{"id":60881,"date":"2016-11-22T12:24:32","date_gmt":"2016-11-22T18:24:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=60881"},"modified":"2016-11-22T05:22:11","modified_gmt":"2016-11-22T12:22:11","slug":"donald-trump-the-nationalist-messiah-from-the-wild-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/11\/22\/donald-trump-the-nationalist-messiah-from-the-wild-west\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump : the nationalist messiah from the Wild West"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

If there is one slogan that swung the political pendulum and placed Donald Trump in the presidential seat it is the one that screamed : MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. It summed up in a simple and digestible pill the pre-election plight, frustrations, and failures of America\u2019s policies \u2013 both domestic and foreign. It expressed succinctly Donald Trump\u2019s version\u00a0 of American nationalism + racism. It was also his panacea for all the\u00a0 ills of America. In his brash style he marketed his slogan which resonated well with the disillusioned voters looking for a change. Donald Trump was the right man who came from nowhere to capture the right mood of a disenchanted nation that was made to believe\u00a0 it was under siege by the alien enemies.<\/p>\n

Inherent in the catchy slogan is the admission that America had failed abroad and at home. Only a failed project \/ adventure \/ history needs to be made great again. Greatness is in being at the peak. Greatness need not be restored if it had maintained its greatness of being at the peak. For\u00a0 instance, there\u00a0 is no need to add greatness to the Himalayas. Its irrefutable\u00a0 stature is there for all to acknowledge. It is\u00a0 only if it looses\u00a0 its pre-eminent\u00a0 height that greatness has to be restored, if possible. The promise of making American great again meant, in essence, that America has failed and, therefore, the need of the\u00a0 hour was to make it great again.<\/p>\n

Underlying this cry was American patriotism. Trump convinced his compatriots that America, the indispensable\u00a0 nation\u201d of the world, was not great because\u00a0 it\u00a0 is infested with the Muslims, Latinos, homosexuals,\u00a0 the corrupt\u00a0 establishment, the\u00a0 biased media, anti-Trump women, the rigged\u201d electoral system and whoever\u00a0 else came within his sights. In\u00a0 short, he\u00a0 raised the banner for reformation and revivalism. It is a cry that went down well in the American electorate. Using this slogan he presented himself as the saviour\u00a0 of America to make it great again. And the Americans bought it, from coast to coast.<\/p>\n

His message went deep into the insecure\u00a0 psyche of the frustrated Americans. The exploding\u00a0 cities, schools, suburbia and neighbourhoods were threatening to turn the American\u00a0 dream into a nightmare.\u00a0 Terrorists both at home\u00a0 and abroad were targeting the certainties and values of American society driven almost to the edge. Besides, unfolding global events confirmed that America has entered the new age of decline. Apart from the irreversible rise of China, challenging American hegemony in the global arena, it is the failures of the Obama-Clinton administration that energised and pumped oxygen into\u00a0 Trump\u2019s slogan, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. With this slogan, Trump tapped into the roots of American nationalism, combined with a heavy dose of racism. His campaign rhetoric ruthlessly targeted the minorities making\u00a0 it clear that America belonged to the consolidated front of WARMs \u2013 the White American Right-wing Males. And he won!<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s victory is proof of the power of grass root politics. His campaign\u00a0 is remarkable for stripping all the cant with\u00a0 which America\u2019s image\u00a0 of a liberal society was clothed. He turned himself into a one-man\u00a0 juggernaut that ran\u00a0 over all those who stood\u00a0 in his way.\u00a0 Human rights, minority rights, the rigid establishment, theoretical academics, mega millions of the well-oiled Clinton machinery, and even sections of the Republican Party were swept away in Trump\u2019s tsunami of down-to-earth politics. Not even the Tamil coconuts of Jaffna, dashed to invoke the blessings of Tamil gods, could stop the epic Odyssey of Trump that triumphed all the way to the White House. As an aside, it should be noted that\u00a0 the gods have once again rejected the Tamil fantasies by defeating Clinton. .<\/p>\n

