“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron”. This was a political prophecy by Henry Louis Mencken, a journalist of the 1920s, who looked into the issues of the time to predict one of the most appropriate political omens that have come to pass.
Mencken predicted that as democracy matures, the elected leader will reflect the desires, values and characteristics of the general populace. Although many had seen democracy as the preferred mode of governance, Mencken cautioned about the imperfection of democracy, which had the tendency to elevate individuals who are not necessarily the most qualified. Since democracy is about a system where the majority’s choice prevails, irrespective of the wisdom of that choice, its potential pitfalls could not be better glaringly displayed than by the modus operandi in the United States today. Did H.L. Mencken have Donald Trump in mind when he wrote these immortal words?
If democracy is about the choice of the majority, how come America’s democratic electoral system produced TWO presidents who received fewer votes than their opponents in a single generation? How can a system be democratic when it denies the popular vote? How come the voice of the majority (330m) is compressed into 270 votes from the Electoral College?
It is becoming increasingly boring to catalogue Trump’s undesirability traits. Donald Trump faced 91 criminal counts in four separate prosecutions. No American president or former President has ever been indicted. Trump is the first convicted former President of the USA. Interestingly, America is witnessing the confluence between the judiciary and the legislative arms of its government. As part of its democratic credentials, America professes to practise, promote and maintain the separation of powers. This is where the irony of ironies suffer from convulsions that are reminiscent of a possessed high priest.
In many countries and especially the western world, people are barred from taking employment if they have a criminal record. Countries like the USA and Canada, among others bar people from entry if they have criminal records. Donald Trump is a convicted felon. Donald Trump is running for the highest office in the land. As probabilities go, there is the possibility of him winning the general elections; to become the first convicted felon as President. However, with Joe Biden prudently but conscientiously passing the baton to Kamala Harries, the odds have been slashed. That does not diminish the irony of ironies that you cannot get a job at McDonalds because of a criminal record but you can become POTUS as a convicted felon. Phew.
Is it poetic justice or what that Kamala Harris, the Vice President, a former Senator, Prosecutor and Attorney General is Trump’s opponent in the election? Will this be an election or a prosecution? In November, America will have the choice between the prosecution and the defence. Interestingly, the American people will serve as the jurors and preside over Trump’s case at national level. Americans will have the opportunity to serve as judge and jury on Donald Trump. They will show the world what America is made of. We now have the opportunity to calibrate America’s moral fibre, if any in the coming months. In choosing between Trump and Kamala, America has the opportunity to redefine itself, after a period of political convulsions that have stretched it at the seams. Is it time to put the adage, “crime does not pay” to the test?
Donald Trump and Joe Biden shared a common denominator as two grumpy old men. With Biden safely tucked in bed, Trump is left to recalibrate his tactics and options. Biden’s inevitable decision to pass the baton to the “next generation” has left Trump floundering for a message. He has spent the last few weeks recycling his Obama-esque mantra. They didn’t work the last time. What makes him think that they will work this time is anyone’s guess. Judging by the polls, Trump is coming across as weirder by the hour, and his attacks seem to be landing on Kamala’s Teflon suits. Trump is not helped by his VP choice J D Vance. He comments on Kamala’s Asian heritage, and ironically forgets that the wife of J D Vance, his VP pick is Asian. As if on cue, and of all places, Trump chooses the National Association of Black Journalists conference to question Kamala’s “black” heritage. Now we know that racial profiling is dynamic. You can start as Asian and morph into African, given time and space.
Americans have the opportunity to choose between going forward and going back. They have the chance to feed on the base instincts that is offered on the altar of the nativist far right or seek extreme unction from their clutches. As democracy is tested around the world, there is an insidious battle between capitalism and democracy. In those days, capitalism was ruled by democracy. It is only democracy that would allow Donald Trump, a convicted felon to run for the highest office in the land of opportunities. America’s democracy was founded and built on racial exclusions. America must now face the fact that if it is to save its democracy, it would only work on the stilts of racial equality, diversity and multiracial settings of today. Unfortunately, the Trumps of this world often use the defence of democracy as a preamble to subvert it.
Sadly but ironically, Trump is ready to subvert the very process that brought him to power in the first place. While Trump is ready to dismantle democracy quickly, the slow erosion of democracy around the world is hardly visible. The world is slowly watching democracy suffering from agonal breathing, as its last throes are asphyxiated by capitalist insurgency. These days, it is capitalism that determines democracy and not the other way round. That in itself is the signal that the world is about to turn on itself and commit autophagy.
Did you know that Kamala Harris’ father is called Donald J Harris, and that she is running against Donald J Trump?
Don’t forget to turn the lights off when you leave the room.
Sharp witted and insightful.