{"id":110621,"date":"2021-01-11T18:14:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T01:14:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=110621"},"modified":"2021-01-11T18:14:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-12T01:14:53","slug":"americas-descent-into-the-depths-of-disastrous-trumpism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/01\/11\/americas-descent-into-the-depths-of-disastrous-trumpism\/","title":{"rendered":"America\u2019s descent into the depths of disastrous Trumpism"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Democracy\nis fragile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is more\nfragile that the window panes of the Congress that were smashed by the mob\nunleashed by President Donald Trump. It is the ultimate symbol of the\ndesecration of American democracy. The world watched in horror as the\nmisinformed, misguided, politically driven mob went berserk destroying not so\nmuch the material that stood in their way but the fundamental values of the\nholiest shrine of democracy that came crumbling down with not a single guardian\nof the law in sight to stop it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a\nsad spectacle. A delusional Trump, who refused to accept the grim realities facing\nhim, tried every trick in the book to retain power which he  had lost. The\nvoters told him to go. The courts told him to go \u2013 62 times, sometimes by\njudges appointed by him. The states which he tried to bully told him to go.\nSome of his best friends and advisers told him to go. He didn\u2019t budge. He\nbelieved fanatically in his narrative that his victory was stolen by Biden. His\nperennial penchant to wallow in his own lies was pathological. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When all\nhis  legal and political tactics failed he  tried violence. He\ninstigated the mob and told them to walk down  Pennsylvania Avenue because\nwe can never get back our country with weakness\u201d. His legal side-kick, Rudy\nGiuliani, told the crowd  that there should be a trial by combat\u201d. The\nveiled messages were quite transparent. Like Hitler, Trump made use of the\ndemocratic processes and democratic  institutions to undermine the very\nfoundations of democracy. His power was in manipulating the racist slogan of\nMaking America Great\u201d which meant reinforcing  the power of the White\nSupremacists. He was aided and  abetted by the Right-wing racist media,\nparticularly the media run by Uncle Rupey\u201d Murdoch \u2013 a favoured guest at\nMar-a-Lago club owned by Trump. His media lackeys at Fox News  \u2013 Sean\nHannity,   Tucker Carlson etc.,– have been blind devotees of\nTrumpism. They white-washed and justified every move made by Trump, even the\nviolence unleashed at the Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buoyed by\nthe adulation of  his followers (72 million voted for him) he once told a\ncampaign  rally : I could stand in the middle of 5th<\/sup> Avenue\nand shoot somebody and I would not lose voters.\u201d His meteoric rise cast a spell\non America. His White nationalism swept across America, from coast to coast,\nmaking him  a  folk hero. He rose to be the new symbol of America.\nThe grassroot forces were rallying behind him with a fervour not seen before.\nHe resonated with their aspirations and their hates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, when\nthe voters turned against him it shattered his  own beliefs. He had vested\nso much of faith in his own powers that he refused to face the reality. He\nbegan with a bang. His idiosyncratic style that mesmerised the base of the\nRepublican Party made him the most formidable force overnight. The message went\nalong with it with his brash style. Together they  galvanised the broader\nbase of White America. He created a new political culture with his incessant\ntweets, political messages, aimed at creating (successfully!) an alternative\nreality. The traditional conservatives who ruled the Republican Party lost\ntheir grip.  He became the Republic Party and the stalwarts fell in \nline  behind  him. The power he acquired overnight was intoxicating\nand also toxic. Trumpism was the ideology worshipped by his Republican and\nnon-Republican loyalists. He became law unto himself and he believed, quite\nseriously, that he was the chosen one\u201d, the messiah sent to save America and\nthe world. He believed in his mystical power to overcome all obstacles,\nincluding Corona virus which he did thanks to the specialist  services of\nthe  military hospital. His garish theatrics on the international stage\ntoo enhanced his stature at the base. He was relying solely on his base. All\nwhat he did was mainly to impress and consolidate his base and he \nbelieved that he was invincible as long as the base was with him. He became a\none-man band. It as the college-educated, sophisticated urban voters that\nrejected him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end,\nthe big man was brought down by a small bug : Coronovid-19. He lost his glamour\nwith each death. Lost in the myths of his own invincible powers \u2013 he referred\nconstantly to whatever he did as the greatest in history —  he thought he\ncould ride over the pandemic by dismissing it lightly as another kind of flu.