Over the past several months, Donald Trump has received immense criticism for the many Draconian measures that he’s been pushing for in his bid for presidency. As a result, establishment politicians and the mainstream media have been instrumental in the fight against Donald Trump's campaign. Some of the more infamous policies that he’s received immense backlash for are the Muslim database he's expressed a desire to implement and his plans to build a giant wall on the border between the U.S. and Mexico to prevent "illegal" immigrants from crossing over. His proposals have been accompanied by well documented Islamophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic and outright racist remarks and gestures.
As a result, many well-meaning American citizens, mainly liberals, have once again resorted to the oft-professed philosophy of dealing with a lesser of two evils—in this case, Hillary Clinton—in order to prevent a greater evil, Donald Trump. However, this line of thinking presumes that Donald Trump is a unique evil proclaiming untapped dangerous ideas that should and never have seen the light of day in the U.S. government. Essentially, the assumption is that although establishment politicians are known to be corrupt and greedy, they would never resort to the low levels of human indecency that Trump has proven to be susceptible to. These liberals constantly share the many condemnations that Trump has received from both parties to supplement their argument that he's an evil so great that disapproval of him has bi-partisan agreement from Democrats and Republicans in a country universally known for its lack of bipartisanship on anything. Even liberal hero Bernie Sanders has recently exclaimed his willingness to vote for Hillary Clinton with the main reason being to prevent Donald Trump from getting elected into office.
To many like Sanders, Trump’s rhetoric is more dangerous than the active measures that many politicians have already undertaken that have ruined the lives of many people within America and abroad. The impression the public is receiving from the unity of Capitol Hill against Donald Trump is that the possibility of a Trump presidency is so catastrophic to the country's values that politicians all of a sudden have the moral conscious to care about the American people, despite never showing any sign prior that would suggest they care about anybody but themselves and their special interest groups.
In their goal to convince the American public that Donald Trump is a monster unlike any other America has seen before, the lesser-evil advocates conveniently forget the many times that both parties have engaged in the practices that Trump is so often maligned for. It can be argued that despite Trump’s rhetoric being so blatantly discriminatory and an incitement of violence, he is not any worse than the politicians that have desperately attempted to distance themselves from him. For example, the one policy position that Donald Trump proposed that garnered widespread publicity was the insinuation that mosques should be spied on and Muslims should be registered into a Muslim database. This database would ensure that all Muslims are monitored by the government for no reason other than being Muslim. This proposal immediately drew comparisons to Nazi Germany, where Jews were required to wear a star while out in public so that they can be easily distinguishable from the rest of the populace.
It was extremely
off-putting when many Islamophobic Republicans, like Peter King, who had previously called for a
congressional hearing in 2011 to discuss the need for the government to monitor the Muslim
community, and Dick Cheney, who was instrumental in thrusting America into the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has yet to show any sign of
regret for his torture program conducted on inmates in Guantanamo Bay—all of which
negatively impacted Muslims domestically and abroad—were receiving praise from
the media for their disapproval of Donald Trump. Theirs and many other
Republican’s sentiments were shared widely across social media for not being
supportive of Trump’s brand of Islamophobia. The praise, however, is undeserved
when considering the fact that Republicans have been fanning the flames of Islamophobia for some time now and have consistently sought to gain political
power by using the fear of Muslims to their advantage; the fabricated issue of the "Ground Zero Mosque" is an incident that comes to mind.
Many "progressives" already feel comfortable with calling out the blatant hypocrisy of the Republican party, the tougher pill to swallow is that Obama and the Democrats are not any better. The Obama administration, in continuation of the “counter-terrorism” efforts of the Bush administration (read: Cheney administration), is at this very moment spying on and surveilling the Muslim population all over the country. Muslims under the watchful eye of the NYPD, the FBI, the NSA and the CIA are being monitored in their mosques, their homes, on social media and at their school campuses in hopes of entrapping, manipulating and radicalizing innocent Muslims into committing acts of terror. Sometimes informants disguised as community members of Muslim communities will infiltrate a school or a mosque to attempt to extract information about "terrorism" or to weed out any potential “extremists.”
