USA- The Emperor Without Clothes Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan Shame on the Oldest democracy. The leader of the free world- US of A is running naked- Emperor With No

USA- The Emperor Without Clothes
Narasimhan Vijayaraghavan

Shame on the Oldest democracy. The leader of the free world- US of A is running naked- Emperor With No Clothes- since Nov,3, 2020 elections- and the whole world can see it. Yet, the POTUS is sitting still in his bunkers, with his hangers on, with Rudy Giuliani in the lead, begging one Court after another to listen to their cacophonous cry of “Rigged” and “Widespread Voter Fraud”.

Transition and Transfer of power which had gone on smooth in America, with just a blip in 1876, is off the guardrails, as the administration train is facing a huge disaster with many a boulder in the way. Shame on you ‘We The People’ of the US Constitution, who ordained the so called ‘more perfect union’ in America.

It a tragedy which was waiting to happen, ever since Donald J Trump walked down the stairs of the Trump Tower, in June,2015, and announced his candidature for becoming the President of United States – POTUS. He fought a huge Republican primary field. Insulted every other opponent, nicknamed them and even called them killers and more. He, in turn, was called a bigot, a clown, a despot, a crook, racist, womaniser, bankrupt to run out of epithets. Yet, he trumped each of his ‘enemies’ as he called them, to set up a direct tussle with Hillary Roshan Clinton.

And, boy, did the campaign turn out to be cheap, mean, deplorable, despicable, dirty and demeaning. Trump made it clear that if he won the Nov,3, 2016 POTUS elections, it would be fair. If he lost, it would be fraudulent and he would not accept it as genuine. He lost the popular vote- Pan US- by more than 3 million votes. Thanks to the weird and quirky Electoral College beast, he became POTUS with 306 votes against the needed 270.

He ran a chaotic Presidency – impacting not only those in the US but the world over. And when the Pandemic Pathogen struck, the virus swept the White House of its balance. Despite the installation of a Task Force headed by the Vice President Mike Pence, it became dysfunctional, thanks to Trump’s tweets and idiotic proclamations on the Idiot Box.

Trump even threatened postponement of elections due, every four years, on Nov,3,2020. But could not as their constitutional scheme was written in stone and probably envisioned an easy reflection, as incumbents had lost only twice in the past.
He campaigned hard and in person, throwing caution to the winds, even after he had a stint as Covid patient for a week in hospital. He even taunted his rival Joe Biden for ‘hiding in a cave and masked too’.

Donald Trump advised his unwavering base to vote in person on Election Day. Not to take the mail in ballot or absentee ballot route as they were tainted. The base believed him and voted big on Election Day. But Biden folks voted, not just on one day on election, but every day the voting was on and on mail-in too. The result – Biden beat Trump by over 5 million votes in the popular stakes ( strangely, counting is still on) . And as providence would have it- on the Electoral College too, Biden trumped Donald.

But our friend Donald was having none of it. He tweeted WE WON THE ELECTION. He has mounted many a challenge before Federal Courts. He has sought Recounting- in select counties- to avoid ‘exorbitant costs’. He is losing every litigation. So he has pivoted hugely to suggest that EVMs- Oh My God- our own good old, tried and trusted Electoral Voting Machines were ‘fixed’. All Trump votes ‘miraculously turned into Biden votes”. The entire election, across US of A, was RIGGED. The voters have been Cheated and election Stolen. Have we heard it before somewhere else? Maybe?

The tragedy is not that this view afar from India, the largest democracy, is that America stinks and smells and looks crudely nude. And the tragedy is not that Donald J Trump is behaving the petulant narcissistic child he has always been. It was anticipated. Just read the tomes and tomes in books, articles, dissertations and more which tumbled out and continuing to tumble out. There is nothing for us-in the outside of USA- be it the democratic world or even autocracies, more as the shock, awe and surprise. It is different.

It is- how the hell did Donald J Trump become the Republican nominee? How the hell did he win in the Electoral College? And most of all- How the Hell did over 7 million of the US citizens still vote for Trump in 2020? And above all else- How the Hell do 70% of the Republican voters trust and believe now, that Joe Biden stole the election from the natural heir to the throne- Donald J Trump.

That dear reader, is the tragedy of tragedies. America has been an Imperialist Power, even if they became free by throwing the British Colonialists. America voted for Government by the people, for the people and of the people. Since 1776 they have breathed free and in every election thrown up a democrat by heart, soul and mind, who at the end of the term, moved into sunset, in a peacefully ordained transition.

But not this one. US of A has lost its moral and ethical bearings. No matter Joe Biden is inaugurated as the 46th POTUS on 20th Jan,2021, the damage has been done to the US democratic fabric. Who knows if Donald J Trump may have to be airlifted or forcibly removed from the bunkers, from the White House, all crying and protesting, tantrum driven, on live television. That would be something that serves ‘them’ right. It too would become part of the US’ proud history, traceable to the Founders and those who took part in the Civil Wars.

US’ democratic fabric is torn and shredded. It needs – not stitching- but a replacement. Biden term would be spent in repairs not replacement. And the repairs will have to face the extreme and continuing wrath and outrage of the Trump Base, convinced, it has been robbed of a second term to their cult hero. And Trump’s Party – not the Republican Party- as he took hold of it- will be in his pocket.

And Joe Biden regime would not be easy. And next time, US of A lectures to the world, from UN auspices or elsewhere, on fundamental-Human rights and democratic ethos, the world will laugh at the hypocrisy and point to the nudity of the Emperor Without Clothes, in unison.

America has lost ‘it’. It would be tough to regain ‘it’. Barack Obama’s memoir – A Promised Land- looks anything but promising. America has a lot to hide. And nowhere to HIDE.

(Author is practising advocate in the Madras High Court)

 

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