The Obama-Clinton administration must take full responsibility for their failure. They had dug their grave abroad more than at home. Obama had rescued the economy from one of its greatest falls and was climbing\u00a0 back, slowly but surely. But like all imperialist masters, they believed that America\u2019s interests abroad can be served best by replacing the anti-American status quo with pro-American stooges. The failure of planting stooges is a lesson they never learnt from the time CIA engineered the murder of Dinh Diem, the Catholic stooge they installed in Buddhist Vietnam. When things don\u2019t go the American way they do not hesitate to eliminate their political mates swiftly. Or change the regime. Or buy deals like in Iran which are, at best, dicey gambles that can give some breathing\u00a0 space for some time.<\/p>\n

Trump painted Hillary Clinton as the mother of all American disasters. Each time Trump went for\u00a0 her the crowd responded by yelling : Lock her\u00a0 up!\u201d Like her foreign\u00a0 policy she misread the election campaign.\u00a0 She was either caught napping\u00a0 on the job (Where\u00a0 the hell was she when the Libyans were killing American diplomats?), or backing the wrong\u00a0 horse. Example: At the critical moment when the Sri Lankan forces were on the verge of crushing the Tamil Tiger terrorists she went\u00a0 all out to save them by putting pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL). Her private e-mails reveal that\u00a0 she\u00a0 was\u00a0 turning the screws on the\u00a0 IMF to stop funding\u00a0 GOSL. As usual she\u00a0 backed the wrong\u00a0 horse. Nor\u00a0 did the\u00a0 coloured revolutions\u00a0 that began in Tunisia turn out\u00a0 to be roses. Hilary had to pay dearly for her Libyan disaster. What has America and UK got\u00a0 in return for regime change in Libya?<\/p>\n

Regime change became\u00a0 the standard strategy of Obama-Clinton administration. The Middle Eastern instability that is spinning out of American control today is the result of Obama-Clinton\u2019s regime changes gone awry. Of course, it began with Bush\u2019s messy invasion of Iraq. Obama-Clinton administration refined it, reinforced it, and pursued it to the bitter end, leaving a legacy that had dragged down America to its flat bottom. After Obama-Clinton failures there was nowhere to go except up. Trump\u2019s slogan MAKE AMERICA GREAT captured the despair and the frustrations of the American public who saw no way out of\u00a0 the Americans sliding down the greasy pole.<\/p>\n

This slogan was not confined to politics. It extended to economic nationalism too. On the one\u00a0 hand, it\u00a0 meant keeping\u00a0 the Mexicans, the Muslims and other selected aliens out of America. And, on the other, it meant keeping\u00a0 the\u00a0 jobs, American capital, and American investors at home. The Mexican Wall, like the Chinese Wall, became the highest symbol that was going to keep the alien hordes out of America and save the economy, ensure security and protect purity of American values threatened by aliens. The Mexican Wall became the shining symbol of Trump\u2019s politics. It signified his willingness to do the repugnant and the unthinkable to save America. Primarily, he played on the security of Americans which, he said, was threatened on all fronts. He went all out to play his unconventional cards to beat all conventional politics of Washington. He provided his\u00a0 own media coverage by shooting\u00a0 from the\u00a0 hip, a la<\/em><\/strong> John Wayne. He took the road that was less travelled \u2013 and that made all the difference.<\/p>\n

The commentariat see him repeating successfully the new wave of anti-globalisation movement that took Britain out of EU. The\u00a0 new nationalism\u00a0 is essentially economic, rebelling against globalisation. As in Brexit, the people are recoiling from threats to\u00a0 their sovereignty, identity and\u00a0 security. Donald Trump led a movement of economic nationalism which was anathema to even the Republican establishment. At a time when globalisation meant free flow\u00a0 of capital and labour across\u00a0 borders he led a movement to build walls. He is the\u00a0 new messiah of nationalist\u00a0 capitalism. He aims to renegotiate the borderless order of globalisation. A billionaire who built\u00a0 his fortune on Chinese steel, cheap Mexican labour, and cutting deals with foreigners\u00a0 is\u00a0 now planning to do a U-turn. He has already declared that his first job on the first day in offiice will be to cancel the TransPacific Partnership deal (TPP).<\/p>\n

