2 weeks Ago By Roy Mitchell
“Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad.” That’s one of the well-known maxims first used in 17th-century English literature. It virtually speaks for itself.
It vividly captures the weird idiosyncrasies of former US president Donald Trump, resolutely bent on ending the exciting American dream, Ronald Reagan’s “Shining City on the Hill”. Trump is determined to resume his horrifying voyage of descent into insanity, a Project 2025 conspiracy to steer the US toward irreversible self-destruction. It calls to mind the words of Apostle Paul who, in cautioning of “The Man of Lawlessness”, asserted: “They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
For this reason God sends them powerful delusion, that they should believe a lie.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10/11). Therein personifies Trump as the true antichrist, himself unquestionably the world’s most prolific liar, least among his most detestable attributes.
It epitomises the stark contrast between the two US presidential candidates, the other being current US Vice-President Kamala Harris, the quintessence of class, dignity, decorum and grace. When a former US president descends to donning apron, gallerying over a deep fryer sans hairnet and gloves, and gleefully mimics less privileged citizens of his own country, pretending to perform a job, the holders of which he would otherwise have disparagingly scorned, it tells of the depths to which such a character would sink to satisfy insatiable narcissistic greed. Perhaps there came an omen from on high that on the very day that Trump’s indiscretions were being unashamedly showcased, McDonalds was forced to advise their customers of a deadly E coli outbreak linked to their Quarter Pounder hamburgers.
Unfortunately, the outbreak had sickened at least 75 people in 13 US states and, sadly, one individual died. Preliminary investigations by the US Food and Drug Administration suggested onions served raw on Quarter Pounders were a likely source of contamination. The onions had since been pulled, the outbreak ended, and their patrons relieved.
Regrettably, the same cannot be said about the political trauma in America as US citizens panic over scary possibilities. Not unexpectedly, we in Trinidad and Tobago are just as fearful of the election outcome. In my July 18 column, the issue was raised concerning the impact of the US presidential election on ourselves.
I stressed the Government’s moral obligation to sensitise the population regarding T&T’s substantial vested interests in the outcome. It was suggested that this awareness be promulgated upfront, bearing in mind that, given the options, a change in the current US administration will have exponentially devastating consequences not only for the world at large and Caricom in general but, more dastardly, for Trinidad and Tobago specifically. An unhinged US authoritarian regime will undeniably lodge T&T precipitously on the brink of unprecedented socioeconomic developmental disaster: uncertainty regarding the T&T-Venezuela offshore natural gas supply initiatives, incontrollable mass influx of deportees (many disoriented and homeless), curtailment of joint responses to gun and drug trafficking, disruption of T&T citizens studying at US universities.
Who takes responsibility for guarding the welfare and well-being of the over 250,000 Trinbagonians currently resident in a Donald Trump country? What about their home-based families enduring spells of fear and anxiety? Admittedly conscious of T&T’s long-standing foreign relations policy of non-interference in the domestic affairs of other states, the point was made in the previous column that given today’s extraordinary extenuating circumstances, it is disconcerting to conceive of the Government fiddling while potential tarries for T&T’s socioeconomic well-being are at risk. Simply picturing the world’s newest and most powerful dictatorship crouched 24/7 over T&T’s meagre, virtually powerless territorial landmass sends shivers through the veins: alongside an autocracy free of any semblance of constitutional guard rails, revengefully court-marshalling retired distinguished military generals, incarcerating opponents (some of proud Caribbean ancestry), criminalising women’s reproductive rights, disbanding education systems, and dismissive of climate change perils. It’s chilling.
Where do we find the jobs, housing, school places, hospital beds, etc, for the thousands inhumanely deported; the revenue to expand our already overloaded physical infrastructure: electricity, water, roads, public transport, crime-fighting apparatus, etc? What happens when the US recklessly flips and lends its military might and power to Russia, North Korea, Syria, Iran, Turkey? Today’s civilisation is buried in despair: caught up in madness that knows no boundaries. Leaders of questionable characterisations are abominably lacking acceptance of basic truths. They turn their backs upon glaringly disturbing realities.
Historically, this is what happens before decay and destruction creep in and no remedy is in sight. In just four days, the outcome of the battle for ideological and racial supremacy, now diametrically engaged, will be determined. The day of reckoning beckons, democracy vs autocracy.
The hope is that good sense will prevail. Let’s wish Harris/Walz a resounding T&T victory. —Author Roy Mitchell is a former special adviser and co-ordinator, National Tripartite Advisory Council (NTAC).
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