1. White supremacy
The Republicans hated Obama- a white-hot form of anger that is now directed at all Democrats, regardless of race, creed or color. What they found particularly objectionable was that they let an outsider take over the reigns of power right under their noses, on their watch. It was, after all, their country, built upon their values and traditions. America belonged to White Anglo-Saxon Protestants - WASPS - the rest of the population were just tourists. Though objectionable, It’s not so hard to understand their perspective - every country has their version of it, the elite who feel they own the land and have eminent domain over the running of it. Trump was thrust into office as a visceral response to their predecessors’ “political correctness”, and now, having tasted the blood of victory, they are going to fight tooth and nail to retain their position at the head of the table. They know times have changed and the demographics don’t favor it anymore in a fair fight, which is why they have the other three supporting legs.
2. Big business
It’s often thought that big business is the tail that wags the government. This is wrong. Big business is the dog; the government is the tail. It’s only meant to look like it’s the other way round so that “democracy” is believable. Again, this is not a problem unique to America. The entire planet is unduly influenced by a handful of powerful people and institutions, which outlast leaders, administrations, and nation states themselves. What big business loves about Trump is his willingness to let them have the run of the house without even putting up appearances. Usually they have to follow some basic rules - not peeing on the rug or chewing the slippers - but any notion of decorum has been snuffed out in this Presidency. Every cabinet secretary under Trump has been perfectly cast to ensure that his or her department is made completely ineffective. Any one such official would have stood out like a sore thumb, but it’s a brilliant strategy when you do it en masse with every one of them. With the open support of big business, the Presidency of the United States will be Trump’s best business venture yet - much more lucrative than casinos, hotels, universities and steaks. Why cheat at one hand when you can fix the whole card game.
3. Evangelicals
For anyone who doesn’t understand American evangelicals, it’s about one thing: the end of times. The sole obsession of the Bible Belt with Israel is that the rapture is prophesized to destroy all unbelievers in the ancient land of Jesus, while simultaneously raising all true Christians to salvation. This simple but absolute belief is the underlying tenet of all American born again Christians. The Jews have happily played along, never mind that it does not end well for them. Make hay while the sun shines, is their motto, we’ll worry about the rest later. More than any other modern era American leader, Trump has followed the apocalyptic playbook to the T, restoring Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and vanquishing their sworn enemies. While Trump wasn’t the author of Islamophobia- the Saudis have to take equal blame for that - he certainly has come along at the right place and the right time, just when the Europeans, the Indians, the Chinese and it seems everyone else has had about as much as they can take of so-called “Islamic Extremism”, particularly the Wahhabism that the Saudis have specialised in peddling to poorer Muslim nations. The fear of this insidious ideology has been successfully exploited by Trump and other Nationalists all over the World, and become a rallying cry for them at the polls.
4. Vote rigging
To call the American electoral system gerrymandered would be a gross understatement. The red states in the middle have an overwhelmingly disproportionate representation in America’s “democracy”, most notably in the legislative branch. South Dakota, with 500,000 residents, sends the same number of Senators (2) to Congress as 40 million Californians. The electoral college is the epitome of convoluted political acrobatics that assures an all or nothing assignment of the entire vote bank from the thinnest sliver of margins (just ask Hillary about Wisconsin in 2016). It’s amusing to watch Republicans tying themselves into knots justifying the unjustifiable when confronted with common sense alternatives such as a simple majority, but what’s not funny is that this system ensures that Trump and the Republican Party will win election after election despite losing the popular vote time after time. And, the longer they remain in power the more they are going to nudge the goalposts in their favor, further skewing the mandate of the voters away from their desired representation. Even this is too much for Trump, he’s just as soon turn it into a dictatorship if he had his way. In his re-electron rallies the best selling t-shirts have him winning 2020, then Ivanka winning 2024 and 2028, Jared winning 2032 and 2036 and so on and so forth.
So buckle up, folks, Trump isn’t going anywhere. Even if he did lose - which he won’t - he’d just decry it as “fake news” anyway. Sad !
* This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
