How did it come to this? The world teeters on a precipice as a former American President seeks to snatch back the reins of power, possibly without breaking any windows or ransacking anybody’s office this time. But here we are – days out from an election in which Donald Trump is the nominee of a mainstream political party as opposed to being the guy that works Mondays and Thursday in the laundry of a medium-security correctional facility and who shares a room with a guy named ‘Pitbull’. Go figure.
With thirty-four felony counts to his name, Donald Trump is now the ultimate conviction Politician. Weirdly, no one in his party suggested that the Donald should respond to his status as a convicted felon by dropping out of the Presidential race. In contrast, his former opponent (and current President) spaced out in a debate, and suddenly ‘fitness to serve’ was a major issue. None of it makes sense.
When a candidate for high office in America is not travelling too well, they don’t simply pack it up. Rather, they ‘suspend’ their campaign. Donald Trump, however, seems to be able to inspire people to suspend disbelief. You can forensically collect evidence and present it in a clear and methodical manner, only for it to be dismissed with a single word. Whenever words like ‘hoax’, ‘fake’, ‘rigged’ or ‘witch hunt’ are uttered, it’s an invitation to disengage with facts and, instead, assert your own reality as the truth.
I sometimes think that Donald Trump didn’t leave reality television to get involved in politics; he dragged politics to reality television. On one level, I can see why he might appeal to some people – the whole bin-fire catastrophe that is his every public appearance is perversely entertaining. On another level, it’s difficult to see how anyone, much less millions of people, can take him seriously.
When the insurrection occurred on 6 January, 2021; I assumed that would be the end of him. That’s usually the price for attempting to overthrow democracy. Now he refers to those imprisoned for their actions on that day as ‘hostages’. I’m not entirely convinced that Donald Trump knows what the word ‘hostage’ means. But whatever the constraints on his vocabulary, he has defied logic and political orthodoxy by doing and saying things on a daily basis that would instantly kill the political aspirations of anyone else. Seemingly indestructible, he’s the Keith Richards of American politics.
The constant references to Hannibal Lecter are bewildering. At least by referring to him as ‘the late, great Hannibal Lecter’, Trump is proving that he knows Hannibal can’t be appointed to his cabinet, even if he’s unaware that he’s a fictional character. Which is also true of Hannibal Lecter.
It’s fair to say Trump has gone low, especially when it comes to immigrants. The whole ‘they’re eating the dogs’ thing was immediately debunked but that hasn’t been enough to stop it being spewed forth with what is now monotonous regularity. It’s as though by repeating the lie, he’s hoping to make fact-checking redundant by drowning it in a sea of perfidious claptrap. More recently, he’s started referring to his own country as a ‘garbage can’ because of immigration. It’s about as far away from ‘give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses’ as it’s possible to get.
He’s obsessed with Vladimir Putin. Which is strange because the United States and Russia were once enemies. Such was the enmity between them that Sting felt the need to intervene with his song ‘Russians’. It was a tune that took the world to the brink of annihilation until both sides realised that they had something in common – namely, neither of them liked Sting that much. The Cold War ended a short time later.
But, for Trump, dictators like Putin are potential BFFs. If Taylor Swift hadn’t endorsed Kamala Harris, there’s no doubt Donald Trump would have casually slipped a Taylor friendship bracelet into the next muffin basket he sent over to the Kremlin.
His campaign mimics autocracies. The Iraqi government once has a spokesperson whose job it was to speak to the press and talk up regime in the grimmest of circumstances. He did this with a rhetorical flourish so grand and silly that he earned the nickname ‘Comical Ali’. Two decades on, and Donald Trump’s spokesperson has described Bob Woodward – of ‘Watergate’ fame – as ‘deranged’, Anthony Fauci as a ‘liar and a fraud’ and a four-star general as having ‘beclowned’ himself. I didn’t even know that ‘beclowning’ was a thing.
There’s a video. Back in 2008 when Barack Obama bested John McCain, the then-president made an announcement. At the time, George W. Bush was derided by many as something of a dunce, the ultimate nepo-baby. But the speech he gave was beautiful. It met the moment. It drew people together. It seems almost unimaginable in the current climate. Go and find it on YouTube. It’s how things are meant to be done.