By Aly Kamadia, Editor-In-Chief, iDose
If Trump wasn’t the devil, it’s only because he lacked the brains.
In the early months of 2020, when the pandemic began to infect and kill Americans, a sane president would have unleashed unrivaled American power.
A proper COVID-19 task force stacked with country’s most able scientists would have helped counsel the federal government, as they scrambled to coordinate with state governors and local authorities.
The Commander in Chief wouldn’t have hesitated to make full use of the Defense Production Act, even if it translated into mobilizing some of America’s mighty corporate oligarchy to minimize human suffering.
Regardless of his/her ethics, a politically savvy president would have seized the chaos to begin economically uplifting both the middle class and the many ‘losers’ of neoliberal globalization; a move easily achieved by fashioning the appropriate fiscal policy (and also using relevant executive orders if necessary).
Undeniably, in an alternative reality where Donald Trump had a functioning brain, the minority of Americans who are currently confused about whether to vote for him again (i.e. ‘undecideds’) would shelter no such doubt. Seen as blessing them with a lifeline during moments of unprecedented desperation, most undecideds would have instinctively voted for the orange buffoon once more, and thus rewarded Trump with a second term.
Jumping from this fantasy world into to the real one, we discover a chess match in which Trump doesn’t enjoy assurances of victory.
Nearly 200 000 American lives have been erased by COVID-19 at the time of this writing. The president remains hostile to formulating a national strategy, denies the pandemic’s existence in practice, and is maliciously allergic to enacting the many antidotes that other countries are using to successfully contain the virus.
Instead of pursuing sane actions, Trump has sought comfort in encouraging Americans to refrain from wearing masks (scenes from August’s Republican National Convention were hardly shocking), advising them to swallow bogus and dangerous pharmaceuticals, touted the benefits of directly injecting disinfectants (e.g. bleach) into one’s body, and most recently, invented the myth that he has been tirelessly working to combat COVID-19 throughout 2020.
And while Trump’s impressive stupidity has managed to throw away what would have otherwise been a guaranteed victory in November, a Joe Biden presidency is far from certain.
The polls currently reveal that if the election were held today, Biden would claim victory. Though Biden’s lead is not sufficiently large enough to be deemed decisive. FiveThirtyEight’s statement on Tuesday (Sept. 8th) is correct not least because election day is still 55 days into the future: “it’s still too soon to count Trump out despite Biden’s sizeable lead in the polls.”
Thus both campaigns are marching ahead in full force, including when it comes to their messaging.
While Biden’s marketing hasn’t been as simplified as it ought to be at times, the message has been echoing loudly since the Democratic convention:
America is navigating through a period of darkness because of the madman steering its ship. November’s election should be treated as a referendum on Trump – a man who poses an existential threat to American democracy itself.
On the other end, the theme in Trump’s propaganda is clear:
Biden supported anarchists have taken over many of America’s major cities and are on course to destroy the entire country. Only Donald can restore law and order while rescuing the nation.
Of course, Trump is well aware that he most certainly will lose the popular vote, and despite the Republican-advantages that come with the obsolete electoral college system, he may also lose the election.
It is therefore barely astonishing that Trump is doing everything he can to destroy the legitimacy of the election, from attacking the post office, to pouring tens and millions into court battles designed to decrease general voter turnout, and telling his voters to vote twice. (These are just a few examples. See Bernie Sanders’ piece this week for more details. Additionally, one can foresee the possibility of Trump pulling all sorts of other stunts, such as claiming a bogus vaccine for coronavirus has been discovered, claiming victory when he has clearly lost on election day, etc.)
Indeed, Trump has already declared that if Biden wins, it’s the result of a rigged system and vast conspiracy designed to hide the true results. Put differently, the president has openly declared war on the very institution of American democracy.
That threat has been received loud and clear. The tormenting reality of Trump opening America’s arms to authoritarianism has united many progressives such as Bernie Sanders, ‘moderates’ like Barack Obama, and even many Republicans who are disgusted with how Trump is abusing his presidential powers.
Despite starkly differing political beliefs, their voices speak in strict harmony when warning about the unprecedented threat that Trump poses. If such warnings aren’t heeded by enough voters, the White House will remain occupied by a man increasingly all too happy to see American democracy burn away into some form of authoritarianism – so long as it serves Trump’s wishes.
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Aly Kamadia is Editor-In-Chief of iDose. To read selected articles by Kamadia, click here.
Note: The views expressed in this article are the author’s, and not the position of Intellectual Dose, or iDose (its online publication). All Rights Reserved unless noted otherwise.