\nBut the menacing virus caught up with him and made him pay for his idiocy. \nHis anti-science, anti-minorities, anti-climate change, anti-internationalism,\npro-authoritarian regimes were a medley of policies that he could sell to his\nbase with applause. But  the educated class was running away from\nhim.  The rural areas stuck with him in the last election. But the\nsophisticates revolted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\ntold,  he found himself drifting away too far from the mainstream. The\nmore he drifted away the more he lost touch with reality. He refused to\nrecognise the new realities sprouting  under  his feet and \ndestabilising him. He fancied that he had the power and the following to go\nagainst the  will of the people. Like all authoritarian figures he was\nhoping to rewrite history in his own fashion. But after going  along with\nhim initially, after taking a few steps with him for a short while, history\nturned against him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end\nhe brought down the great Republican  Party  of Abraham Lincoln and\nreduced it to zilch. He did a Ranil Wickremesinghe. He lost the Presidency. He\nlost the House. And he lost the Senate. He lost even his most loyal aide who\nstood by him throughout his troubled reign, Mike Pence, the Vice-president. He\nwas stepping out too far from the traditional, acceptable framework that held\nAmerica together. Most of all, he divided the formidable Right-wing of America.\nBrining the Right-wing under his leadership will be the biggest headache for\nthe Republicans. His success or failure in the  opposition  will\ndepend on his ability to unite the Right-wing forces under his wing. After the\nfailure of his attempted coup\u201d it is doubtful whether he could rally the Right\naround him. He lost his spell in the debacle at the Congress. He can never live\nit down. It will haunt him for the rest of his days. He  has alienated\npractically everyone except, perhaps, his  family. Today he is a lonely\nman  nursing his emotional wounds. His only escape route is to blame\neveryone else for his  fall, created by his own self-destructive\nstrategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is\ntoo early to write him off. He will not walk out of the White House as a dead\nman. He still has some clout in his base. In his own way, he has radicalised\nAmerican politics. He has injected a new strain of hate into the liberal\npolitical culture of America. It is just not his  version of Munroism\ntrying  to make America Great in isolation from within. His inward-looking\nview is not mere navel gazing. He has touched and livened the raw nerve of\nAmerica that was buried deep in its culture. He represents that side of America\nwhich is brash, rash, garish, loud, vigorous, inward-looking, narrow-minded and\nready to break through all obstacles even if it means doing it  the crude\nway. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a sense\n\u2013 and without meaning to demean the genius of Walt Whitman \u2013 he represents the\nathletic, energetic, confident power of Whitmanasque America that was ready to\nbreak through all obstacles in its predatory explorations of conquering the\nwild  west, destroying civilisations, devastating the pristine glory of\nuntouched nature and polluting every inch of land, lakes and loftiness filled\nwith pure air in its virgin state. He had no idea of the other side of America\n: the tender, sensitive, caring, cultured, quiet world of Emily Dickinson,\nRobert Frost and Thoreau. He was the farthest away from John Steinbeck\u2019s Grapes\nof Wrath<\/em><\/strong> \u2013 the great American classic that idealised the socialist\nsociety. Donald Trump stood only for one man: Donald Trump. America has never\nseen the likes of him ever before. And it is not likely to see another one\nsoon. But he leaves behind a menacing legacy: he has sown the seeds of American\nfascism to grow in the declining years ahead. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

