DEMOCRATIC AMERICA IS BEING TESTED – PART I

To the world at large, America had shown a benign face for years: friendly GI Joes giving chewing gums to kids, righteous religious Americans going to many godforsaken corners of the earth to shed light and morality on native people, generous financial or material aids to poor and undeveloped countries, political leaders who talked about larger issues touching humanity. There had been sporadic incidents of violence, racism, and hatred, but America remained a generous land, a progressive nation.

It watched the U.S. presidential election in 2016, interested but detached. After all, the better candidate would prevail. And that candidate was for sure Hillary Rodham Clinton who was not just a more seasoned and experienced politician but a much more likable person, to the world, than the Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump, whose past achievements were not in politics but in real estate and a very successful TV show. Other than that, he had never said or done anything that manifested a high-minded character. In fact, he was outright and upfront racist, anti-Muslim, anti-immigration, anti-science, and dismissive of poor people and poor countries.

The world woke up to find that he defeated their likable and experienced politician by saying throughout the campaign not anything lofty but nasty things about her and about other people who were not even in the race, the same tactic he had used to defeat his opponents in the Republican primaries.

Sixty-three million Americans voted for Mr. Trump. The world was surprised.

But not the U.S.A. because half of its voters, and by projection, half of the country chose him as its leader and representative. Of course, the other half, mostly Democrats, was stunned as if driving to a premature victory in a Democratic SUV on a smooth highway, with Hillary Rodham Clinton at the driver seat, confident and cheerfully chatting, and suddenly falling into a large hole that they had not seen or expected to see. They lost the presidency, the Senate, the House and local governments. They were not completely sure but now suspected that their highbrowed progressive policies alienated one half of the country.

The world and the Democrats still maintained that it was just an accident of history. They assumed the voters, fed up with policies they disliked, sent an outsider to Washington to clean up “the swamp”.

After he had occupied the White House for four years, it was clear that Mr. Trump did not possess the attributes of a president of the U.S. and leader of the free world. He lacked managerial ability and temperament. He did not seem to pursue public interest but his own. As the head of the country, he was the proverbial bull in a China shop. Obviously, he wanted to be a dictatorial head of state, or anything easier than being president of a democratic America. Many voters saw that, so, he was defeated in 2020.

But 74,000,000 Americans voted for him. Half of the Americans still wanted him to be their president.

After a full four years of CNN trying to educate the populace on how such a character as the former president’s had inflicted damage on Democracy and the country, and how bad he was as an example for the younger generations, and four years of watching lies and dishonesty repeated again and again, 11,000,000 more Americans voted for him than in 2016.

It is a disturbing problem for Democrats, and Republicans as well, because America and Democracy are in grave danger: half of the country is in revolt.

Why?

(Next, Part II)