{"id":108900,"date":"2020-11-21T22:52:38","date_gmt":"2020-11-22T04:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=108900"},"modified":"2020-11-21T15:51:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T22:51:52","slug":"donald-trump-undertaker-for-250000-deaths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/21\/donald-trump-undertaker-for-250000-deaths\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump \u2013 undertaker for 250,000 deaths"},"content":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Donald Trump continues to keep America and the\nworld guessing as to his next move which should be to concede victory to Joe\nBiden. But he has not done so formally, though he is sending signals indicating that he is\nwilling to concede without, of course, taking any meaningful action to vacate\nthe White House. This appears to be  a game he is playing for a tactical\nreason: he is playing for time.  Though Joe Biden won on the popular vote\nby nearly seven million votes nothing is certain until the Electoral College\nconfirms his victory. On paper he has the votes of the Electoral College too.\nBut there is speculation as to whether the electors from rogue\u201d Republican\nstates will vote for Biden at the Electoral College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all traditions and precedents binding the\nelectors of the states won by Biden to vote for him there is no guarantee that\nthey will do so in the coming Electoral College vote on December 14. \nThere are instances where electors have voted against the will of the people of\nthe state and voted for their favourites. In 2016,\u201d states POLITICO (November 19),\nseven electors ultimately broke their pledge to vote for who they said they\nwould support.Five electors voted for someone other than Hillary\nClinton despite Clinton carrying their states, while two abandoned Trump.\u201d This\nmeans that Trump still has a chance of overturning the will of the people if a\nsufficient number of electors certified to vote for Biden at the Electoral\nCollege turn against him and vote for Trump. Remember Trump lost the popular\nvote and won in the Electoral College in 2016. According to David A. Bell of\nPOLITICO, election experts are still worried about the talk of legislatures\ngoing rogue between Election Day (November 3) and the selection of Electoral\nCollege electors.\u201d (December 14). If, as speculated, the Republican rogue\u201d\nstates gang up  against Biden on the pretext of vote fraud, or some other\ntechnicality, there is still a chance available for Trump to remain in the\nWhite House. So why concede victory too early when there is still some hope,\nthough it is diminishing fast. And who cares if more Americans die as a result\nof the obstructionist policy of Trump to prevent the new Biden administration\nworking out strategies for the Corona crisis. Corona-caused deaths have gone \nbeyond 250,000. What does it matter to Trump who dismisses it as only another\nkind of flu?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, Trump is putting America through a meat\ngrinder. His ego-centric politics is tearing America apart. It is difficult to\nfind in living memory another rough  and  divisive passage in\nAmerican  history like the post-2016 period. At the core of the American\napple is Trump wriggling and eating into its vitals like a revolting worm which\ncame from within the system. He is doing to America what pariah dogs on the run\ndo to lamp posts. He defines himself each time he opens his mouth and fills it\nwith lies. Each time he spits out his egregious hyperboles unsubstantiated by\nfacts or figures he drops deeper and deeper into Dante\u2019s hell. He is fixated on\ncreating and living in the Napoleonic cult of greatness  — a small man\nwith big ideas. He imagines that history began with him. In his statements he\ntries to give the impression that nothing great has happened in American\nhistory before his arrival at the White House. Nor has there been anyone in\nhistory as great as him. Once, he made a concession to Abraham Lincoln but that\ntoo was done grudgingly. He has dragged America to the depths of despair with\ntwo devastating crises: 1. Corona pandemic and 2. the constitution. The most\nnotable part of his Presidency is in creating a cult of his own fathering a\nfollowing that is ready, willing and able to go along  with all his\ncrudities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He performs theatrically on the political stage as\nthe most popular public figure hero-worshipped by the millions. Considering the\nfigures he had scored in the last election he is not wrong either. It reveals\nthat there is an on-going love-hate relationship between him and America. Half\nof America loves him and the other half is divided between hate and awe. He had\nbrazenly done what all other politicos had feared to do: he had unmasked\nAmerica and exposed the hidden face caked with liberal cosmetics. He has\nrevealed the fragility of the American democracy which can flip any time under\nthe demagoguery of a swaggering braggart bent on breaking the rules and\ndismantling the institutions that safeguard the security and the democratic\nvalues. Above all, he has  proved that he can silence with one twitter\neven the most respected Republicans who hated his guts in  the beginning\nand then fell in line like a herd of rhinos with thick skins impervious to the\nrising threats to everything of value created and preserved by the mighty\nAmerican adventure.