because they do things bigger there – from portion sizes to sporting events and awards ceremonies, everything appears to come with an extra dash of razzmatazz that seems rather alien to those of us who live in the more formal and stuffy countries of Europe.
Even US presidential campaigns and election rallies look more carefully choreographed showbiz events than the kind of stump speeches we are more accustomed to. As for their debates between the rival candidates, they’re usually box-office gold.
I remember staying up into the wee hours to watch the American news channels before the 2016 election when Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton couldn’t conceal their mutual loathing and there was always a hugely entertaining whiff of sulphur in the air as they snarled at each other and each other’s supporters. In fact, there were times during those infamous faceoffs when it looked like both individuals were so determined to annihilate each other that any prospect of election would also be obliterated.
It was wild, it was febrile and electric and it was, in truth, great fun to watch. However, as we hurtle towards November’s election tussle between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, none of that anticipation lingers in the air. In fact, the prospect of this particular election is more likely to come with an air of despondency, trepidation and, yes, a soupcon of abject despair.
It’s fashionable for the people on the left, particularly those in Ireland, to look on America and American politics with haughty contempt and derision. However, the immutable fact remains that the rest of the world needs a strong and stable America that for all its undoubted faults has made the world a safer place.
That sense of America being the great protector, and the last remaining bulwark against despots and tyrants, has now disappeared and at this stage it’s hard to see it ever coming back.
The tragic and troubling irony is that the rest of the free world needs a strong and stable America now more than at any time since the end of the Cold War, and this great nation, the finest country the world has ever seen, now looks anything but strong and stable. In fact, it looks broken and chaotic and no longer sure of its place on the world stage.
That’s great news for Vladimir Putin, who continues his genocidal adventures in Ukraine without any desire to pull back. It’s great news as well for the Chinese, who are massively increasing their power in both Africa and Central America, and who still seem to be intent on an invasion of Taiwan, with little fear of direct consequences.
It’s great news for those South American tinpot dictators who once used to fear the might of the American armed forces to keep them in check.
But it’s bad news for the rest of us.
Even long-term and experienced American strategists and policy-makers such as the last great Democrat thinker, James Carville, now appear to spend most of their time with their heads in their hands, wondering how on earth it came to this.
How did the once-great Republican Party find itself reduced to selecting Trump to run for the third presidential election in a row? How did the once-great Democratic party, which pledged to uphold the working-class and blue-collar values that made it an inspiration to millions around the world, find itself stuck with a candidate whose age and health are the subject of real concern for swathes of voters?
When it comes to Biden, raising concerns gives me no pleasure. We normally get a strange sense of glee whenever an American politician (or any politician, for that matter) makes a series of blunders and gaffes, but at this stage it has become genuinely sad to witness.
To put into perspective the levels to which US politics has sunk, it was nauseating to recently watch Trump make a joke to his followers about the time Biden lost control of his bowels in the Oval Office.
Of course, politics has always been a rough sport, and if you don’t have a thick skin it’s not the game for you. But there is a level of boorishness and sheer nastiness that was absent even in the most sneering battles between Clinton and Trump eight years ago.
One explanation for this depressing and corrosive atmosphere is certainly the unprecedented rise of identity politics on both sides of the political divide. The Democrats seem to have abandoned their blue-collar base in the hope of attracting college-educated identitarians who are obsessed with race and skin colour to the cost of their traditional voters, who care little for reparations for slavery or which toilet people use.
On the Republican side, the party appears to have become infested with the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a religious fanatic who recently said that the earthquake in New York and this week’s solar eclipse are a “sign from God that he wants us to repent”. This is repellent and demonstrably stupid rhetoric that should have no place outside a TV evangelist’s mega-church as he tries to scam more money from his gullible flock.
Yet this is the level of political discourse in America today.
It’s not as if they don’t have any other issues to concentrate on. The porous southern border has seen unprecedented numbers of illegal migrants, which is causing chaos all the way from southern states like Texas up to New York.
The ever-vexed issue of abortion is again a hot-button topic pitting various states against each other. Despite economic growth, the mood is far from upbeat. These are the issues that American voters, and the rest of the world, want the politicians to tackle; not, as we are currently witnessing, pointless personal insults and wild claims of a slanderous nature that diminish and demean both parties.
Come back, America. You were once great and we miss who you used to be and the great shining city on the hill that you represented.
In fact, if I was running as a Third Party candidate, I know exactly what my campaign slogan would be – Make America Sane Again.
‘To put into perspective how US politics has sunk, it was nauseating to recently watch Trump make a joke to followers about the time Biden lost control of his bowels in the Oval Office’