Abu Hena :
The Republican National Convention, 2016 was already marred by an opening floor revolt from anti-Trump delegates and other missteps by the campaign including the embarrassing plagiarism controversy created by the speech of Donald Trump’s wife Melana Trump . Then on the final day, the billionaire and reality show TV star Donald J Trump delivered the speech of his life accepting the Republican Presidential nomination, promising to restore security, clamp down on immigration and put America first. Amidst cheers from the delegates, Trump proclaimed himself “the law and order candidate in the White House race,” claiming, “I alone can fix America”. “I am your voice”, he said, promising better times with “millions of new jobs and trillions in new wealth”.
In an interview preceding the RNC he said, “We must fix our mess” before coming to the aid of our foreign partners. Under his leadership, he said, United States would first consider the contributions of the member countries to the NATO alliance before coming to their aid, and added that other member states also should begin bearing more of the defense costs borne by Washington. Asked if the US would automatically protect the Baltic States from any Russian aggression, he bluntly replied, “If they fulfill their obligations to us, the answer is yes.” Asked about the existing US commitments he said, “I would prefer to be able to continue with existing international agreements only if America was not asked to continue to pay for what he called an era of American largesse, he claimed was no longer affordable… If we decide we have to defend the United States, we can always deploy from American soil, and it will be a lot less expensive.”
Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton’s onetime rival termed the Trump candidacy as “a disaster”, asking, “is this guy running for President or dictator?” In reality Trump has the ‘Right Man’ attitude, ‘Me First’. His immodest ambition and obsessive temperament has led him to a kind of self-indulgence leaving in him a sense of “So what?” Once Trump denounced the Iraq War as “flat wrong.” But now he picked Mike Pence as his V.P. who supported the war when he was a Congressman. When asked whether he regretted his decision, Trump defiantly replied, “I don’t care.” This sense of “So what?” is dangerous. It has been at the root of many wars on record. The history of Napoleon, Frederick II and Hitler underlined the same human folly. They lacked the wisdom of restraint, the quality of mercy and the virtuosity of accommodation. A wealthy New York real estate developer, known for his starring role in a TV show, “The Apprentice”, where his catchphrase was “you’re fired”, the 70 year old Trump was a long shot when he entered the race a year ago, having never held an elected office. Within weeks of announcing his candidacy, he took a commanding lead in the race, eclipsing many top-notch Republican candidates, one of whom would be crowned on Thursday night. To accomplish this impossible feat Trump spent $ 60 million from his personal coffer.
After clinching the nomination Trump has become conscious of his own greatness and uniqueness and has begun to identify the Republican Party organization with himself. He now considers himself “gift of Grace”. In such situations any opposition is viewed as a subversive force helping the enemies. Prominence is no guarantee of security in such situations; rather the contrary. ‘The Republican Party’, a Trump top aide remarked, ‘is now the party of Trump’. Many of the Republican old guards had stayed away from the RNC, including the former Presidents George W Bush and Elder Bush, Governor Mitt Romney, Governor Jeb Bush, Governor John Kasich, Senator John McCain and Senator Mark Rubio.
RNC has given Trump monopoly power although he is just an outsider. The nomination has made his power and position impregnable within the party. Now he can use the whole network against his opponents. He showed signs of it even during the Convention. His onetime Presidential challenger Ted Cruz received a standing ovation as he took the stage, but cheers turned to boos when it became clear he would not endorse Trump. Trump himself tipped the drama needle into the red by striding into the arena shortly before Cruz finished speaking, giving a thumbs up to his supporters and surveying the unruly scene when it was thrown into turmoil and the Texan Senator was hounded off the stage. “We deserve leaders who stand for principle, who unite us all behind shared values, who cast aside anger for love”, said Cruz. “If you love our country and love your children as much as I know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience,” he said. There was nothing wrong in it. But Trump who fought a deeply personal campaign accusing Ted’s father of murder, mocking his wife and giving him a nasty nickname ‘Lying Ted’, is still intolerant of his onetime opponent. Trump’s ‘spoilt’ temperament resembles that of the communist leaders of Soviet Russia who carried out periodic ‘cleansing’ of party membership with purges leading to deportations. It’s not a puzzle any more why Trump has got endorsement from Russia’s Putin and North Korea’s dictator Kim.
To Donald Trump society is a commercial enterprise where everyone of its members is a salesman. His only motive is profit. Selfish greed, vanity and egotism motivate him to take advantage of customers as he did during the 2008 economic crisis, thus pursuing his own self-interest at the expense of the public. Profit motive has taught him to replace morality by unethical business tricks. Trump reminds us of the famous quote of Adam Smith : “We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages.” To him the impersonal nexus of the market mediates all human relationships, which makes profit and loss the ultimate criteria of human worth. The new era which brings peoples, languages, ideas and values together into globalization is unknown to Trump. He does not have the vision of the rational universe which has a human mind.
Known for his reputation for being cautious and circumspect, Collin Powell once announced, “the world marches to new drummers, drummers of democracy and the free- enterprise system.” Indeed the breakdown of the Soviet system has resulted in the sudden push towards globalization and “at the center of this revolution”, Powell declared, “America stands.” The United States, he said, has become the driving force for freedom and democracy in the world and it “stands ready to help any country that seeks peace and prosperity and a place in the sun.” Asserting America’s unique responsibility Powell stated there is no country on earth that is not touched by America. We are attached by a thousand cords to the world at large, to its oldest civilizations, to its newest cries for freedom. This means that we have an interest in every place on earth; that we need to lead, to guide, to help, in every country that has the desire to be free, open and prosperous. To Powell, America is the first “Universal Nation” offering to others a model of what is possible. Powell’s idea of the United States as a ‘ Universal Nation” is a blending of Wilson’s principles which created the League of Nations and the Atlantic Charter which led to the US-led post-war establishment of the United Nations and the new world order with the vision to free every people, “to determine its own polity, its own way of development unhindered, unafraid, unthreatened, the little along with the great and powerful.” Let this ideal be a guide to the US Presidential race 2016.
(Writer was elected MP in the 7th and the 8th Parliaments of Bangladesh, an author and columnist)
