THE CASE AGAINST TRUMP

 September 17, 2020

I am a permanent resident in the USA and I can’t vote, but here is why I would vote for Biden on November 3:

·       We can’t allow an unscrupulous cheater and liar to lead our government and the world; how bad Trump is will only come out when all pending lawsuits against him and his ‘enterprises’ and campaigns are brought to verdict and the history of his (mis)administration is written. Ultimately, it comes down to character and values.

·       I disagree with people saying that a Biden presidency would result in a socialist regime. Likelihood is that Biden/Harris will govern largely in the same manner as Clinton and Obama and stay far away from the left wing of the Democrats, even if the Democrats were also to control both chambers in Congress. They are not stupid and, if they win in 2020, they won’t want to give it all back in 2022 and 2024; the American people won’t stand for Jerry Corbyn (Labour) type socialism and they know it.

·       Trump is only aggravating an already unacceptable level of inequality and he is messing with our system of government and the environment. Another four years of this will set us back further than we can afford.

·       Give Trump a second term and he will be given the power to install a Supreme Court that, for decades, will be ultra conservative and conflict with the prevailing public opinion.

·       Trump will have to accept at least partial responsibility for the mismanagement of the COVID pandemic and the toll it has taken upon the lives of people and economy of the nation. He is complicit in the death of a large share of the 200,000 COVID deaths America has suffered so far in 2020 and is solely responsible for the painful truth that America’s share of global COVID deaths far exceeds its share of the world population.

·       Trump’s trade policies will prove to be detrimental, particularly his withdrawal from TPP; it opened the space for China, which has promptly taken the territory.

·       Trump alienates all of America’s traditional allies and makes no attempt to mend fences when they accept legitimate criticism and come to the table.

·       I fundamentally disagree with any policy that abandons existing structures without putting something better in place (ACA, Paris accord, Iran accord, WHO); what is next NATO, WTO?

·       Trump’s idolization of authoritarians like Kim Jong Un, Putin, Erdogan, Orban, and Bolsonaro is indicative of where his political inclinations are; he is already speaking about a third or fourth term, no matter the XXII Amendment.

·       I fundamentally disagree with Trump’s inhumane and counterproductive immigration policies, even limiting legal immigration and access for foreign students.

·       I will judge a person in large part by the company he keeps; look at the unsavory crew that Trump has kept himself surrounded by.

·       Trump is not just a narcissistic bully; he is a danger to our most basic democratic and constitutional values and principles.

·       Yes, it is clear from the above that my vote would be more a vote against Trump than a vote for Biden (much less the Democrats in general), but that is the result of the Republican Party's abandonment of its values, beliefs and principles in nominating a populist for the highest office in the land.

IN GOOD FAITH

September 7, 2020

It is Labor Day in the United States and so we have a bonus day to take a deep breath, do some reflection, and ready ourselves for the race to the finish on November 3. A first observation is how odd and unlikely it is that the contest for the Presidency is between two people in the same age group I belong to: the people whose work is mostly done and who should spend their remaining days filling in the gaps, tending to tasks and missions that were ignored or unrecognized in the frantic business of making a career. It shouldn’t be that way. The country is facing tremendous challenges and it is unrealistic to expect that an advanced septuagenarian can lead the charge to right the listing, if not sinking, ship.

The second observation is about the unusual character of this contest. It has a third dimension that the nation has not observed during my lifetime, which started with the waning days of the FDR presidency.      

The third dimension is the cult aspect of the Trump following. Yes, Trump is the nominee of the Grand Old Party, but if he had to rely on Republicans in the upcoming election, he would certainly loose. Not only has the number of registered Republicans been dropping now for several years, but we are witnessing a steady stream of (prominent) Republicans distancing themselves from Trump and in many cases openly coming out in support of his opponent. It is no longer just the principled ‘Never Trumpers’ who declared their rejection of Trump as candidate even before the 2016 election. It is now a legion of principled Republicans from all walks of life (but notably not so much from GOP representatives in Congress). These people have been judging the President on the basis of his politics, his messaging (in tweets and public appearances), the company he keeps, and his character over the course of the first Trump term in office. And they have, belatedly and grudgingly concluded that they have been betting on the wrong horse. They now see, what should have been evident from the beginning, that Trump is not, and never was, a Republican. They now see clearly that Trump is a populist, with narcistic, authoritarian, and corrupt streaks that are common denominators in populists. Just think about Franco, Mussolini, Peron, Nasser, Marcos, Maduro and Bolsonaro. (It is notable that many populist leaders had the support of Christian churches or denominations. The Trump support from evangelicals is not an aberration.)

That none of this eroding support from Republican conservatives (and, for that matter, Independents) is reflected in the national polls, which consistently show an approximate 40% support for the President, is only explainable as confirmation of the fact that with Trump we are no longer dealing with a political movement, but with a cult. A cult consists of true believers, who are not swayed or dissuaded by facts or rationale, but are guided only by unquestionable faith in the cult leader. As any other cult, the Trump cult attracts people from all walks of life, but mostly the disgruntled and the beleaguered.

The core constituency of this cult is formed by descendants of the European settlers and immigrants who, over the last four centuries, have taken over the land of the ‘First Americans’; who have had a long history and privilege of dictating the political scene in the United States, but are now realizing that they are losing this privilege in a wave of immigration driven demographic changes. These true believers adore their cult leader, because of his disdain for other ethnicities and his suppression of immigration. These true believers have grown up with the belief in American exceptionalism as a dogma supporting America’s divine right to world supremacy, a supremacy that is now being challenged by globalization and the emergence of new economic powerhouses like China and the EU.

The November election may not give us a clear indication of how strong and widespread this cult is. Because the cultish Trump vote will be supplemented by those Americans who may hold their noses while doing so, but still vote for Trump, because they loathe and fear the alternative more. These voters have bought in to the belief that with a Trump defeat, America will be doomed to converting from capitalism to socialism and that their personal prosperity and security is at stake. We all know many of these people. They are in our neighborhoods, our churches, our offices, and also in our families.

I will not argue with the cult members. They are not open to any argument that challenges their blind faith in the cult leader. But these other likely Trump voters I ask: Would you tolerate a person like Trump, in his behavior, his personal conduct, his cronies, and his utterances, as the CEO of your business, as the pastor of your church, as the grandfather of your children? If your answer is ‘yes’, you belong to the cult and I want to distance myself from you. If your answer is ‘no’, then, in good faith, how can you even consider to hand over the leadership of your country (and the world for that matter) to a person that you would not entrust with any authority in your personal life?

I am a centrist myself. I believe in democracy, the Constitution, and the strength and resiliency of our institutions and alliances. I am an open book, politically speaking, after writing six years ago, well before the emergence of Trump, my political testament in my book ‘NEITHER HERE NOR THERE’. I have seen enough of socialism in my lifetime to know that it does not deliver on its theoretical promises. I believe in democratic capitalism as a tool to reduce the suffocating inequality that is at the core of so much of the current unrest and discontent. But, if a had a vote as a permanent US resident, I would not hesitate for a moment to vote for a Democrat, if necessary to deny Trump a second term. America has, in our lifetime, nicely survived and prospered under many Democratic Presidents, who have always been restrained by checks and balances built into our constitutional political system and by almost universal public aversion of left extremism. There is no reason to believe that this time it will be different if voters put another Democrat in the White House.

If you are not a cult member, how can you then, in good faith, give a second chance to the man who so blatantly has exhibited dishonesty, narcissism, ignorance, intellectual poverty, greed, pettiness, and racism during his first term in office? Please don’t!