“Fidel Castro is dead!” tweeted America’s new president-elect, Donald J. Trump, upon hearing the news of Fidel Castro’s demise on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016. Not known for either tact or diplomacy, Trump issued a subsequent statement that was even less mindful of the Obama administration’s recent attempts to rebuild diplomatic bridges with Cuba — our second closest neighboring island — bridges that were all but burnt to ashes nearly 60 years ago. Trump called Castro “a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades.”
“While Cuba remains a totalitarian island,” Trump’s statement read, “It is my hope that today marks a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve. Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty.”
Trump’s message stood in stark contrast to that of his seemingly new friend and ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Free and independent Cuba, which he and his allies built, became an influential member of the international community and became an inspiring example for many countries and nations,” Putin said in a telegram to Fidel’s brother Raul Castro. “Fidel Castro was a sincere and reliable friend of Russia.”
The End Of An Era: Fidel Castro, Dead At 90.
I am not sure where this “free and independent Cuba” of which Putin speaks is located. The Cuba that is geographically located in the Caribbean Sea, whose strong-man dictator was Fidel Castro, has not been “free and independent” since before Castro’s revolution to overthrow then-dictator, Fulgencio Batista.
In fact, there is almost no sense in which Cuba can be considered free and independent. Cuba is often touted as being free of any dependence on international banks. But what’s the use of boasting about not having an auto loan if your current vehicle is sitting on all four blocks on the front lawn, and you have no way of getting to work? Moreover, Cuba depends heavily on Venezuela for 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of oil per day and money to maintain its crumbling infrastructure. A 2015 report from The World Factbook lists Cuba’s budget deficit at 5.4 percent, among the highest in the region.
This is the nature of “post-truth“ political propaganda! Tell a lie. Repeat, until people begin to regurgitate the lie as “truth.” By the “blizzard of falsehoods, exaggerations and outright lies” that Trump unleashed during his presidential campaign via every cross-media platform, and with such frequency that the undiscerning ear could deem him unstable, irresponsible, random — even compulsive — it would appear that Trump holds a Ph.D. in post-truth political philosophy.
But more importantly, most people miss the point of why Trump does these things. They focus on the buffoonery but not his agenda. Make no mistake — Trump’s antics are deliberate. And, no, he is not crazy. He utilizes strategic tactics from the propaganda playbook of the Russians, the Chinese and Hitler. Trump muddies the waters to create an alternate reality for the spread of his own propaganda; his minions deliver steams of “truth” their messiah wants his ardent supporters to repeat — and believe. The irony of it all is that Americans have become unable to distinguish reality from what is staged, much like the prolific reality-TV world to which most have become addicted.
Long before Trump revealed any serious intention of running for the presidency, his ex-wife Ivana revealed in a 1990 interview that Trump regularly read and guarded in a cabinet by his bed a collection of Hitler’s speeches, My New Order. Castro would have undoubtedly been familiar with such works as well. On Dec. 2, 1961 — 55 years ago — Castro declared himself a Marxist-Leninist. His long-winded speeches, in true propaganda style, are legendary. His longest clocked in at 7 hours and 10 minutes in 1986 at the III Communist Party Congress in Havana.
Therefore, don’t be fooled by Trump’s attempt to be coy about his political strategies such as aligning with white supremacists and neo-Nazis within the so-called alt-right — or expect that he will deviate from them. The propaganda techniques that shredded any semblance of political correctness won Trump the presidential election and now bring fierce political opponents like Mitt Romney, cap in hand, to pay homage to the president-elect and to praise, what must be, the emperor’s new clothes.
Even as the 538 electors of our Electoral College gear up to vote on Dec. 19 to confirm Trump’s fitness to ascend to the presidency, there are sufficient grounds to force a vote recount following reports of voting discrepancies in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which had their electoral votes cast in favor of Trump. The claims are not inconsequential when the losing presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, has an unprecedented 2.5 million more votes than the person whom the Electoral College is supposed to confirm.
Regardless, watch as seasoned journalist Megyn Kelly tries — unsuccessfully — to clean up some of the mud the Trump camp is slinging about that vote recount being championed by the Green Party’s Jill Stein. Trump had tweeted that he won the popular vote if you exclude the “millions” of votes cast illegally — something that is unsubstantiated and patently false. Kelly seems baffled why Trump fabricates information, especially about an election he already won. She isn’t even the one who initiates the question regarding Trump’s motive behind the tweet!
Say what you will about Putin’s message to Raul Castro, that propaganda is consistent with Russia’s playbook and the longstanding relationship and camaraderie that Putin enjoyed with Castro, one demagogue to another. Putin’s regime, some now say, closely resembles Mussolini’s Italy or Hitler’s Germany. But what makes the juxtaposition of Trump’s and Putin’s reactions to the passing of Castro so instructive is that it serves to highlight Trump’s stance, at least officially, on US foreign policy with countries controlled by demagogue dictators. For now, he still wags his fingers at them — away from himself.
