Trump 2- A Week Without ‘Mercy'

Inaugurations of US Presidents are always a huge exercise in triumphalism. They don’t just celebrate their victory but subtly discredit the losing party. It is said: “contempt is a dangerous way to lead a country”.

Visible signs of that are already happening. Many Americans, notably, migrant workers, live in fear not knowing if they will be instantaneously made redundant in their jobs, as many are being herded out of the USA, and cruelly separated from their families. To think, these are the very people who kept the MAGA (Make America Great Again) flag aloft with blood sweat and tears.

Yesterday, a telling picture on social media showed deserted fields simply because American workers could not be swapped for the Mexicans. The Mexican, it must be underlined, came to do back-breaking work in the early hours each day before the sun rises, and leave after it goes down. There is no substitute working force accessible in the near horizon or in the distant future.

Trump wants a wall built to stop the illegal migration of unskilled workers. As David Bier of the CATO Institute points out, one of Donald Trump’s presidential accomplishments in his last term was constructing hundreds of miles of wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Joe Biden later plugged “holes” in Trump’s wall. Trump must not bother. A few miles won’t fix what hundreds of miles already failed to. It’s time to plainly admit his wall did not work then, and will not now.

He (and his tarnished predecessor) had, after all, pardoned a huge number of people who could be counted as criminals. Migrant workers are not. They contribute labour and wealth to the country. Yes, there may be those who indulge in crime and sell drugs. He believes that it is the Mexican and Latin American migrants who bring drugs and pollute the environment. Rather than acknowledge that the US is the most potent lucrative market for drugs because of its unequal and materialistic social structure, he plants the blame on ‘the other’.

Trump started at breakneck speed. He signed 46 presidential actions on the day he took office on January 20. Including staffing announcements, Trump’s Cabinet nominations in various categories, 26 were executive orders, 12 memorandums, and four proclamations.His multiple press interactions intended to exhibit his quick triumphs.

Israel is cocking a snook and bombing indiscriminately- although at a slower pace in Gaza. They are shooting in the West Bank with vengeance. The Gaza ceasefire is largely holding, but now comes the feared quid pro quo of a quiet Trump-Netanyahu agreement carving up or seizing the West Bank. Certainly, Mike Huckabee, the next Ambassador to Israel will offer little to no caution as he approaches Israel in what he terms a “Judea and Samaria” stance.

At best, Trump and Huckabee will inadvertently hasten a one-state solution with equal rights for all. At worst, Israeli apartheid will become even more entrenched for years to come.

Trump prides himself as a ‘no-war’ President. He promised an end to hostilities in Gaza and made it happen. That was a promise which Biden could have concluded 13 months ago but allowed tens and thousands to die.

Ukraine too now has an uncertain future. Putin and Trump are political allies because, after all, politics makes strange bedfellows. It seems that as of now the bind will hold and Russia will get its way. Trump called Zelensky the most corrupt man ever. His political legitimacy has faded. He is now damaged goods. When that happens, everybody wants to disown you. Zelensky, who once thought he would be in NATO and destroy Putin now finds that the boot is on the other foot.

Trump wants Canada to become the 51st State of the USA and Canadians are amused. Greenland has asked Trump to stop his daydreams. And the threat to retake the Panama Canal is typically imperialistic. Will 1989 see a repeat? Panama is rattled being a more vulnerable power. The fact is that the Chinese are not fishing in troubled waters, nor is there validity to the claim that US ships are overcharged when they cross the channel.

There is disquiet in the US itself. For, even though Trump by a convincing margin, in the Swing States and got a majority in the Congress, all is not well or intact, except for Trump’s impudence and conceit. He has vowed to get the deep State disempowered – that’s welcome anywhere in the world. But the equally loathsome band of wealthy and powerful oligarchs led by Elon Musk is hardly a better option. Musk paid Trump's campaign bills with a generosity hitherto unmatched. Capital is always invested with an eye of profit and Musk will claim his dues. He is frequently talked about being the ‘real’ President or, in the least, the power behind the throne.

Wealth and power are tied to contempt and pride. And, pride goes before a fall. Thankfully, the US media has many parts, some of which are not merely free, but tough and take an infinitesimal view of things. One recalls the Nixon-Kissinger era. Here were two political luminous ideologues. Public scrutiny brought Nixon down in disgrace, although he was an atypical political brain. Trump is nowhere by comparison. So what might the future be? Can unilateralism keep flowing undeterred? Or will there be a rush to halt Trump in his tracks.

Contempt is viewed as a dangerous way to lead a country’- a sermon at the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in the City and Diocese of Washington.The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde, Episcopal bishop of Washington, was undeterred the presence of the country’s most powerful people in her audience. She remained admirably calm and defiant. She decided that she had to ‘speak truth to power’.

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The sermon was directed at Trump. The Bishop has been under attack, receiving death threats. Trump has demanded an apology from her and the Church. She has refused, saying in her gentle way that she does not think that to ask for mercy for the people is a crime.

Ranjan Solomon is a writer and activist. The views expressed here are the writer’s own.