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October 31, 2020, 7:45 p.m.
USA and Donald Trump
:
Deselect!
.
.
Donald Trump has done inestimable damage to democracy and the US-built world order in four years. Now the Americans decide - and they really have no choice.
Commentary by Stefan Kornelius https://twitter.com/gast5502/status/1322621077466583040
USA and Donald Trump
:
Deselect!
.
.
Donald Trump has done inestimable damage to democracy and the US-built world order in four years. Now the Americans decide - and they really have no choice.
Commentary by Stefan Kornelius https://twitter.com/gast5502/status/1322621077466583040
There is no need to argue for a long time about the balance sheet for the four Trump years. From day one, this president could not be measured by the conventional standards of success and failure, so there is little to balance in the classic sense.
Donald Trump destroyed the idea of ​​the presidency and instead created an irritating new political cosmos. That is what makes the past few years so shockingly unique.
Indeed, the most important feature of this term of office is destruction - which now, in the end, seems to lead to exhaustion. Trump himself seems exhausted, his clan is exhausted, the US and the world are exhausted.
John F. Kennedy urged Americans to give up for their country. Trump has only taken from his country. It emaciated the USA and the world as well - emotionally, politically, economically, ideologically. The US is more polarized than it was four years ago.
40 percent of voters in both camps no longer understand the other side. All indicators of sound government action are pointing down, the country's institutions are in the dust. Most recently, Corona has brought endless suffering to the USA, also and above all through the words
and deeds of the President. Outside the United States, Trump's unpredictability has brought an ever-dissolving world order to the brink of collapse.
The willingness to be brought into line in the Trump system has autocratic traits.
The willingness to be brought into line in the Trump system has autocratic traits.
There was much speculation about the president's health, because the extent of irrationality, the inability to reflect and the unleashed machine of lies seemed only explainable through the depths of the human psyche. More shocking than the psychology of this person, however, is
the fact how easily large parts of the population and the leadership in the USA let themselves be absorbed by Trump's cloud of mind.
One should not use this term lightly, but: The willingness to be brought into line in the Trump system has autocratic traits.
One should not use this term lightly, but: The willingness to be brought into line in the Trump system has autocratic traits.
The degree of subordination in parliament, the cabinet and the judiciary, the indifference to the destruction of the democratic order, the never-ending violation of the system of values ​​and rules: all of this was considered impossible four years ago.
The fact that American democracy did not collapse is thanks to the tenacity of the system, resistance from the media and the public and, ultimately, Trump himself, who is a lousy autocrat. The work of destruction is nevertheless considerable.
When Trump came into office, he was given a few months. Impeachment did not seem necessary - the man would fix himself. The opposite has happened. Collectivism has kept Trump in office, a mass phenomenon that can otherwise only be observed in authoritarian systems.
This is perhaps the most important lesson of the four years: Democracies are endangered entities; Open societies can be manipulated and are weak, they can change direction like a flock of birds at lightning speed - without realizing what actually steered them.
If Trump is re-elected, the US could fall apart internally
Promises of salvation, illusions, the seductiveness of the masses - history knows extreme examples of the abuse of power. Donald Trump is now adding an episode to this series.
Promises of salvation, illusions, the seductiveness of the masses - history knows extreme examples of the abuse of power. Donald Trump is now adding an episode to this series.
Now the fictionality of "Great again" and "America first" is getting lost in the pandemic. The truth is: Seldom has the US been so battered internally, never has America's role in the world been so threatened.
