#BTEditorial – Should we be worried for the United States?

The United States of America has always been viewed as the world’s leading light when it comes to demonstrating the highest ideals of democracy. The US was the world’s “gold standard” or so we thought.

But it has become quite clear that what we are currently witnessing in the US is the steady and shameless dismantling of democracy as we know it.

There are many Americans who may argue that the ‘tragedrama’ unfolding each day in that country is a wholly domestic issue to which the rest of us ought not be concerned or to interfere.

Truth be told, very few world leaders have uttered a word of condemnation, preferring to watch silently from the sidelines of the spectacle.

Yes, it is a domestic issue. However, the stain of the actions of the 45th president, his acolytes and associates are not only tarnishing the image of the US, their actions and words are akin to providing the kryptonite that bad actors long for to weaken those who dare to stand up for democratic principles.

Highly regarded Republican statesman and former United States President Ronald Reagan in a 1983 speech said: “We’re not trying to create imitations of the American system around the world. There’s no simple cookbook recipe for political development that is right for all people, and there’s no timetable.”

He added: “Speaking out for human rights and individual liberty and for the rule of law and the peaceful reconciliation of differences, for democratic values and principles, is good and right. But it’s not just good enough. We must work hard for democracy and freedom.”

We in the Caribbean, who operate in the backyard of the United States should be deeply worried about the messages that have emanated from the one-term president. He openly courts the strongman, totalitarian style of government and coddles politicians with those tendencies .

The US presidential election has been done and dusted since November 2020.  While most Americans and the world have moved on,  2022 still finds Donald Trump obsessing with the false notion that he was the rightful winner, and that President Joe Biden is an illegitimate leader.

We caution that too many people have made the mistake of laughing off the rhetoric of the former reality television star- turned politician as just buffoonish, egotistical  antics.

But Trump, like the animal who has tasted blood, is no longer satisfied with the bland diet he is forced to accept that is bereft of the power and leverage he once enjoyed in the White House.

If a brooding former president were all we had to contend with, he would be easy to ignore. No. He has become an angry man with thousands of worshippers who are prepared to follow his instructions, no matter how dangerous they may be.

The events of January 6, 2021 when Trump’s riotous mob descended on Washington, should have been a wake-up call. Admittedly, it was such a shocking event that most people are still struck by the fact that these events occurred in the United States of America and not some unstable South or Central American country.

As America prepares for mid-term elections and then the race towards the 2024 presidential poll, it seems Mr Trump’s rhetoric is becoming more and more dangerous.

At a campaign styled event last weekend the former president vowed that his Republican party would investigate President Biden and his family with the threat of jail if he is re-elected to office.

But he also sent an ominous message to those investigating possible criminality by him, his family and businesses.

Of the two black women investigating Trump and those around him, he told his supporters: “If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington DC, in New York, in Atlanta and elsewhere because our country and our elections are corrupt.”

And in an effort to rile up his base and stoke anger among them for a cause that is entirely his, Trump added:  “In reality, they’re not after me, they’re after you, and I just happen to be the person in the way.”

With that level of manipulation, one can understand why his supporters felt they needed to attack the Capitol building to prevent the installation of President Biden.

From the White House, Trump’s actions were described as “[representing] a unique and existential threat to our democracy”.

We can only hope that the various organs of democracy operating in the United States, will ensure that the bastion of democratic principles does not become the kind of republic it warned the world against.

As John Deane, who served disgraced former president Richard Nixon, tweeted on the weekend: “Failure to confront a tyrant only encourages bad behaviour. If thinking Americans don’t understand what Trump is doing and what the criminal justice system must do, we are all in big trouble!”