Reaping the whirlwind – Jamaica Observer

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Dear Editor,

Now that the result of the US presidential election is known, the Democratic Party, and indeed politicians around the world, should be analysing the election to see what lessons can be gleaned from the demoralising defeat suffered by Vice-President Kamala Harris.

President-elect Donald Trump has secured for himself and the Republican Party the presidency, control of Congress, and possibly control of the House of Representatives. Not only did Trump win the electoral college, but he also won the popular vote as well.

With such a commanding mandate from the majority of Americans, Trump is well poised to reshape the American political landscape, in keeping with his vision for America. Trump told Americans what he intends to do and a majority of them endorsed his agenda by returning him to the White House.

Whatever happens from January 20, 2025, Americans will not be able to claim, as did many Germans after World War II, that they did not know the intentions of their leadership.

Political strategists in the Democratic Party are trying their best to understand the Trump effect and how it contributed to their routing at the polls. Presenting Trump as an existential threat to American democracy clearly did not work. The level of support Trump received from women voters also demonstrates that the abortion issue was not foremost in the minds of a majority of American women. Immigration and the cost of living, especially among the most vulnerable Americans, seem to have been the deciding factors in the Trump victory at the polls.

Harris and her team failed to convince a majority of Americans that the policies of the Democratic Party would put more money in the pockets of average Americans; reduce the price of food, fuel, and other essentials; and stop the influx of illegal immigrants at the southern border. The overwhelming support that Trump received strongly suggest that his arguments were more persuasive on the issues of the economy and immigration.

As a part of the incumbent US Government, Harris brought much of the baggage from the Joe Biden presidency into her campaign. Biden proved to be incurably tone-deaf on issues that were of great importance to many young Americans who joined their elders on the streets in protest against the unwavering support given to Israel as that nation engaged in a fully televised campaign of ethnic cleansing at best, genocide at worst, in Gaza.

Member of the US House of Representative Rashida Talib, in her memorable campaign to reverse the Middle Eastern policies of the Biden Administration, reminded Biden that the Muslim population of America would not forget his intransigence during the presidential election just concluded.

The open support of Muslims in Michigan for the Trump campaign and the subsequent loss of Michigan by the Democrats suggest that Muslims in that state were dead serious when they said that genocide was a red line and the Biden/Harris Administration needed to be punished.

Trump seemed a little bemused at the ditching of the Democratic Party by many in the Arab and Muslim communities after his controversial Muslim ban during his first term.

African and Caribbean politicians should pay close attention to what happened to the Harris campaign, especially in Michigan. Self-serving tone-deaf politics is a dead-end street. President Williams Ruto in Kenya learned that lesson the hard way, resulting in Kenyans invading their Parliament building as parliamentarians ran like roaches in the dark after a light is switched on. The Government in Mozambique may be about to learn the same hard lesson as the people of that country take to the streets in protest against election irregularities.

The COVID-19 pandemic destroyed both the lives and livelihoods of millions of people around the globe. The poor were the hardest hit during the pandemic. Income was lost as many businesses were forced to close their doors, never to reopen. The merchant class, in an effort to achieve greater profits, have been using every trick in the book to justify its price gouging. While wages seem to be stuck in concrete, the price of food, fuel, and other essentials keep rising. The poor masses of the world are mad and getting madder by the day.

The election of Trump for a second term may very well be the miner’s canary warning politicians around the globe that they are about to reap the whirlwind occasioned by tone-deaf politics that does not take into consideration the genuine needs of the masses. Many politicians across the globe are telling the starving masses to eat cake when the masses lack bread. Will politicians wait until the masses take matters into their own hands, as did the people of France during the French Revolution, or will they seek to redress the suffering of their people?

At least Trump was sensible enough to understand the angst felt by most Caucasian Americans who have been told that soon they will no longer be a majority in America. Trump has tapped into the discontent of Caucasian Americans and is speaking to that discontent in an open and fearless way. Democrats, unfortunately, do not have a leader or a programme that can electrify Caucasian America in the way that the MAGA (Make America Great Again) philosophy has.

Bernie Sanders came closest to Trump in popular appeal among a large section of the American populace. Rather than embracing “Bernie mania” at its height, the Democratic Party chose to shut down Sanders and throw its support behind Hilary Clinton. It is regrettable that Harris did not imbibe more of the Sanders spirit.

Apparently, many Americans do not care if their president is a socialist, a fascist, a narcissist, a racist, a misogynist, a sex offender, a liar, a criminal, a serial monogamist with a penchant for porn stars, or an insurrectionist. All the majority in America seem to want is a president who will put money in their pockets; keep food, fuel, and essentials cheap; and keep the current majority ethnic group in power in perpetuity.

Harris did not convince the majority of Americans about the first two wants of a majority of Americans and her ethnicity clearly mitigated against the third want.

Only time will tell the magnitude of the whirlwind that Americans will endure courtesy of their second endorsement of the MAGA agenda.

Lenrod Nzulu Baraka

rodeneynimrod2@gmail.com

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