Trump Victory Would Signal Shift in US’ Mindset from Markets to Nationalism
Neo-nationalism is the new password to political victory. In the US,
which claims to be a liberal and self-searching society, some potential
presidential candidates are calling for a New America, which is
exclusive rather than inclusive. If the slogans, issues, verbal volleys
and abrasive adjectives used by various candidates are indications, the
multiracial US society is heading for the most divisive and provocative
election campaign ever in its history. From Donald Trump to Hillary
Clinton, all contenders are unleashing personal pejoratives, while
side-stepping the reason what ails the world’s richest economy.
Unlike his
opponents, Trump is fighting the elections with his own money—he runs a
$4 billion business conglomerate. Like Modi had pilloried the New Delhi
establishment, Trump has sworn to fix the Washington cabal. It is his
totally anti-establishment, anti-Islamist, politically incorrect
attitude and posturing that has brought him huge popular ratings—not
only from white America but also from a large section of other
communities. It’s an irony that a country, which denied a visa to Modi
for over a decade, blaming him for what the American liberal elite
called the Gujarat “pogrom”, is now being asked to vote for or against
the domination of an idea which led to the shameful riots, which
followed the burning of a train carrying karsewaks in Godhra.
Never
before in the history of the US-of-A has any candidate sought electoral
endorsement as a fighter against a section of a particular community by
brazenly naming it in debates and discussions. But Trump does it
without a pause. His tweets reveal his ideological moorings—“More
radical Islam attacks today —it never ends!” “Strengthen the borders, we
must be vigilant and smart. No more being politically correct.” He
breathed fire and brimstone against America’s deal with Iran. Soon after
it was signed, Trump was the first to react with his typical frontal
attack style: “Iran humiliated the United States with the capture of our
10 sailors. Horrible pictures & images. We are weak. I will NOT
forget!” He waxed sarcastic about the Obama administration’s capacity to
face Iran. “In Iran deal we get 4 prisoners. They get $150 billion, 7
most wanted and many off watch list. This will create great incentive
for others,” he tweeted. His unconventional departure from the practiced
political paradigm has shaken his opponent’s self-confidence. Making
fun of Jeb Bush’s ad campaign, Trump commented using his Twitter handle
@realDonaldTrump on January 23, “Just watched Jeb’s ad where he
desperately needed mommy to help him. Jeb—mom can’t help you with ISIS,
the Chinese or with Putin.”
Trump’s no-holds-barred campaign has
forced the political establishment of not just in the 50 states of
America but also of other Western countries to introspect on their
limitlessly liberal policy towards religious minorities. For example,
when terrorists attacked Paris, Trump took a jibe at Europe by tweeting,
“Man shot inside Paris police station. Just announced that terror
threat is at highest level. Germany is a total mess-big crime. GET
SMART!” Even Jerry Falwell Jr of the Moral Majority, whose father was
the face of American right wing religious conservatism, endorsed Trump.
Evangelical leaders who seek to make the US a “Christian nation” by
combing conservative Christianity and governance have been flummoxed by
the fact that over half their congregation gave Trump the thumbs up. He
has both shaken and stirred the liberal establishment. Many of the
billionaire businessmen and economic savants who habitually gather for
the annually held, luxurious less-work-and-more-leisure rendezvous in
Davos were disturbed by his stand on Muslims and the US economy.
Some
Western leaders even mocked him as just an aberration in American
politics. Yet Trump remains unmoved in his resolve to polarise American
society like Modi did in India. If the latter was indirectly hinting at
sending illegal immigrants from neighbouring countries back home, Trump
wants all unwanted immigrants to be deported. If Donald Trump finally
gets the GOP nomination, it would signal a strong ideological shift in
America’s basic mindset, which is now being haunted by fear of homegrown
Islamic terror and the ISIS vow to bring the super power under Sharia
law. Its popular psyche is moving away from money and markets. Its
leaders are being forced to champion American identity and pride. The
supreme paradox is that a marketer like Trump is making the markets
irrelevant. He has given a call to American voters to put him in the
White House to “Save America” from vanishing. The species that could
face extinction if a Trump wave sweeps the country is the academically
liberal, bleeding heart classes of America, whose existence, like in the
UK, stands threatened by its own indiscriminate policy of political
correctness and fear of offending its enemies in the name of votes and
seminars.
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