Do the right thing
Winston Churchill once stated “you can rely on the Americans to do the right thing, once they have exhausted all other possibilities.” Come the presidential election in November, will the USA do the right thing?
I am of course talking about the distinct possibility of a Trump presidency. A CNN poll today gave Trump a 7 point post-conference bounce an overall 4 point lead over Clinton. That lead has since reversed to a slight but constant lead for Clinton.
This is a man who has called Mexican immigrants rapists and murderers, mocked a physically disabled reporter, deflected a troubling question by referencing the presenters menstrual cycle, referenced the size of his manhood in a presidential nominee debate, outlandishly criticised the Gold Star parents of a war hero, and brought into question the role of NATO and the EU in todays political landscape.
Combined with his pathological lying, self-evident narcissism, dubious relationship with the truth, lack of understanding regarding anything outside ‘World Trump’ and his bizarre support for President Putin, one would think his campaign was doomed from the start. But love him or loathe him, Trump has tapped into the growing resentment of many against the political elites in America.
That his opponent, Hilary, seems intent on self-destruct with the revelation of her infamous private e-mail server, and furthermore that the chair of the Democratic Party has stepped down due to leaked emails purportedly advising how to brief against Bernie Sanders, is only playing into ‘The Donald’s” hands.
American blue collar workers, many who have lost their jobs to the march of globalisation and outsourcing of jobs abroad have been harbouring resentment against the system for decades, they have been joined by a younger generation growing up in the shadow of the crash of 2007-8 with a lack of appetite for unfettered capitalism.
The irony that Donald Trump, a man who refers to himself in the third person, sits on a gold plated chair in a place called Trump Tower, is now the Right’s beacon against the self-serving elites is as bizarre as it sounds.
Stable and successful governments tend to flourish when they occupy the middle ground. There is much to criticise about Hillary Clinton, and I won’t go so far as to say she is the lesser of two evils, but she offers stability in a time of uncertainty. She is pragmatic in the political arena and her policy announcements signal a shift to the left, in part due to Sander’s continuing support among the Democratic Party’s grassroots.
Make no mistake she is no saviour, her chequered history on foreign policy attests to this, but she is better than the alternative, a right wing demagogue out to boost his own already inflated ego. For all her failings Hillary sees the benefit that institutions such as NATO and the EU bring to the peace and prosperity in Europe.
The phrase “when the USA sneezes, the world catches a cold” applies in this election year more than ever. The USA has a stark choice between Trump, an opportunistic, nationalist, neo-realist with a penchant for spouting rash untruths and a questionable grasp on world affairs, or a less than perfect but ultimately safer pair of hands in Hillary.
So please USA, when it comes to November, do the right thing and consign ‘The Donald” to the dustbin of history.