If you’ve ever wondered how Third World countries got the way they are, you’re well on your way to find out. If you’ve ever referenced to Third World countries to demonstrate deterioration of something, you might want to stick to your own homegrown references now that’ll be flooding us for the next four years to come.
The way Team Trump has gaslighted and meandered its way around valid concerns and issues this whole election year to date is a good tutorial on how other nations that were once ripe with art and culture and progress - fell to the floor. Trump, and those politicians who back him up, are the exact creed we immigrants flee from to other lands in hope for something better. But these guys are not better. They are the exact opposite of better.
Days after the Women’s March, I’m sitting here wondering ‘what next’ in the wake of all that doubt that still prevails. I’m still reading posts about why did the women march, what’s so bad about befriending Russia, why can't we give this president a chance, and that it’ll be okay if we just stop criticizing him.
I don’t blame these people for hoping. They don’t know any better because this has never happened in their lifetime before. They don’t know any better because they don’t have a checklist to consult and check off the number of red flags that Trump has already hit, and look at those that he hasn’t yet.
What am I talking about? Here are some clues as to how it feels to have a despot in power:
Do you smell nepotism and favoritism?
Does it feel like you’ve not elected one person but his entire tribe without actually ever giving consent to it? His children and family members are everywhere, sitting in on government meetings, making important decisions that may affect the nation when they neither hold any office nor have experience or just cause to be that influential? Is he going out of his way by creating positions to fill in with people he likes but who otherwise may have no place in a serious, secular, diverse, and a progressive government? Does it feel like his cabinet positions might be for sale?
How transparent is he?
Do you believe he is financially clean? There is no conflict of interest between who he was before and his current most important position as leader of the country? And if there was ever any need for vetting him, would it be easy to do? He won’t go to war trying to hide his tax returns/bank statements/businesses? Maybe drown everyone in a sea of fake papers or tweet up a storm and such to deflect?
Do you trust him to honor national interest over personal interest because he’s so transparent and everything or are there forever dark clouds of conspiracy/rumors/doubts/his own callous statements hovering over him?
On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate him for his ego, his truth-telling, his decency?
How well does he take criticism?
Is he a friend of the culture of freedom - of the arts and the dreamers, of creativity, of free thought and freedom of expression in all medium? Does dissent make him want to crush those not agreeing with him and his fancies? Does he bully the critics into silence because he has the power to? Does he abuse his power?
What’s his plan of action?
What exactly are his plans on doing anything? Can you explain them in point form if asked to? Are you CLEAR on the HOW and WHEN he’s going to achieve all those huge promises he made on the campaign trail? Does he even have a plan other than undoing whatever the previous governments had done?
How much does he respect the constitution?
Respects all of the constitution. Respects some of it. Respects it as long as it serves his ideals. Has no idea what the constitution is and would rather write one of his own.
These aren’t just traits to be listed. These are red flags. These are points to keep a tight watch on and raise hell against until everything is set right.
The issue with Third World isn’t that there are no laws there. The issue is that those laws are abused and manipulated to cater to those in power, those very people who once took an oath to uphold the rule of law. The issue with any broken nation was never that it didn’t have enough legislation but the fact that it didn’t have enough common decency and ethics to do the right thing. But all this wouldn’t have brought those glory days of our now poor countries to an end if only the people had refused to cave in the first time things started to go wrong. If instead of being a silent majority, they’d stood behind and beside the initial loud minority that spoke the truth. If all people had been awake, stood up, spoken out, it would’ve been set right.
So, be awake.
Just because it’s not illegal for the president to not reveal his tax returns doesn’t mean it’s also ethical. If he promotes the idea that the government shouldn’t regulate a person’s stockpile of guns but should regulate a person’s right to healthcare and education by defunding programs that help those in need, he isn’t a nation builder. If he promotes the idea that a woman’s right to her own body is of less importance compared to a man’s right to a woman, he isn’t a nation builder. If he believes that a country’s foreign policy should be driven by personal friendship and animosity rather than national interest, he isn’t a nation builder. If an entire gender, an entire community, feels insulted and threatened by him and his ways, he isn’t a nation builder. If he demands obstruction of truth and creation of facts to suit his fancies, he is an outright threat.
Stand up. Speak out. Don’t stop until it’s set right.