The American politician: Mr. Donald Trump

By Le Ulupoao Ata Maiai 08 June 2016, 12:00AM

The rise of Donald Trump, the Presidential candidate in the  American General Elections - and to world attention - comes with a  predictable  slogan -  “Make America Great Again.” 

On the TV screens in our living rooms, in the printed media and conversation-wise, Mr. Trump’s politics is fodder for robust discussion among the people. 

The election of the President of the United States attracts our interest for so many reasons; in our part of the world there is American Samoa 70 miles away from the coastline of Aleipata and America is a member of the Pacific family.  

Mr. Trump is one of several candidates vying for the office of the President of the United States.  It is a common-place to say that domestic  politics and life in America are in the main  affected by the ideology of capitalism and Christianity.

The Yahoo News, citing sources from RAND and the University of Pennsylvania  recently ran a printed  commentary  on  the  basket of issues and topics  drawing voters’ interests  to the candidature of Mr. Trump. 

Gender, age, attitudes against Muslim/Hispanics/illegal immigrants, race/ethnicity, household income, employment, education are the topics but there was an over-whelming (86.5 percent) feeling among Republicans to go for Trump because they feel “voiceless” in having  a say in the business of  their government. The not-well-educated white young men, the people in the rural areas, the factory workers all feel  alienated  from Big Uncle Sam.  

This is reminiscent of the “Silent Majority”, a political slogan   that was bandied around one time  in this country’s General Elections.   The richest/ poorest/ homeless  human being on Earth lives in America; from the bluegrass music/lifestyles  of the Hill-Billies to the easylistening/jazzy/rock n roll music of the urban people: the fast food, Gridiron, Basketball and the rest of the sporting community; the ladies and gentlemen of Hollywoood  and the arty world; the wheeler- dealers  at Wall Street,  Industry Leaders, the Bankers and their pound of flesh;  the hooligans, criminals, mafia,  drug pushers, and the religious, scientific, academic groups- come the  selective “voiceless”   voters.   

The international situation with  the  United States  is  a well-known question.   For public consumption, the question  then is:  when was  American greatness  lost. Or is  American greatness all that  matters for  nations, big or small. 

Was “American Greatness” lost  during the years of the Monroe Doctrine, when  American  foreign policy was restricted to the domination  of the Americas?  Or was “American Greatness” scored when its military dropped the Atomic bombs on the Japanese cities in WWII.

Was America’s  finest hour clocked at  the brink of Nuclear War  against USSR over the missiles in Cuba?  The American/  Vietnamese  war, the Bay of pigs, the Civil Rights fight between the Black  and the White people  in America, the military interventions in regional conflicts make up the tentative  list for an estimate  of the  American nation.

On balance, the World view is that  American greatness lies in  innovation/invention/discovery  made  by its citizens  in Science,  Technology, Education  and  Arts:  the outcomes  bring about tangible measures to cure the sick, feed the poor;  maintain peaceful  and spiritual developments;  and foster  socio- economic cooperation among nations.    

The  “American  Character” rather than the “American Greatness” has a place in our imagination.  The  founding principles  enshrined in the Constitution of this nation embrace Liberty; and that ideal has given  rise to the racial melting pot and  political pluralism making America a great country.

Different races - i.e. Caucasian, African, Samoan, Asian, Latinos etc. build this country to where it is today. They all have rich stories behind their American experiences, musically captured by the Superstar, Neil Diamond’s pop classics  “They Come To America”. That is also  the story  of  the migrants/ ancestors of Donald Trump - and the Presidential candidate -  in the land  of the indigenous Indian of America. The American Indian of course could not build  walls  at the  borders. The  lands of the native Indian  were  taken  by the barrel of the gun.      

  Mr Trump is a money-man and he lives by the  tradition of  cash  flowing to many projects  at one time. That habit is seemingly transposed on his politics.    Right, left and middle of the political spectrum- Mr Trump popped  and weaved  like  a  chameleon changing sides of the road;  and  telling his audience in America via public rallies and on TV what he will do as President of the United States. Trump’s  political profile does  not match the prodigious achievements  of  past  candidates  from  the Right like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan who went on to win the contest.  He does not have the oratorical skills of  J F Kennedy whose political flair placed his trade on par with  Plato’s Philosopher-King.  If you form the view that Mr  Trump  will manage  the American Government like the way  he runs a Casino, place your bet! How will his Presidency invest in the fight against the evils  of terrorism, drugs,  fanatic-muslims etc. Political capital would  help his cause but his efforts to  mobilise support  in a country full of skeptics and  Democrats  is an  uphill struggle. The   Republican politicians in Congress   have not shown support to his cause. The extreme situation is unimaginable - Americans turn against Americans -but in this imperfect world we are living........ 

Trump’s  star- attraction in the U.S. General Elections is two-fold:  he speaks with messianic fervour rightly or wrongly on subjects of his choice and  he  drifts to things, unorthodox  “not politically correct” in stating his case before the American voters.  Take this one in that drift.  At his  disposal if he is the  President of  the United States  is the Nuclear Weapons  Arsenal   while thousands of good brave men and women in uniform  lost their lives fighting in  regional wars  to protect the locals who scorned their presence. The U.S.  Military Establishment is supported  by  many  classes  of  weaponery designed for conventional warfare. Yet, the  citizens of the  United States and  many nations like France, Australia,  Belgium, Russia  are killed on the streets and in the skies by the  new breed of armed people/terrorists  using  unconventional methods of warfare.  

  We are necessarily invited by the loud and “politically incorrect” stance of Donald Trump to study his  response to these serious problems.  Would his leveraged  politics become  the catalyst for a ground spring movement  of the  new breed of armed men in  vigilante groups from America and Europe  rising  to  kill the Muslim terrorists on  the streets, in the deserts, from the skies    in unconventional warfare?  Would the  nuclear weapon be used against  ISIS? Or  a factor in the new drift of unconventional armed conflict.  There is an  emerging mass  following for the   politics  based on emotion to kill the muslim terrorists on the streets, in the deserts, from the skies using their own  unconventional warfare.

 On the other hand, there is a serious issue in the mix. Trump aside,  the  clash of civilisations in the making is a subject worth pondering over.   Given the deep  involvement of the  Muslim religion in the ISIS, BOKO HARAM etc, the challenge  to respond from  Christian civilisations is a moot point.       

That is why it is necessary to read  the foregoing developments in the context of  a dialectic inquiry.  Not in a Marxist and Engel’s mode of presentation where a class struggle is at the centre of the conversation but a peep into the chemistry behind the emerging  politics championed by Mr  Donald Trump. Superiority mentality is the basis of Trump’s attitude to the subjects of race and money. Consider the strands of his political rise to the Russian and German experiences.  History tells us that Adolf Hitler and his Nazi henchmen exploited Capitalism in their rise to power. 

The economic depression in America, argued Hitler,  was the  cause of the major problems in the German economy. Making “Germany Great”  was the underlying theme put out by the Nazi machine  in its  mass propaganda;  and that progressively embraces  racial hatred and  the death of million Jews. The superiority mentality connects  the Hitler’s  experience  to the  deadly exploits of Lenin (and Stalin) in the Russian Revolution. 

Lenin is responsible for the murder of the Romanovs; and he  ushered in the spread of  Communist governments and revolutions  in the world.  Hitler is responsible for the out break of World War II.  

Mr. Donald Trump’s story to make his country great again has just begun; and  whether or not it ends like  thunder or whim - it’s the American way.

By Le Ulupoao Ata Maiai 08 June 2016, 12:00AM
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