Of course one mustn't forget about the Terror Watch List that has recently become a hot-button topic that also explicitly targets Muslims. To add insult to injury, all of these practices are done without a warrant nor due to any probable cause. The surveillance tactics done by the U.S. government against the minority Muslim population are so nefarious that the Obama administration in tandem with Congress and the Department of Homeland Security have been pushing for the implementation of a global program known as Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). In association with other countries around the world that have a sizable Muslim minority population, CVE is a program that aims to monitor Muslim communities and create an atmosphere of discord and distrust to ensure that Muslim community members effectively begin monitoring their own in the name of “counter-terrorism.” The White House has claimed that this motion will not be used to discriminate against Muslims and is in fact meant to prevent all kinds of violent extremism, however upon further analysis of the provisions it’s quite obvious that this is untrue.
Why then are these programs not receiving the same amount of scrutiny that Donald Trump’s proposals have seen? Is it because Obama and other politicians are more strategic than Donald Trump and don’t outwardly express their discriminatory practices against Muslim Americans? For many “progressives,” it’s hard to believe that a president that regularly goes out in front of the cameras and makes an effort to clarify to the public that Islam and Muslims are not our enemies whenever a violent incident involving a Muslim occurs, would ever enforce laws that are just as authoritarian and Islamophobic as Donald Trump’s. It becomes a lot less hard to believe in the blatant Islamophobia of the administration when these same progressives realize that a previous president by the name of George W. Bush, who was widely marred by the Left for being responsible for the association of Islam with terrorism and propelling America into unjust wars on Muslim lands, would regularly engage in the same brand of political pandering.
While Trump is open about his bigotry, the establishment manipulates the public into believing one thing while engaging in the opposite behind closed doors. The insistence of many that a Trump presidency is a greater evil than a Hillary Clinton presidency due to Trump's rhetoric about Muslims, black people and immigrants, downplays the very real negative impact that the establishment has had on millions of people that identify with these groups. This kind of rationalization is akin to white Americans who constantly yearn for the "golden age of American prosperity" in the 1950s while conveniently ignoring the sad reality of racism and segregation that existed at the time. To suggest a Clinton presidency would be a lesser evil is disrespectful to the many black families who have been harmed by the private prison industry which had its power expanded under the Clinton administration. No one can forget Hillary Clinton's infamous "super predators" comment which paved the way for black men and black culture to be equated to criminality by American society.
Hillary Clinton has also shown her willingness to throw Muslims under the bus several times. Following the fiasco that occurred in the American embassy in Benghazi, Clinton publicly lied about the reasons for the attack by claiming that Muslims were violently reacting to a silly movie that came out of a failing director in California which attempted to make a mockery of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). This doesn't go without mentioning her complicity in the various breaches of Muslim’s rights in America that occurred during her time in the Obama administration and her hawkish efforts to maintain perpetual war with Muslim countries, which have undoubtedly caused the deaths of millions of civilians.
Rewriting the history of the Obama administration's aggressive policies against undocumented immigrants in order to claim Trump's brand of xenophobia is unique doesn't serve anyone either. Just this year Obama authorized ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids that were meant to deport undocumented immigrants. In these ICE raids, officers raided the homes of undocumented immigrants in the same fashion that a task force would raid the home of a drug lord and forcefully remove and deport these people. These raids have ruined the lives of hundreds of families, leaving many children without one or both of their parents.This doesn't quite fit the image that Obama has attempted to create of himself as being a champion of immigration reform. There’s much more that can be said about the insincerity of the establishment when they attempt to demonize Trump, but it's quite evident that they have more in common with him than they'd care to admit.
It's important to beg the question then, if politicians don’t fundamentally disagree with Trump, then why are they so vehemently opposed to him? That question is easily answered when you consider that Republicans and Democrats have made a career out of serving themselves by being proxies of special interest groups and personnel. Whether it’s by lobbyist groups with lots of money, or individuals with lots of money, politicians are largely bought out by third party entities that want them to do their bidding. Donald Trump is a threat to this system because he’s a self-made politician. He didn’t gain power by making shady deals behind closed doors, he’s self-sufficient and independent of any loyalties. This scares the establishment because if it’s proven that “playing politics” doesn’t work as well as previously thought, then these lobbyist groups and big business CEOs won’t have the faith to go through them to ensure that the government doesn't meddle in their affairs. Less faith in the political establishment equates to less paychecks from third parties. Republicans and Democrats have long relied on this system that allows for a select few to succeed; to gain power it is almost a requirement that a politician has to serve the interests of those other than themselves.
