Well I’ve had a day to try to digest the unsavory meal served up during the presidential debate. I woke up this morning feeling like I had consumed a meal of half cooked skunk and had washed it down with glasses of cod liver oil. What an ordeal. And to think, we have two more ‘debates’ between Trump and Biden. After the debacle last night, the commission says they are going to change the rules, but I still don’t have high hopes the next two debates will be any better. Trump is just incapable of controlling his basest instincts.
The reactions around the world were as expected – shock, dismay, sadness – nothing positive. I’m sure there are those who think Trump’s ‘America First’ policy is really a license to tell the rest of the world to go screw themselves. We’re America, we’re the best, we’re the greatest, we don’t need anyone else. Let’s not forget, other recent examples of unbridled nationalism – Mussolini and Hitler!
Trump has done a superb job of alienating countries that were once our staunch allies. The following are a few of the reactions as reported in the New York Times.
“Of course, the ultimate arbiter will be the American voter,” said Ulrich Speck, an analyst with the German Marshall Fund in Berlin. “But there is a consensus in Europe that this is getting out of hand, and this debate is an indicator of the bad shape of the American democracy.”1
“The debate was a joke, a low point, a shame for the country,” Markus Feldenkirchen of the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel posted on Twitter. “Roaring, insults, two over-70s who interrupt each other like 5-year-olds — and a moderator who loses all control. The trigger, of course: Trump’s uncouth, undignified behavior.”1
Jeremy Shapiro, a former American diplomat who is now research director of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that foreigners would probably view the debate “as another sign of the degradation of American democracy,” as some Americans do. The debate will not change foreign opinions of Mr. Trump or Mr. Biden, he said, but underneath the spectacle is something more troubling.
Both allies and rivals “see Trump and the political culture that created him heralding the decline of American democracy and American culture,” Mr. Shapiro said. That judgment, he added, is “only heightened by the coronavirus response, not just American absence in global leadership but the striking incompetence in dealing with it at home.”1
Thomas Gomart, director of the French Institute of International Relations, said that the debate strengthened the impression “that the United States has retreated from the global stage and withdrawn into itself.” Mr. Trump, he said, “has explicitly walked away from the position of a global leader, and Joe Biden may be implicitly doing so, too.”1
The bottom line is that it is apparent to the rest of the world that America has ceded its role as leader of the free world. Further, the damage done by Donald Trump to our international relations will take years to repair, even if Joe Biden wins the election. What so many of Trump’s supporters fail to understand is that if America pulls up the drawbridge and tries to be an island unto itself, someone is going to fill that vacuum. The two most likely candidates are China and Russia. The more that we turn our focus inward and away from our role as a global leader, the stronger China and Russia become.
Our allies were very concerned about the United States and the future of American democracy before last night’s train wreck. They are clearly even more concerned now. If Trump gets reelected, I think there is a better than even chance he will withdraw from NATO. He has been very vocal about his disdain for the organization and doesn’t seem to grasp its strategic value and significance. I would be willing to bet that some or all of the members of the EU and NATO are having quiet conversations about this very possibility. The United States was once looked upon around the world with admiration, respect and, in the case of our adversaries, fear. Now, after four years of Donald Trump, we are looked at with pity, sadness and disdain. And there is no doubt that our adversaries are just laughing at this grotesque spectacle.
Trump claims to be a ‘patriot’ as do most his acolytes. Given that one of the hallmarks and foundations of American democracy is the conduct of free and fair elections and the peaceful transition of power, the fact that Trump is vocally, dangerously and completely devoid of evidence trying to undermine the credibility of the electoral process shows that he doesn’t give a damn about the United States of America, the Constitution, or American’s role on the world stage. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that Trump cares about Trump – period. Trying to undermine and sow doubt about the electoral process in this country is not an act of patriotism. You can dress it up in all kinds of slogans and American flags but what Trump is doing is not patriotism. The rest of the world sees that. I just don’t understand why so many people in this country choose not to see what is really going on.
I found a couple of quotes that seem appropriate after last nights debate.
Don’t raise your voice, improve your argument.”
[Address at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton, Johannesburg, South Africa, 23 November 2004]”
― Desmond Tutu
“You can sway a thousand men by appealing to their prejudices quicker than you can convince one man by logic.”
― Robert A. Heinlein, Revolt in 2100/Methuselah’s Children
It seemed pretty obvious last night that Trump was completely ignorant of the first quote and more focused on the second. He continually raised his voice and offered virtually no substantive arguments. Additionally, he offered little in the way of logic but always tried to fan the flames of prejudice. As I said yesterday – a major shit show and an embarrassment to this country in front of the entire world.
Trump supporters have no knowledge of the dangers of
authoritarianism. They fell into the trap of a Machiavellian narcissist. Machiavellian narcissists have mastered the art of one-upmanship as they try to show their superiority while steamrolling over everyone else’s feelings and opinions.
I believe reality shows produced Trump with his Apprentice show. His Dark Triad personality shown how he had complete control over his contestants.
People who watched his show came to admire his skill and wish they had the same strength that he does. Those people also came to admire him so much they believed he would make a great President. Their reasoning is he would have complete control over the opposing political party that they hate. It seemed to have worked.