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He displays all the symptoms of an egomaniac riding\nthe populist path overdetermined by Trumpism — the new political cult rising\nto shape the next generation of American policy-makers. It is putting deep\nroots into the soil fertilized with hate politics. His aim, as declared by him,\nis to make America great by putting America first — seemingly innocuous labels\nmarketed to disguise the  hidden racist ideology of white supremacists.\nInstead of the fiery, mob-manipulating, hate politics of Hitler he does it the\nmodern way with a consistent flow of Gobbelsian twitters. The only thing that\nseems to stand in  his way of becoming a Yankee Hitler is his Jewish\nson-in-law, Jared Kushner \u2013 the man behind the historic move of making\nJerusalem the capital of  the Jews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His total indifference to the hundreds of thousands\nof Corona virus victims is inhuman and unpardonable. Like the way he places\nhimself above the law he places himself over and above the universal laws of\nphysics and science. His delusional belief in his own power to force men,\nevents and the  laws of nature obey his commands is a trait that is a\nserious threat to planet earth lurching from one  critical crisis to\nanother. There can\u2019t be  a bigger threat to the welfare and the future of\nthe world than a voodoo Frankenstein presiding over the mightiest nation on\nearth. The consequences can be far-reaching and colossal as seen in the way he\nhas handled the Corona virus. He condemns his best experts like Dr. Fauci as idiots\u201d\nand disasters\u201d. With  his inhuman policy of presiding over the premature\ndeaths of 250,000 Corona victims he deserves to go down in the annals of\nAmerican history as the most obnoxious and notorious undertaker ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At least on  basic humanitarian necessities it\nwas his moral duty to cooperate with the Biden team to alleviate the suffering\nof the victims of the Corona virus. Trump\u2019s vindictive politics is aimed at\nobstructing and frustrating any Biden  initiatives to succeed. In his last\ndays he is making desperate moves to tie down the Biden administration to his\ndangerous policies in global and domestic affairs. Trump out of  office\ncan be more dangerous  than in office. A part of his tactic is to play the\nrole of victim whose victory was stolen by a rigged election. He knows that his\nfuture is not going to be rosy with rows of legal cases awaiting his  exit\nfrom the White House. The evidence against him is overwhelming. His main\ndefence is to play the innocent  victim of a corrupt, rigged system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the legacy he is leaving behind? Take the\ncase of Israel. He is leaving legacy mined with explosives. His policy of\nlegalising the Jewish occupation of Palestinian lands in the West Bank is a\ntime-bomb placed under Biden\u2019s chair. The 600,000 Jews in 142 West Bank\nsettlements in Palestinian land has been declared illegal by the global\ncommunity. Biden  will go along making Jerusalem the capital of Israel. It\nis accepted by the Christian voters of America. But legalising the land\noccupied by the Jews is an issue that is going to burn the Middle East \u2013 and\nperhaps the  world \u2013 in the foreseeable future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, his decision not to abide by the\ndemocratic will of the people is going  to make him the ugliest American\nin history books. For the moment he will survive because he is riding high on\nthe passions he has injected into the apathetic veins of the sleepy Americans.\nCredit must be given to him for keeping the American nation  awake 24\/7\nwith his provocative twitters. He kept the nation alive and kicking on  a\nregular diet of lies. Not surprisingly the latest polls indicate that a\nsubstantial percentage of voters believe that Trump lost because the election\nwas rigged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is happening  in America is surreal. Only\na brash maverick like Trump could make it happen. He has validated the\nrejection democracy as a fit form governance as first declared by Socrates and\nPlato. They opted for philosopher  kings\u201d. The  problem with that\ntheory is that there are enough Donald Trumps in the world who  claim to be\nphilosopher kings\u201d. In fact, philosopher Bertrand Russel blamed the\nPlatonic  concept of philosopher kings\u201d for breeding Hitlers and Stalins.\nThey presumed that they had the key to unlock the mysteries of history by\nplaying the  messianic role of political saviours. Driven by their\nideologies they made the 20th<\/sup> century the cruellest age in\nhistory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Humanity has suffered untold miseries at the hands\nof these fake messiahs \u2013 from Hitler and Stalin to Rohana Wijeweera and\nPrabhakaran. What is unacceptable is the willingness of a section of humanity\nto follow the Wijeweeras and  Prabhakarans. A good example  of this\nis Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, who, for all intents and purposes, seems to be a\nrational human being. After all he was an academic who held a chair in\nthe  professoriate. He not only believed in the goodness of these brutal\nmessiahs but also theorised on their  behalf to justify their obscene\nviolence. Once he returned from a fleeting meeting with Prabhakaran  as if\nhe had seen the earthly manifestation of the heavenly Prince of Peace. Taking\nProf. Uyangoda and a Trump-follower as empirical evidence that demonstrates the\npolitical mind-set of messianic devotees  one is entitled to ask whether\nthere is any difference between the  two? