Trump and the ‘end’ of America

“Donald Trump is fake!” “Donald Trump is a disaster for USA!”

So voters in America and people around the globe would scream about US President-elect Donald Trump during the campaigns.

And now the American progressives are in shock.

They cannot get how the society they thought they understood could wake up and vote for a “fake” and a “con”.

But Trump is not fake. Neither is he a con; he is a real and true “white” American.

He represents America’s present day voters.

He is a true representation of the American angry white men and some white women who are bitter about something they could not discuss in open daylight.

Some took offence that an African-American, Barack Obama, has been their President for two terms. This embittered them.

White women voted for him too. The more the stories of him groping women came up, the more he got fanatical support — some of it hidden — from white men and women.

Worse more, he talked ill of Latinos and some voted for him.

In other words, the more the media and the opponents denigrated him, the more he earned and ran.

The attacks and the venom spat through the media appear to have played the role of cheering him up and his group of rabid supporters.

AGAINST THE 'TIDE'

The more he was denigrated, the more he earned rabid support. He won.

Perhaps the world should have seen this coming earlier, with the Brexit.

Brexit played on almost similar ground. It was a combination of many forces.

These include hatred of immigration policies and the fear that immigrants are populating their decent schools, neighbourhoods, green environment and peace of mind.

Brexit should have been enough warning that Europe — and later America — are becoming extremely intolerant.

Yet tolerance is the foundation on which their democratic values are built.

Two, “far right” governments are rapidly gaining unprecedented influence in Europe today.

And one reason is that they are keen to keep off immigrants, and particularly the blacks and the Arabs.

The progressives in Europe and America may not admit this but this is it.

The very values on which their societies are based are clearly under attack. I will come back to this shortly.

The angry white men voted for Trump particularly because they are sick of a political system that was not responsive to their needs.

And because the polling booth is covered with curtains, they voted against everyone’s expectation.

No one could see them express their secret, all they did was to pick the ballot paper and vote with their feet, probably shouting “Hail Trump!”

This is not the first time voters in developed countries have voted against the grain.

A JADED PEOPLE

But this happens in lower level elections. Not presidential ones. It happens in local seats and especially parliamentary seats.

Denmark produced a first in 1994 when they voted for a world class comedian: a TV clown.

The voters were sick of their MPs. Many voters had observed that parliament was a big joke and they decided to take the joke a bit far.

Jacob Haugaard was a member of a group he and others had formed as a “joke”.

They called the group the Union of Deliberate Work Avoiding Elements.

Jacob decided to stand for parliament as a joke but many people decided it was serious.

I observed the elections through the help of an interpreter and watched Jacob win with a landslide.

I did not stay in Denmark for the next round of elections later in the 1990s to know whether he won. I doubt he did.

Donald Trump resembles Jacob Haugaard the Dane.

He sounded like an “idiot populist” but people elected him.

He campaigned on the opposite side of America’s ideals and values and won.

While Americans take a liberal position on everything, Trump denigrated these values and still won the election.

This is sufficient proof that the foundation of American society, and democracy itself, are gradually being shaken.

FAULTY GROUND

It is proof that democracy can produce the worst form of competitors and electoral results.

Values on the opposite side of which he campaigned include the trade policy.

While America has all along stood for “free trade” — relatively — Trump demonstrated that trade policy is what had contributed to depressed families in the mid-west.

He said that America had allowed China, Japan and others to dump goods in America.

This is what had contributed to deep inequalities, unemployment and lots of depressed and struggling families.

He promised to end this. They cheered him up, including in the states where Democrats were expected to win.

He showed little respect for liberal democratic values.

Values and principles of equality of all and respect for women were under constant attack in his campaigns.

His attacks and general disdain for blacks and women were unprecedented. All the same, they voted for him.

This shows that the foundation of the American democratic society is shaken to the core.

It also shows that American politics is fully Africanised and that it is not going to be long before we see the end of the American ideal. And there are enough signs in this respect.

First is the collapse of the traditional political party voting blocs and increased voting along racial lines.

Although western commentators always argue that in Africa political parties lack policies and that the parties form along ethnic and regional or even religious lines, Donald Trump shattered the policy foundation and the distinctive character of both the Republicans and the Democrats.

Some areas that traditionally vote for Democrats turned up to vote for the Republicans.

Although one may argue that America has institutionalised political parties, the campaigns weakened the institutional character of the parties in an unprecedented manner.

NEGATIVE EFFECT

People did not necessarily vote along distinct party policies.

They voted for reasons hidden from plain sight — mainly racism. Many wanted to make America white again!

This reveals that America is not different from Africa. In some states, it was just about the “whites” versus “blacks”.

They did not pretend. They voted on racial basis! Africa votes on ethnic basis!

For the American voter to allow this to happen shows there is something eating into the American political system.

A number of reasons account for this radical shift in America’s political values.

First, liberal capitalism is having a toll on individuals.

The idea that America is a place where everyone’s dream is fulfilled has been shattered by economic decline of the last couple of years.

The financial crisis had negative effect on individual well being — only the most crafty (like Donald Trump) would survive.

Many are bitter that the state did not insulate them from these woes.

And of course the state is built on capitalism and, therefore, could not help them.

Secondly, many have come to realise that capitalism has no distributive effects.

It allows those who are able to thrive; it derides the weak and the sick.

And because the financial crisis weakened many individuals, they certainly became contemptuous of the Obama government.

Prof Karuti Kanyinga is based at the Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi; [email protected]