AMERICA cast in the image of Donald Trump is a frightening picture.
There were the tariffs, then the abject humiliation of Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, the abduction of Nicolás Maduro, that shameless message to the PM of Norway, the threats to Greenland… the list goes on and will not be complete until DJ Trump leaves the Whitehouse.
The world, however should not really fear DJ Trump, but the American voter.
Trump, barring a cataclysmic collapse of the American political system, will be gone less than four years from now.
The American voter, the people who elected Trump, will remain, still entrusted with the sacred responsibility to elect the next leader of the United States.
If the American people can in a matter as serious, even existential, as choosing who leads the world’s sole superpower choose to elect someone as uniquely ill-suited to the role as Trump who is to say they will not elect a raving maniac the next time round?
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Trump is an unapologetically ignorant, self-serving, egotistic, bigoted, conceited, megalomaniac. And then there is his age….
How any democratic political process can serve him up as the most eminently qualified to lead his nation, people and the world, beggars belief.
Even the pages of the richest political satire would baulk at this prospect. America today is the laughing stock of the world.
The chaos that has reigned in America and the global stage is not really about Trump but the American voter.
America’s role in world affairs has descended from a measure of respectability to the bizarre and surreal.
But this is what the American people voted for.
After all, they had already had one term of the mayhem and lunacy of Trump, so they knew what they were getting into.
Americans have imported the foolishness and ephemerality of the cheap thrill of social media into their politics.
Trump’s second term is not even for theatre, that has its own measure of decency and permanency.
It is government for social media.
A brand of irresponsible infantile government designed to provide incessant cheap thrills and talking points that are soon forgotten when the next thrill comes along.
In return Trump gets to do pretty much what he wants with the world.
Tragically world affairs are light years apart from the schizophrenic frenzy of social media.
The American voter has chosen to ignore this fact. It is a crass irresponsibility on the part of the voter in America.
Democracy is a system of interdependent responsibilities, the greatest of which is thrust on the shoulders of the voting public.
Voters should aspire to elect someone as close to the philosopher king as possible because of the unique demands of national leadership.
That is why in the past just a hint of a scandal was enough to scuttle the political aspirations of many.
Now to elect a feckless rogue like Trump who is the antithesis of the philosopher ruler is an abrogation of the responsibility thrust upon citizens of a civilised, democratic nation.
It is a betrayal of common sense, themselves, their children and their nation’s present and future.
Does the American voter really believe that Donald Trump can bring the US and the world through a crisis like the Cuban Missile Crisis?
This flaw in the psyche of more than half of the voting public in the world’s remaining super power is what should frighten the world.
What will they not do come the next election.
In Trump they have elected a rogue.
A man with no principle, a self-serving lout who revels in having all the instruments of the most powerful nation at his disposal to serve his interests.
A man who would ordinarily stoop to any low if he had not already plumbed every depth of human depravity.
Would Americans not elect a Hitler, Stalin or Idi Amini?
Judging by the results of the 2024 elections they would.
This means that the world, in Trump, does not a have a four-year problem, but has a permanent problem of the “irrational” American voter.
What will they serve up come the next election?
America not Russia, North Korea, Iran could very well be the problem child of the world for the foreseeable future.
A problem child with unparalleled economic, political and military influence on the world.
Baby Huey drunk on egotism, exceptionalism and ignorance, blundering around on the world stage.
Given this new reality the prudent nations of the world will seek to proof themselves against the irrationality of the American voter.
The challenge for the whole world regardless of where on the divide they lie, be they a democracy or dictatorship, is to excise whatever influence America has on them.
It is not possible to relegate a financial and military superpower to irrelevancy, but every leader must be thinking in terms of reducing their country’s exposure to America.
The international community cannot afford to be caught off guard and napping by the next lunatic Americans elect in any future election.
This will be well-nigh impossible to achieve completely, but all nations must work in advance to mitigate the effects of American politics on their affairs.
The world is in need of a painful surgery to excise itself of dependency and reliance on America.
This is inevitably a painful and risky exercise but millions if not billions of lives are dependent on this; as evinced by the US’s withdrawals from multilateral institutions, science sceptism, denial of climate change and war mongering.
America has to be brought to as close to irrelevance on the world stage as is possible.
The hope is that at some point this will come back to haunt the American voter and teach them some respect for international relations, affairs and norms.
An American president cannot be elected on domestic issues alone.
At present, the average MAGA voter believes that the Uncle Sam is God, in whom the rest of the world lives and has its existence.
For them it is the world that needs to get along with DJ Trump and the US no matter how obnoxious they choose to be.
Not Trump and his America needing to get along with the rest of the world in a system built on reciprocity.
Yet getting along with and having a modicum of respect for the international community has to be a basic requirement for any leader elected in a democracy.
The US, no matter how rich and powerful, too needs the world and it remains just another member of the greater commonwealth of nations.
Throughout history there has arisen from time to time great nations that have achieved wondrous, almost miraculous feats of science, arms, social and economic development.
But all these nations’ greatness has been lost in the folds of time.
Therefore, the arrogance of the American voter at present seems to be on the wrong side of history, especially given the rise of China.
It is not the time to be riding roughshod over old friends, alliances and conventions.
China might very well be an uneasy bedfellow for most countries, but it cannot be worse than the unruly conduct of America under Trump.
- Ignatius Tsuro is a commentator on social and political issues. He writes here in his personal capacity