Quite frankly, Trump’s response to Castro’s death is the irony of ironies. Trump would have us believe that he bears no resemblance whatsoever to the demagogue and “brutal dictator” he described Castro to be. As Americans, we seemingly have the ability to spot demagogues in foreign lands, but not yet in our own. Perhaps, we have forgotten that not all look like guerrilla revolutionaries.
In my last piece, I reiterated that words matter. Therefore, I do not use such words as “demagogue” or “dictator” casually, or as a form of opprobrium or vilification. I also presented an eye-opening checklist to validate my argument that, in President-elect Trump, America is already experiencing the rise of a demagogue — and her eyes are wide shut. Indeed, of the 18 litmus tests provided to identify a demagogue, red flags are waving vigorously on 16 of those benchmarks against Trump.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to cement a strategic, direct connection with his base. On Dec. 1, he kicked off an unprecedented post-election, propaganda victory tour in swing states that won him the election. Analysts question whether his time could be better devoted to the massive task of putting together a new administration. However, they continue to miss the bigger picture. Trump’s new administration is not being selected on the basis of competence or suitability but to reward overt loyalty to him. Isn’t that what demagogues do?
Cautionary Tales From America’s Backyard.
It is said that one man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist; it’s a matter of who benefits. Certainly, Castro has been classified as both. He had a consequential — even inspiring — history of benevolence toward Mandela’s South Africa and Namibia, his commitment to which in military aid contributed significantly to ending the scourge of apartheid in that region. Understandably, Mandela was defiant regarding his ally. While much of the world lagged behind yet again, Cuba also stepped up to confront the worst Ebola outbreak on record and prevent what could have become one of the worst pandemics in human history. To West African countries like Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, Cuba dispatched 461 doctors and nurses — the largest medical contingent from any single country. In neighboring Caribbean nations like Jamaica, Cuba bestowed gifts of schools, full scholarships to study medicine and other disciplines in Cuba, as well as cadres of trained doctors and nurses to supplement the island’s shortage of experienced medical professionals. To these, Castro is a freedom fighter, held in very high esteem by citizenry and government leaders alike.
Still, that “generosity” came with a hefty price tag. Former Jamaican Prime Minister, the late Michael Manley, for example, famously told his own citizens that if they did not like socialism and the blossoming relationship he was developing with Cuba, there were “five flights a day to Miami.” Their concerns were legitimate, however, as Cuban guerrilla training camps were reportedly being installed in Jamaica, and other neighboring islands like Grenada were allegedly being turned into an arsenal by Cuba and the Soviet Union (Russia) for the export of arms to vulnerable democratic governments of the region. In any event, Manley’s remarkable statement — despite his denials in later years — augmented the accelerated exodus of educated, middle-class Jamaicans and foreign nationals, some of whom sold their homes for cents on the dollar. The flight of capital into foreign banks was rapid and exhaustive. Attempts to stymie that capital flight included imprisonment for possessing U.S. currency.
Jamaica has never recovered, neither economically nor from the exacerbation of crime rates that resulted from the weaponization of warring factions within the island’s two political parties, one allegedly by the CIA in response to Castro’s influence on the other. “Austerity” measures, designed to assist recovery in subsequent years, have done little to abate the continuing downward economic spiral. Crime remains out of control at levels that leave its own citizens calling, periodically, for a State of Emergency.
All the while, Castro has ruled Cuba with an iron fist. For almost 60 years, that “free and independent Cuba” saw millions of its citizens struggle to subsist on rations or flee its borders into political exile. Most fled at great risk of death on rickety rafts on open seas to escape what had become a brutal dictatorship that trampled freedom of speech and freedom of the press, that imprisoned and executed political opponents and those considered dissidents, and that violated human rights and its people’s right to self-determination. To these who have escaped the tyranny, Castro is a terrorist. And they have celebrated his passing with undiluted glee.
“Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous,” Einstein famously said. Perhaps then, America should note the timing of Castro’s death; it is as extraordinary as it is ironic. Almost simultaneously, as we are witnessing the rise of a demagogue as president — someone whose election has defied almost every convention of decency and school of rational and moral thought, even the popular vote; someone who is glaringly unfit to become the leader of the free world — we have also witnessed the passing of this hemisphere’s greatest, most long-standing dictator.
I would be hard-pressed to cite another confluence of regional events that should drive the national debate regarding what America stands to lose by way of electoral suicide, especially if Trump’s developing bromance with Putin continues unchecked. We cannot discount even remotely U.S. intelligence findings that Russia interfered in our recent presidential elections in favor of Trump.
One thing is certain in life: The tables always turn. Internet memes capturing our political predicament have been rather elucidating, revolving around such themes:
FIDEL CASTRO: “I will not die until America is destroyed.”
*America elects Trump as president*
FIDEL CASTRO: “Well then. Adiós.”
Funny stuff. However, they should give pause to those who seek to stifle the parts of our Constitution, which are not convenient for them to hear. It should also give pause to our Electoral College when Texas elector Art Sisneros, from Trump’s own Republican party, resigns because he cannot reconcile himself to install such a man as president. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist Paper No. 68 that the Electoral College was designed to be a safeguard. Therefore, electors should not abscond now from their responsibilities to stop Trump from ascending to the presidency — especially out of civic ignorance.
