A few home truths about the US election

The more I listen to the debates and the in-house fighting within the two rival parties in the run-ups to the US election, makes me feel it is pointless making any assumptions about people at this stage, who apparently don’t appear to know just what it is that they want, especially when some of their leaders keep lying, retracting their statements and shifting their position as if they were suffering from a rectal itch.

To many Americans and the rest of the world, the sudden, serendipitous appearance of Donald Trump — a blustery, rude, abrasive, self-confident real estate businessman and billionaire — into the Republican arena seems like a bad joke, a hoax some members of the ignorant white electorate who readily respond to outrageous, abusive rhetoric are pulling on the rest of the country by feeding on their anxiety. Their creed? ‘Don’t let them take the country away from you, lads. It’s time you started to protect your country…’ When Trump discovered the blue-collar Anglo-Saxons were even denser than he thought they were — he knew he was on a good wicket. He had enough money to finance his own campaign, and didn’t owe anybody any favours.

Caricatures of Donald Trump have appeared in newspapers around the world. They depict an angry and highly disgruntled Republican frontrunner with facial contortions that suggest he has just been exposed to a variety of leaking drains. Trump has even been shown in some cartoons as a Nazi with the Fuehrer’s moustache or with the Swastika in the background. I believe Trump joined the fray primarily as a lark. He knows as much about foreign policy and diplomacy as my Aunt Nelly in Natal. But… who cares when you have a captive audience? Almost every rally of his has had violent protesters and his goons have been busy manhandling the demonstrators. In Iowa, a Sikh, Arish Singh, who wore a red turban and carried a banner on which was written ‘stop hate, was attacked. Later, he said to a news agency, “If the attacker fellow thought I was a Muslim, I have no problem with that, because we all have to stand with the Muslims and reject the hate that is being directed against them.”

So, who’s left? Ted Cruz, who is part of the cabal to unseat the real estate magnate, is trailing behind Donald Trump in second place. He is regarded by lots of Republicans as a more balanced candidate. But, he has displayed a certain immaturity in financial matters. At least, he doesn’t go around being rude and insulting women and everybody else he comes across. Marco Rubio might get much of the Latino vote in Florida after what Trump had to say about the Mexicans. But that’s not enough. That leaves Hillary Clinton whose choice of leading candidate for the Democrats was inevitable. She has been desperately trying to become president, one way or another, since 1992, and might succeed in November.

The only contender to sit in the Oval office that I like is the Jewish candidate Senator Bernie Sanders who, ever since his parents died in a concentration camp, has been agitating against all sorts of racism and bigotry in America. He boycotted Benyamin Netanyahu’s address to the US Congress and has, on more than one occasion, criticised the Israeli president for his treatment of the Palestinians. He is one of the very few friends that the Muslims in America have. Unfortunately, he is unlikely to get the Democratic nomination, mainly because of leftist leanings. At present, the contest is likely to be between Hilary Clinton who comes across as a seasoned, balanced individual and Donald Trump who is so unpredictable, he might become another thorn in the flesh of the Ashkenazi Benyamin Netanyahu.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 27^th, 2016.

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