Don Voyage!
By Sania Iqbal Siddiqui
“Europe, the soil on which Fascism took root, is watching the rise of Donald Trump with dismay.” Anyone, who is interested in political affairs of the world, or is following the recent coverage of the American presidential election campaign; will recognize the impact of Roger Cohen’s thesis statement of his article – published in The New York Times – ‘Trump’s Il Duce Routine’. He argues in his article the question that everyone seems to be conversing about, where did it all go wrong? It is ironical, that fascism, which took root in Europe (a common fact), as Cohen states, is looking at America with contempt, and disbelief. Because, this cannot be the same America, that prided itself on freedom, liberty, and to be true to whoever it is; regardless of their gender, creed, heritage or class. This is a new America (not the land of dreams anymore).
At the start of the American presidential campaign, everyone took Donald Trump as an entertaining individual with no serious credibility to take over the highest position in America. However, since the idea that everyone in America has the right to be president, is consequentially, the whole concept of the American Dream; but what is transpiring before the world in American politics is nothing short of a nightmare. American politics is well known for being politically correct, almost an anti-thesis to most Latin American governments and Middle-Eastern regimes, and Asian political bodies.
Trump, is no statesman and this resonates with his ‘vulgar’ idea of who a leader should be. Just because you are the president, doesn’t necessarily mean you have the right to order the military as you deem fit. Recently, he attacked Marco Rubio, because he ‘purposefully’ attacked Trumps’ genitalia, and he defended it in a latest Republican debate. When Trump suggests such a notion, it comes off as crude. Why? Because everything he has said up to this point in the campaign has been nothing but ‘fruitless attacks’ on minorities, women, and to be honest, anybody who dares to question him. These attacks have not deterred his admirers to not vote for him. On the contrary, he is gaining in polls numbers, and could be the Republican nominee for president.
If someone, who suggests or wrongly targets Mexico, as a country which sends ‘rapists and drugs’ to America, desires to ban Muslims – be it temporarily or permanent, there is no difference – has to defend the size of his penis, because he feels threatened; this is a man who if, Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Meg Whitman, suggests would send America spiraling into recession. She, as a private citizen, was of the opinion that the man, who is a misogynist, makes fun of disabled people, is rude to reporters, could potentially, penalize global companies. This same Donald Trump, refuses to acknowledge the Klu Klux Klans’ leader David Duke, and flat out said, he did not know of him, is very alarming. Then some weeks later, he denounces the organization, known for being ‘white supremacists’. Is this the man, America wants representing her as president, and sit in The Oval?
“If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her,” Trump said of his daughter in a 2006 interview with “The View.” If this is, who America, wants as president, next term; then it is right to suggest that, concerned American citizens who are worried that America is a laughing stock of the world, can start making plans to migrate to Canada.
Coincidentally, isn’t Trump, who suggests that Syrian refugees be kept out of America, and all immigrants be thrown out of the country, is a product of immigration? His paternal grandparents were immigrants from Germany right? How fascinating indeed! Nevertheless, Cohen concludes his article by sucker punching, the Pro-Trump bigots: “As Europe knows, democracies do die. Often, they are the midwives of their own demise. Once lost, the cost of recovery is high.” Will Trump be Napoleon, or would he be something more sinister? Only time will tell.
Till then, watch John Oliver’s highly entertaining, yet brutal video on Drumpf. Don Voyage!