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you look around the pundit class (synonymous, of\ncourse, with the chattering class) you can find enough and more theorists who\npretend to be the panacea to complex and all intractable problems of the\nnation. Take the case of Dayan Jayatilleka, another one of those pundits whose\ntheories are tailored mostly to advance his next career move. In his latest\noutpouring he has blamed President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his model of \ngovernance for the second wave of Corona virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After circumambulating around his pet hates,\nincluding Sinhala-Buddhism, he concludes that the fight against Covid-19 isn\u2019t going\nwell  because  of the unscientific or pseudo-scientific metaphysical\nideology through which the Rajapaksa regime sees everything. To him the end of\nthe world has come. It is the Corona Chernobyl. The holocaust. And Hiroshima\nand Nagasaki — all rolled into one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is apparent that the hidden agenda behind his\nattack is to target the Rajapaksa regime which has rejected him. It is partly a\npersonal attack on Gotabaya Rajapaksa and partly an attack on the Rajapaksa\nmodel of governance. All his theoretical conclusions about the second wave is\nto downgrade the Rajapaksa achievements which he had praised to the skies not\nso  long ago when he was with the Rajapaksas. He says: For this regime,\nit is more important to believe in its model of governance, its system, than to\nseek truth from facts\u201d as was Deng Xiaoping\u2019s motto. The regime does not see\nthe need to look at how the really successful countries have managed this and\nlearn from their strategies\u2026\u201d because it is an article of faith that Sri Lanka\nunder the present leadership is the really successful country\u201d, and it is felt\nto be more important than anything else to keep the faith in this postulate,\nwhatever the empirical evidence to the contrary. Nobody dares to contradict the\nnew model, still less learn from the strategies\u201d of the really successful\ncountries\u201d. In consequence, we may be running the risk of a Corona Chernobyl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The current Sri Lankan\nmodel is one which is derived a priori<\/em> from a\nsense of superiority stemming from a mix of having won the war (again, falsely\nlisted as the only or the first victory over terrorism, at least in the 21st<\/sup> century) and the\ninnate superiority of the Sinhala-Buddhist culture, civilization and way of\nbeing. To question the results on the basis of evidence, i.e. the successes of\nthe model, acknowledge defeats and failures, and shift course\u201d as Dr.\nRanan-Eliya urges, is to question the sacrosanct model itself and verges on\nheresy and treason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This attack covers a whole\nrange of factors that characterise the Rajapaksa government. He is making use\nof the Corona crisis purely  to hang his political attack on it. His real\nmotive is to use the second wave as an excuse to run down  the Rajapaksa\nregime for acting without seeking the truth from facts\u201d. By the way, I am not\nciting Deng Xiao-ping to show off my familiarity with the founding fathers of\nthe Chinese Revolution because it is threadbare statement commonly used in\npractically every civilization long before he was born. In any case, it is not\nsuch a profound  or original statement that needs the backing of a\ndistinguished authority. It would have had the same impact if he  quoted Haramanis\nSingho instead of Deng. Throwing in big names as authorities for trite\nstatements is a part of his style to show off that he is not one of those the\nrun-of-the-mill political scientists. Writing advertisement about himself to\nenhance his image as a political scientist is also a common ploy of his to\nimpress his readers that he must be taken seriously and not  treated as a\nfrivolous yes-man\u201d hired to manufacture excuses to boost the political\nfortunes of his new master.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now that he has parked\nhimself in Sajith Premadasa\u2019s camp he is doing just that : \nstruggling  to manufacture excuses to boost his master\u2019s fortunes. Both\nare trying to politicise the COVID-19 wave to gain some political mileage. But\nthe more sensible and constructive approach to the Covid-19 crisis was\nenunciated by Ruwan Wijewardene, the Deputy Leader of the UNP,  who urged\nall parties to unite to overcome the crisis. (Daily Mirror \u2013 17\/11). Now that\nis a sign of a mature and responsible leader who genuinely cares for the\npeople.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last thing  that this nation needs is\nanother fake theorist who is singing for his supper<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala Donald Trump continues to keep America and the world guessing as to his next move which should be to concede victory to Joe Biden. But he has not done so formally, though he is sending signals indicating that he is willing to concede without, of course, taking any meaningful action to vacate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-h-l-d-mahindapala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}