Can he achieve his ambitious\u00a0 goal? Well, the fears of UK crumbling after Brexit have vanished. Economic nationalism\u00a0 has cleared its first hurdle. Trump\u2019s economic nationalism\u00a0 may prove to be the turning point to make America great again. Let\u2019s face it, Trump has been a gambler and he has been on a non-stop winning streak. Whether we like it or not, Trump\u2019s journey from nowhere \u2013 without\u00a0 even his Party\u2019s support at one\u00a0 stage \u2013 to the peak of political\u00a0 power is an astounding\u00a0 phenomenon. Normally it\u00a0 is the party that carries the\u00a0 candidates to victory. But this time\u00a0 round, it\u00a0 was Trump that carried the Party to victory. He swept\u00a0 the board. It was a\u00a0 one-man show.<\/p>\n

The style and the\u00a0 substance belonged to Trump – and to him alone. It was crude. It was rough. It was blunt but the masses\u00a0 lapped it up as if\u00a0 it was manna from heaven. His message, his confident\u00a0 tone and his messianic attitude resonated well with the voters that took him to power. Looking back\u00a0 it is seems that Trump was the messiah that America\u00a0 was waiting\u00a0 for. He articulated all their frustrations and\u00a0 aspirations. He is the street fighter who took on the\u00a0 elitist\u00a0 establishment\u00a0 dressed\u00a0 in Emperor\u2019s clothes and beat them hollow.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0 short, the Americans have embraced him as the messiah who would take them to the promised land. His followers have implicit faith in him. By and large, they are the WARMists who are bent on taking American back to its basic roots. Trapped in his\u00a0 own creation, Trump has little room to deviate from the promises he made \u2013 all of which were defined by him. His success is due not only to his remarkable ability to define America his way but also to plot his\u00a0 political path to victory on his terms. How far deep he can go from where\u00a0 he is now depends on the unforeseen forces that will confront Trump on\u00a0 his way forward and trip him. Can he, for instance, make America great again without building porous walls? Sooner or\u00a0 later, someone in his camp will, no doubt, remind him\u00a0 of the memorable lines of Robert Frost: Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, \/ That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, \/ And spills the upper boulders in the sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

He is bound find out\u00a0 that his\u00a0 idiosyncratic but populist answers he handed out\u00a0 to the cheering crowds in the campaign may not be valid when\u00a0 he sits down\u00a0 to face the nitty-gritty in his Oval Office. Translating\u00a0 promises into reality has been bane of all politicians. Can he, for\u00a0 instance, make America great again by dismantling the time-tested global alliance put together in the post-WWII decades? Can he withdraw into Fortress America\u201d abandoning the traditional allies to fend\u00a0 for themselves? Is he going\u00a0 to abandon the far-flung American empire, with nearly 1,000 bases girdling\u00a0 the globe? Isn\u2019t America\u2019s greatness in the global theatre dependent on the greatness of its allies?<\/p>\n

The ideological Trump who went over the top in the campaign will have to tone down the aggressive rhetoric and, no\u00a0 doubt, come down to viable pragmatism.<\/p>\n

If he shot like an arrow from the back of nowhere straight to the White House the next phase is not\u00a0 going to be that smooth. The hard liners he has appointed so far to his Cabinet indicate\u00a0 that\u00a0 he is gearing\u00a0 up for\u00a0 the gruelling battles awaiting him round the corner. Some see him as a loose\u00a0 cannon.\u00a0 Apart from his unpredictability, he seems to be obsessed with his mission of making America great again\u201d. Therein lies the rub. In an ominous \u2013 or is it imperial? \u2013 statement he has sworn to make Mexico pay for the wall that is going to protect America. Is there a message in this for the rest of the world? He is declaring that even the long\u00a0 time\u00a0 allies will now\u00a0 have to\u00a0 pay their share if they want to be America\u2019s friends and partners. In Trump\u2019s world there is no such thing as a free lunch. Someone, of course, will have to pay to make America great again. Being the hard-nosed businessman Trump\u2019s declared policy is to demand for his pound\u00a0 of flesh.<\/p>\n

Is the post-Obama\u00a0 world ready to pay all the way to make Trump\u2019s America great again? Why should the world be made to pay for the self-inflicted\u00a0 wounds of America?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

H.L. D. Mahindapala If there is one slogan that swung the political pendulum and placed Donald Trump in the presidential seat it is the one that screamed : MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. It summed up in a simple and digestible pill the pre-election plight, frustrations, and failures of America\u2019s policies \u2013 both domestic and foreign. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60881","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\/60881","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=60881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}