A warning from one pillar of democracy.
We cannot normalize a Donald Trump. Nor can we pretend that he may not have subversive ulterior motives. Before he has sat a single day in the Oval Office, he has reverse-pedaled on several promises from an impressive list made on the campaign trail. Combined with the obscene lack of character and personal integrity that Trump has displayed — in the combative, dictatorial style he once used to rile up crowds in WWE arenas — we cannot now justify this as “what politicians do.” No. Either we are being played for fools, or this is who Trump is. Neither augers well for America.
Journalists like Christiane Amanpour — one of the most respected figures in her field — have witnessed the rise of demagogues all over the world. Unlike most Americans who hear about such events vicariously in their comfortable armchairs while watching CNN, Amanpour has been on the ground, cognizant of the signs and murmurs. The millions of people who have fled countries like Cuba and China to find political sanctuary in America and other countries who will take them in are also cognizant of those signs. They have lived it.
On Nov. 22, 2016, at a Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ceremony in New York City, Amanpour received their Burton Benjamin Memorial Award for extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom. In her acceptance speech, she sounded the alarm against Trump’s attacks on the press.
“As all the international journalists we honor in this room tonight and every year know only too well,” Amanpour said. “First the media is accused of inciting, then sympathizing, then associating — until they suddenly find themselves accused of being full-fledged terrorists and subversives. Then they end up in handcuffs, in cages, in kangaroo courts, in prison — and then who knows?”
WATCH.
WATCH AGAIN. Seriously. And then, again.
To most Americans, what Amanpour is warning about is so “foreign” that the rise of Trump as a fully evolved demagogue could catch them by surprise. But a discerning look at Trump’s Twitter feed will substantiate how many of his tweets are solely to attack the media. Furthermore, when Trump-minions like Corey Lewandowski are advocating jail time for journalists who published pages from Trump’s 1995 tax documents, Houston, we have a problem!
To most Americans, a demagogue is still an abstract concept that happens “someplace else.” It’s the same with acts of aggression and war that take place in foreign regions. Before 9/11, the last significant attack on American soil was Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor. But even that was offshore, “someplace distant” in Hawaii, long before smart phones could transmit the horror in real time of the U.S. base being decimated, and loved ones and monuments and artifacts becoming collateral damage.
To most Americans, it is incredulous that a demagogue could rise in America. Most don’t recognize the attempts now to repackage and rebrand Trump into presidential material. The media is already lauding Trump for championing the cause of the working class. Don’t fall for it! That’s Trump’s propaganda machinery already churning to usher in cleverly designed subsidies for big corporations. When such moves cannot pass even Sarah Palin’s sniff test for “crony capitalism,” it’s bad! Trump’s proposed Cabinet of billionaires is the richest in U.S. history. Whose interests do you think they will serve first? Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” of special interests in Washington was, surely, pure jest! Indeed, we must look beyond the dangling carrots to Trump’s acts of transgression.
There are Cabinet appointments favoring white supremacists and white nationalists — people like Steven Bannon as Trump’s counselor and chief strategist and the overtly racist Jeff Sessions as the new attorney general, which should gratify many of Trump’s Ku Klux Klan supporters. Then, there are the exhaustive conflicts of interests posed by a Trump presidency, his global business interests, and his refusal to institute a proper blind trust. Moreover, Trump still has yet to release any tax returns that could highlight his business dealings in adversarial countries like Russia.
To those who mourn Castro’s passing; to those who will undoubtedly rise to the defense of all the good he has done; to those who claim that he played the hand he was dealt by America; to those who will point toward the atrocities America has committed in foreign nations, I say that I am not here to espouse American apologetics. My stand is against demagogue-dictators — ANYWHERE.
A demagogue, left unchecked, ultimately becomes a dictator. Cuba’s liberation by Castro was not meant to give rise to a dictatorship. Therefore, I am mindful of the implications when there is talk that threatens to silence free speech — such as when burning the flag is being threatened with loss of citizenship — to restrict or impede freedom of the press, to imprison or eradicate political opponents and those considered dissidents, to restrict local and international travel and mobility by state-sanctioned orders, or to trample human rights and a people’s right to self-determination — ANYWHERE.
My passion for this issue undoubtedly arises because I come from a country that experienced the rise of a demagogue. I lived in Jamaica during the era of Michael Manley. In 1976, I was 19 when I voted — my first time ever — to keep Manley in power for a second term. However, I subsequently voted to remove him in 1980, when his flirtation with Castro began in earnest. Suffice it to say, for now, that I have horrendous personal stories and recollections about that time.
Is America perfect? No, far from it. However, I will not sit in America trash-talking American activity in places where I would have no voice. ZERO. A police state would guarantee it. For that alone, I give America props. Even in my beautiful Jamaica, where it now borders on anarchy, speaking your mind about rival political parties could get you killed!