That is why Republicans have been scrambling about and are trying their damnedest to prevent a Trump presidency despite the fact that other Republicans like Peter King, Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich have publicly expressed very similar views as Trump while receiving unanimous support from their party for doing so. The Democrats are no different in their obsession for party loyalty with their undying support for President Obama and his practices. The recent problematic Gun Reform Bill that they have been pushing for also shows that Democrats are just as willing as Republicans to use the public’s unfounded fears for political gain.
Fundamentally speaking, Republicans and Democrats are not ideological enemies. They merely say what they believe will win them the most votes. Republicans rely on bigotry because they think that’s what will get them into office, Democrats rely on “progressive” talking point until it's convenient to utilize bigotry because they believe that that is what will win them the vote. This is why we constantly see politicians like Hillary Clinton regularly flip-flopping on their positions when it seems advantageous to do so. At the end of the day, they are merely attempting to gain office not so they can serve the public, but so they can serve the interests of whomever it is that bought them out.
The run for presidency isn’t an effort by politicians to gain the ability to pass the policies that are best for the world and Americans. It is a race to ensure that one party will be more marketable to special interest groups and rich donors than the other party. Fortunately, the antics of the Republican party have already earned its reputation for being bigoted and authoritarian. It's imperative that the Democratic Party stopped being given a free pass for being the same as Republicans but utilizing friendlier language. In reality the decision to vote for a Democrat or a Republican is like making a decision of whether to buy a 1975 Chevy or a 1976 Chevy for your first car. The quality of the barely newer Chevy may be marginally better, but would you really be driving around one day in your battered 1975 Chevy thinking that if only you had bought the 1976 Chevy then your life would be significantly better? Doubtful.
The irony of Donald Trump's rise to power is much like the irony of David Cameron's exploitation of the U.K. citizenry's bigotry against immigrants. Cameron's perpetuation of the unfounded fear and hatred for immigrants that resident within many citizens of the U.K. resulted in his resignation after the U.K. voted to exit the E.U., much to his chagrin. Likewise, the American establishment paved a perfect road-map for Donald Trump that allowed him to take advantage of American's unfavorable attitudes towards Muslims, black people and Latinos, because of their capitalization on American bigotry in their ambitions to gain more power. The current shift in American politics to the extreme right is a natural progression from the many years of exploitation of the ignoble side of American society and now politicians are reaping the seed that they've sown.
Trump showing his gratitude to all of the politicians that have made his rise possible. Good job guys!
In actuality, it may better serve America if Trump does become president, because although he won’t really be bringing anything positive to the forefront, his willingness to be so openly corrupt and bigoted makes it much easier for the less politically aware to recognize and realize that the system is fundamentally flawed and needs a reformation. Conversely if a smarter politician like Hillary Clinton were to be elected, she would likely hide behind well-crafted talking points than let the public in on her true intentions. With the presidential elections looming ever closer and the possibility of a Trump presidency becoming reality, it is important to revisit the words of the perceptive Malcolm X who said it best when discussing the rise of a politician, Barry Goldwater, who was much like the Donald Trump of his time when he said,
“Goldwater is a man who is not capable of hiding his racist tendencies. And at the same time he’s not capable of even pretending to Negroes that he's their friend. So this will have a tendency to make the negro possibly for the first time do something to stand on his own feet and solve his own problem instead of putting himself into a position to be mislead, misused, exploited, by the whites who pose as liberals only for purposes of getting the support of the negro. In one sense Goldwater’s coming in will awaken the negro and will probably awaken the entire world more so than it has been awaken since Hitler" (see full video here)
Thus, a Hillary Clinton presidency that comes as a reaction to the undesirable prospect of a Donald Trump presidency and nothing more, will only leave us feeling unsatisfied and betrayed. Americans will find themselves repeating a variation of the final words of Julius Caesar when he realized that he was back-stabbed by his most trusted compatriot, “et tu, Hillary?”
