Thinking about Trump
Published in El País
(Spain) on 6 March 2016
by Moisés Naim (link to original)
(Spain) on 6 March 2016
by Moisés Naim (link to original)
Translated from
by Stephen Routledge .
Edited by Melanie Rehfuss.
Will the FBI play the same role in the U.S. elections as the Supreme Court played in the elections of 2000? At that time, the suspension of vote counting in Florida that was ordered by the high court brought George W. Bush to the White House and sent Al Gore back home. Five of the nine judges voted in favor of the measure. A single vote in the Supreme Court was worth more than millions of votes cast by the American people.
What has this got to do with this year’s presidential election? Well, if in 2000, the Supreme Court was the institution to determine who would become the U.S. president, the FBI director, James Comey, could hold the role of great elector this year. His organization is investigating whether Hillary Clinton compromised national security when she was secretary of state by sending confidential government messages to her private email account.
If the FBI decides to take this case to trial, Hillary Clinton will be disqualified as a candidate; if that happens, it is extremely likely Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States of America. "What I can assure you is that I am very close personally to that investigation,” said Comey, “to ensure that we have the resources we need, including people and technology, and that it’s done the way the FBI tries to do all of its work: independently, competently and promptly." FBI directors have always had plenty of autonomy in their decisions. If there are emails found that should not have been sent to Clinton’s private account, is Mr. Comey ready to give the U.S., and the world, Donald Trump as president of this global superpower?
Obviously, Trump’s triumph does not depend solely on the FBI disqualifying his rival. It also requires millions of American voters to be seduced by his message, his style and his promises, and to be deceived by his lies.
Trump’s seemingly unstoppable march toward the presidential nomination for the Republican Party has raised an alarm among its leaders, such as Mitt Romney, who has launched a scathing attack against the businessman and candidate. Voices are also being raised about the media’s failure to be diligent in scrutinizing Trump’s controversial past; they did not effectively expose his lies to the public or demonstrate the impracticality of his politics.
Philip Bennett, a respected journalist and professor at Duke University, equates the media’s behavior toward Trump with the serious ongoing failure to thoroughly investigate whether or not Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, a claim made by George W. Bush’s government to justify the invasion of Iraq. "The journalistic blindness in relation to Donald Trump should not happen in the Internet age, where huge databases or search engines are available to verify a claim by just typing a few words into a computer," says Bennett.*
However, while it is neither well known nor understood, Donald Trump is not the main protagonist of this electoral campaign; rather, it is the voters, who do not seem to care about the data, information, evidence or indisputable findings that cast doubt on the integrity and honesty of their candidate.
Trump’s voters are most commonly described as being fed up with politicians, and they are mostly white men with low educational levels. According to surveys, while there may be an element of truth in this characterization, it is clearly a superficial and insufficient explanation. Trump’s voters are more complex than this. For example, they have a lot in common with supporters of the populist movements that have been gaining strength in Europe and elsewhere, and they can be found on both the left and right of the political spectrum.
The most interesting aspect of Trump as a political product is not that he is exceptional in any way; rather, he has the common touch in a time of anti-politics. When societal uncertainty and anxiety grow – which today has become a global trend – "terrible simplifications" proliferate. This is the case everywhere. But the most dangerous manifestation of this trend is Trump himself, and for that reason, he is exceptional.
*Editor’s note: This quote, though accurately translated, could not be verified.
What has this got to do with this year’s presidential election? Well, if in 2000, the Supreme Court was the institution to determine who would become the U.S. president, the FBI director, James Comey, could hold the role of great elector this year. His organization is investigating whether Hillary Clinton compromised national security when she was secretary of state by sending confidential government messages to her private email account.
If the FBI decides to take this case to trial, Hillary Clinton will be disqualified as a candidate; if that happens, it is extremely likely Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States of America. "What I can assure you is that I am very close personally to that investigation,” said Comey, “to ensure that we have the resources we need, including people and technology, and that it’s done the way the FBI tries to do all of its work: independently, competently and promptly." FBI directors have always had plenty of autonomy in their decisions. If there are emails found that should not have been sent to Clinton’s private account, is Mr. Comey ready to give the U.S., and the world, Donald Trump as president of this global superpower?
Obviously, Trump’s triumph does not depend solely on the FBI disqualifying his rival. It also requires millions of American voters to be seduced by his message, his style and his promises, and to be deceived by his lies.
Trump’s seemingly unstoppable march toward the presidential nomination for the Republican Party has raised an alarm among its leaders, such as Mitt Romney, who has launched a scathing attack against the businessman and candidate. Voices are also being raised about the media’s failure to be diligent in scrutinizing Trump’s controversial past; they did not effectively expose his lies to the public or demonstrate the impracticality of his politics.
Philip Bennett, a respected journalist and professor at Duke University, equates the media’s behavior toward Trump with the serious ongoing failure to thoroughly investigate whether or not Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, a claim made by George W. Bush’s government to justify the invasion of Iraq. "The journalistic blindness in relation to Donald Trump should not happen in the Internet age, where huge databases or search engines are available to verify a claim by just typing a few words into a computer," says Bennett.*
However, while it is neither well known nor understood, Donald Trump is not the main protagonist of this electoral campaign; rather, it is the voters, who do not seem to care about the data, information, evidence or indisputable findings that cast doubt on the integrity and honesty of their candidate.
Trump’s voters are most commonly described as being fed up with politicians, and they are mostly white men with low educational levels. According to surveys, while there may be an element of truth in this characterization, it is clearly a superficial and insufficient explanation. Trump’s voters are more complex than this. For example, they have a lot in common with supporters of the populist movements that have been gaining strength in Europe and elsewhere, and they can be found on both the left and right of the political spectrum.
The most interesting aspect of Trump as a political product is not that he is exceptional in any way; rather, he has the common touch in a time of anti-politics. When societal uncertainty and anxiety grow – which today has become a global trend – "terrible simplifications" proliferate. This is the case everywhere. But the most dangerous manifestation of this trend is Trump himself, and for that reason, he is exceptional.
*Editor’s note: This quote, though accurately translated, could not be verified.
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