America\nafter Trump will trend towards more  violence. It can be a dangerous place\nas seen by Trump\u2019s behaviour of encouraging  the mob to march down\nPennsylvanian Avenue. Trumpism is the first manifestation  of all the\norganised crudities of the red-necked White Supremacists which have deep roots\nin America. The rise of Trumpism has been the triumph of Right-wing\nproto-fascists who have been struggling underground to capture power within the\nliberal framework of the great democratic laboratory of the world. It exploits\nof the political and social fears of this deep layer of American society. The\npromise of making America Great has been a marketable euphemism  to \nenthrone the power of the White Supremacists. The power Trumpism lies in this\nhidden agenda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump is\nthe personification of all the crudities of this sub-layer of the American\npolitical culture. He is the absolute opposite of Barack Obama, the refined,\ncultured, symbol of finesse that has given a shine to the best in the American\npolitical tradition. The way he and his family conducted themselves in the\nWhite House was comparable to the aristocratic Kennedys who raised a new wave\nof hope to America and the world. After Obama the fall of America into the\nhands of Trump is like the fall of Adam into the disastrous temptations of the\nSnake in the Garden of Eden. Adam also fell when he became a Trump \u2013 a\npussy-grabbing\u201d rake. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is he an\naberration? Yes and no. He is an aberration because he is the first of his\nkind. But America has the potential to produce many more Trumps. He must be\nconsidered as a pathfinder for the deep roots of American authoritarianism that\nhas been lying untapped all these years. He is the maverick who dared to come\nup from outside and take over  the establishment giving respectability and\nacceptability to the hidden roots of American authoritarianism that was waiting\nfor a leader. He has captured the minds of rural base and psychologically\nterrorized the American Right, including the elite in the Republican Party\nleaders. Mick Romney and the late John Cain are two leading Republican who had\nthe guts to challenge him. But the rest are hedging their bets. They are scared\nthat with his political clout in the Republican base he could tip the scales in\ntheir electorates with his approval or disapproval at the next election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He will\nstill remain as a force — but a divisive force in the Right. Of course, there\nis a chance that he will be the first president of America to go to jail. The\nstring of charges is so numerous that under the law of averages he is\nbound  to be convicted on at least one of them, according to legal\nexperts. This will be  his biggest nightmare. But the Right-wing of\nAmerica will not let him die. His legacy that came from the embedded right-wing\nextremists will go underground and pose a serious threat to Joe Biden. He has\nthe backing  of the heavily armed Oath Keepers, Proud Boys who have vowed\nto fight if Trump loses. He has also dodged condemning the KKK, neo-Nazis,\nanti-semitic, anti-black, anti-feminist, anti-gay and the minorities who\nare  favoured by the liberal  left.  They are his backbone. He\nwill survive in their hearts and minds and will mobilise their forces to\nbring  him back in 2025, if they can.  With his political clout in\nthe base, he still could influence the outcome of Congress and Senate electoral\nresults. So, even the Right-wing establishment  will be  in a dilemma\nnot knowing how to handle him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But hold on\nfor a minute. I must add the latest news.  The 5 a.m. news (Saturday\nmorning) says that Twitter has chopped off Trump\u2019s right hand. For the first\ntime Twitter has permanently \u2013 I repeat permanently \u2013 suspended his account\ndue to risk of further incitement of violence.\u201d This could paralyse \u2013 at least\ntemporarily \u2013 Trump who claims that he has a following of 88 million twitters.\nHe  has relied on it so much that he had dismissed the mainstream\nmedia  as irrelevant. He called them the fake news\u201d  and ridiculed\nthem because he could dish out his narrative to his loyal followers through\nTwitter. Now he is faced with a communication problem. His success depended\nsolely on manipulating the news.  Along with Twitter Facebook and\nInstagram he ran his own news programs. Now all three have cut him off. His\nlies gained currency mainly through Twitter. Furthermore, twittering has been\nhis main job when he is not watching television, or playing golf. Now he \nis  a loner, well and truly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of\nthis big blow comes the news that the Republicans are breaking  rank to\nattack him. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski has openly called for the\nresignation of the President. Lindsay Graham, one of his loyal followers, stood\non the floor of the Senate, after the mob attack, and said : It\u2019s over. The\nelection is over. It\u2019s over.\u201d If Sen. Graham thought the issue was over he was\nwrong. Trump\u2019s angry loyalists mobbed him at the airport and shouted: \u201dTraitor!\nTraitor!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worst\nis the move from both sides of the House to impeach Trump. If it happens, he\nwill set another precedent of being the  first President to be impeached\ntwice. Evidence of the President inciting the mob to unleash violence too is\nmounting. Sen. Mike Lee has recorded that at 2.26 p.m. when the mob was running\nberserk Trump had asked him to object to the certification of the electoral\nvotes. Even at that critical moment he was obsessed with the overturning of the\nelection result. Legal experts say that, in the middle of the biggest security\nthreat to the Congress, he was not concerned as the Commander-in-Chief about\nthe security and law and order of the nation but his  own fortunes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The task\nbefore Joe  Biden is monumental. America is a patient dying at the new\nrate of 20,000 a week now. That is the latest figure for the first week of\nJanuary. Trump, the Grim Reaper, is the first President who leaves behind a \nlegacy of burying the second highest number of Americans since the Civil War\nwhich claimed 600,000 victims. Trump has passed 300,000 mark.  Mercifully,\nhe has agreed to depart peacefully after desecrating the sacred political\ntemple enshrined in the American Constitution \u2013 the Holy Bible that guides\nAmerica. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last\ngamble of Trump was to resort to violence. That backfired on him. Even the\nRepublican  ranks, who were lukewarm, were shocked by the physical threat\nthat endangered their lives inside the Congress. Hopefully, he will depart\nwithout causing any havoc between now and Janaury 20 \u2013 the inauguration day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Biden\nhas his job cut out for him. He has to heal, repair, patch up, bandage,\noperate, and keep America in a nursing home until she recovers fully. To do\nthat, he may have to go for a New Deal of the Rooseveltian type. Hopefully he\nmay not have the need to sack the Supreme Court which obstructed Roosevelt\u2019s\ndeal to serve the people. Fortunately, Trump, with his swagger and bluster\nin  the last rally in Georgia,  removed the main political\nobstruction that was in Biden\u2019s path when the Republicans lost the two Senate\nseats. Biden now has the presidency and both houses of Congress in his hands\nthough the razor thin margin is still dicey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the post\n-Corvid-19 phase, the American mood will be amenable to accept Rooseveltian\nsocialism\u201d. Lifting the victims of the pandemic and poverty will strike a\nchord in the heart of America. Law-makers from both sides of the Congress will\nfind it  difficult, morally and politically, to say no the urgent needs of\nvictims of Trump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump will\ncontinue to make the headlines. Biden will have to look after the \nbreadlines. Initially there won\u2019t be much of an opposition from the Right-wing\nwhich is discredited. Their fear-mongering with cries of communism\u201d and\nsocialism\u201d  will not have the same impact as that of McCarthy \u2013 another\nlying Goebbels.  The post-Corvid-19 phase needs compassion not fear. Biden\nis expected to walk in the footsteps of Obama, particularly in healthcare. The\npandemic has created the right political climate for restoring the Obama care\nprogram. Biden has all the tools necessary to lift America from the\ndepths  of Trumpist disasters. He can\u2019t lose because he  has\nnot  other path to follow other than the  compassionate route to\nrecovery. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H. L. D. Mahindapala Democracy is fragile. It is more fragile that the window panes of the Congress that were smashed by the mob unleashed by President Donald Trump. It is the ultimate symbol of the desecration of American democracy. The world watched in horror as the misinformed, misguided, politically driven mob went berserk destroying […]<\/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-110621","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\/110621","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=110621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110621\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}