Republican presidential candidate and former US president Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party in Nashua, New Hampshire. Photo / AP
Republican presidential candidate and former US president Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party in Nashua, New Hampshire. Photo / AP
OPINION
Dear America,
I write this letter to all Americans, though I know none of you will read it. Nevertheless, I feel compelled.
Democracy has a longer history than the US, but your country has embodied it more than any other. During the Cold War, you gave hope to millionsunder totalitarian rule.
We all know you are far from perfect, and for many democratic nations like mine – I live in New Zealand – you have some baffling policies and views, but are still the biggest beacon of democracy in the world.
When Donald Trump became your president, most of us living in democracies shuddered. He was clearly popular in your country but in other democratic states, as surveys made clear, he was viewed dimly.
Personally, I was less worried about Trump than many, as I had faith the institutions you have in place – give or take, the same institutions all of us living in democracy enjoy – would constrain his totalitarian instincts.
And I was right. They did. Just. The world watched on in shock as the January 6 rioters stormed the Capitol.
Chants to hang Mike Pence were scarcely believable. These things don’t happen in democracies; they don’t happen in America. But the drama and jeopardy of that day were the least of it.
Donald Trump stands with Mike Pence. Photo / Getty Images
Trump didn’t just deny the election result, while offering no credible evidence to any court - he set about attempting to overturn the election by establishing false electors and seeking people to “find votes”. It wasn’t just an attack on your country, it was an attack on the very foundation of democracy.
These actions are so astonishing that any other modern democratic country would have labelled Trump a terrible stain on the history of that country. But not yours, it would seem.
You look set to re-elect him, at the very least to run for President, and perhaps even to the very office he defiled.
The Republican Party – the Grand Old Party – has become, and I apologise if this is rude – a cult. If Reagan could see it now, my goodness, what would he think?
Don’t get me wrong, the Democrats have a well-meaning but dreadfully infirm president, and the fringes of their party are as absolutely nutty as the fringes of the Republicans.
But Trump, Trump is something else entirely. He is a threat to the very fabric of the things you – and we – represent.
Trump isn’t always wrong, of course - ensuring the security of the US border is eminently sensible. Every country has a right and responsibility to control its borders. But even in that, he showed his hubris by suggesting Mexico would pay for the border wall.
Oh, how he lies. Not just in the usual ways that politicians bend the truth – he is so dishonest with the truth it’s nearly impossible to believe anything he says.
By his own reckoning, Trump is the greatest on damn near any topic. He’s said he knows more about Isis than US generals, so it’s no surprise he said he knows more about military drones, too. Which in itself is hardly surprising, because he once claimed to know more about technology than any other human.
Yet the man is obsessed with how well he did on a simple aptitude test. I mean, c’mon, this is absurd, right?
And while from afar, in countries like mine, we focus a lot on this buffoonery, I have to accept the compelling attributes that have made him successful and now powerful. He has captured the imagination, nay, the souls, of millions of you.
Swathes of you will believe black is white and night is day, if Trump says it’s so. He once said he could stand on a street and shoot somebody and not lose any votes. That was seen as a silly boast at the time. It was the most truthful thing he’s ever said.
Soon, he may again control an army full of guns.
I was right in believing state institutions would protect against Trump when he was elected in 2016. If he wins this year, I no longer believe they will. And that is terrifying, not just for the US, but for all of us.
Having served once, Trump now has the knowledge to influence, by appointment of idiot acolytes, the very institutions of the checks and balances of the state. He won’t just change policies, which would be his right, but the very fabric of your country - and greatly dim the beacon of democracy.
Outwardly looking, his desire to turn his back on democratic allies and bolster authoritarian regimes is spelled out and horrifying. He’s not just a threat to your country, he’s a threat to principles and a way of governing that we all believe in.
My US friends, what on earth are you doing?
Yours faithfully, Jarrod (a concerned human who enjoys the great privilege of democracy).
Dr Jarrod Gilbert is the director of Independent Research Solutions and a sociologist at the University of Canterbury.
