Always the huckster, presidential candidate Donald Trump online offers “a limited edition, official Trump watch” priced from $499 to $100,000.” Swiss-made, bearing the word “Trump” on the dial. Payment can be in bitcoin as well as dollars.
Thankfully, we’ve reached the end of a divisive, vitriolic campaign that often deteriorated into a clown show. Presidential stump speeches were peppered with lies, insults and name-calling, Donald Trump the worst offender.
Each candidate accused the other of being dangerous, incompetent and a threat to democracy. Accusations often defied what open eyes can clearly see. For example, this is the “worst economy ever,” despite 3% growth, inflation trending downwards and stock prices at record highs?
Similarly, Trump’s assertion that Joe Biden is the worst president ever? This preposterous remark overlooks President James Buchanan who stood mute as a divided country raced towards catastrophic civil war. And what about Andrew Johnson, often drunk, unable and unwilling to pursue Abraham Lincoln’s plan of post-war reconstruction and reconciliation? Others − John Tyler, Franklin Pierce, Millard Fillmore − are judged by scholars as among the worst US presidents.
Then there is Harris’s assertion that Donald Trump is a fascist, a characterisation revealing ignorance of politics in inter-war Europe. Edgar Mowrer, the Pulitzer prize-winning Chicago journalist reporting from Italy and Germany on the rise of Mussolini and Hitler, defined fascism as “a mixture of nationalism and socialism, combining the worst features of both”. Can Donald Trump be a socialist, despite his almost daily denunciations of that statist ideology?
Some substantive issues
Yes, there are some substantive issues − abortion, illegal immigration, crime and the economy. Harris wins on reproductive rights, Trump has the edge on the rest.
It defies logic that Trump is as popular as he is, given the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol and the attempt to overturn the result of the 2020 election. Two dozen cabinet officials and former allies have turned against Trump, saying he is unfit to be president. His opponents include former vice-president Mike Pence, former defense secretary Mark Esper, and former chief of staff, retired general John Kelly, who says that if re-elected, Trump would rule like a dictator.
Vice-president Kamala Harris also has negatives. She became the Democratic nominee by default when President Joe Biden in July dropped out of the race. Critics say despite denials, she remains soft on illegal immigration and crime. Respected pollster Mark Halperin says Harris is risk-averse and reluctant to offend Democrats with opposing views.
Many complain that both candidates are second-tier, that the country deserves better. Billionaire investor Leon Cooperman earlier this year compared the current candidates with America’s founding fathers.
“In 1776, the population of the United States was two and a half million people. A million were women that didn’t have the right to vote and 250,000 were slaves that didn’t have the right to vote. So, the voting population was 1,250,000. Those 1,250,000 people found Jefferson, Washington, Madison, Hamilton, et cetera. We now have 330 million people in the country. We found Biden and Trump… I don’t have to say anything else.”
Bitterly divided
Like the country, the media is bitterly divided. Trumpists and many Republicans get their news from Rupert Murdoch’s Fox. Democrats favour MSNBC, which is biased against Trump. Gone are the days when television news was regarded as objective and unbiased. Gallup organisation polling shows that public trust in the media is at an all-time low. Increasingly, people without political affiliation don’t know what to believe.
This nasty 2024 presidential campaign has revealed problems that undermine American democracy. We would do well to remember the words of Thomas Jefferson, himself a participant in the bitter, divisive presidential campaign of 1800.
“An enlightened citizenry is indispensable for the proper functioning of a republic. Self-government is not possible unless the citizens are educated sufficiently to enable them to exercise oversight.”
The views of the writer are not necessarily the views of the Daily Friend or the IRR.
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