Trump: Man or Representation?

So Trump lost. Santosh Desai is brutally honest about who won:

“Joe Biden is no one’s dream politician. But he represents a return to something familiar and comfortable, and for now, that seems to be more than enough.”

In other words, anyone but Trump. Hardly a positive sentiment.

 

Tom Nichols was quick to demonize those who voted for Trump:

“Sadly, the voters who said in 2016 that they chose Trump because they thought he was “just like them” turned out to be right. Now, by picking him again, those voters are showing that they are just like him: angry, spoiled, racially resentful, aggrieved, and willing to die rather than ever admit that they were wrong.”

It shows how polarized the US is today.

 

Not being an American allows Desai to be more objective than Nichols:

“(Trump) is a compendium of scandals. He is accused by not one but 26 women of sexual misconduct, he has lied and cheated in business, his family wallows in a very public form of nepotism, he has tried every trick in the book to prevent his tax records from becoming public, he is a bully who heaps scorn on anyone who offends him, in crude and demeaning ways.”

And yet, this time around, even though Trump lost:

“He has garnered 3 million more votes this time around.”

Goes to show how deep the fault lines in the US are.

 

The Chinese, of course, are quick to point at the growing racial conflicts and identity politics in the US as a sign of something bigger. Here’s what a Chinese editor Hu Xijin had to write:

“I believe the US political system has both strengths and weaknesses. Yet in terms of trend, it is degrading. It is neither as worthless as critics argue, nor as powerful and impeccable as worshipers portray. It is a typical case of the Western system that is gradually aging.”

Not surprisingly, he suggests:

“Few believe US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden will make contribution to bridging the social divisions… This is not something a president, who only enjoys the support of a little over half of Americans, can change.”

 

Desai too says something similar:

“Nobody should be surprised if not even Trumpism, but Trump himself is back in 2024.”

 

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