The American Ahmadinejad

His enemies call him the American Ahmadinejad or Kim Jung Un (the “beloved” leader of North Korea), bemoaning the fate that has befallen the United States — that a buffoon like Donald Trump has been able to become the Republican front-runner in the race to White House.

Many in the United States and abroad, especially in ally nations, are trying to figure out the “Trump phenomenon” with hands on their hearts. The German magazine Der Spiegel, which doesn’t choose its titles haphazardly, called Trump “the world’s most dangerous man.” Perhaps the danger of the man is that if he reaches the White House, he will have his finger on the nuclear trigger, a button which could one day be in the hands of an idiot or a buffoon, or at best, a con man – [a fact that] has not occurred to many people.

Is it the legacy of Barack Obama and what he has done to U.S. morale around the world that has pushed the normal American to this miserable suicidal choice, the choice to stand behind a candidate who is making a mockery out of everyone? Or is it revenge against the U.S. establishment that is pushing people to line up behind a man boasting of being outside the establishment, and who is able to give speeches that are outside all conventional standards?

This question is not only posed by American liberals or the man’s enemies within the Republican Party, which says that the party will stand behind him. Rather it has been posed by Western countries allied with the United States, and other countries with trade relations, like Canada and China, in addition to countries worried about Trump’s provocative speeches calling to close the borders and to build walls, as he threatens to do with the U.S.’s southern neighbor, Mexico.

As far as the Islamic world is concerned, this is not something taken lightly in Trump’s racist speeches. The borders of the United States will be closed in the face of Muslims, and it’s not far-fetched to think that such a racist decision like this will affect Muslims living in the United States, some of whom may have obtained citizenship. And if the decisions within America are made based on judicial precedent — and the White House doesn’t have the only hand in deciding such things — then the greatest danger to the world, especially for Arabs and Muslims in the shadow of a Trump presidency, will come from his foreign policy.

Trump says that he will support the Islamic State in order to take down the Syrian regime and change leaders in Damascus! He will return tens of thousands of soldiers to Iraq to reoccupy it under the pretext that the American withdrawal did not help solve the problems. He will order an attack on nuclear sites in North Korea. And he has made many other similar threats.

The appearance of Trump on the TV screen every night during the U.S. presidential campaign could provoke laughter and ridicule, like the reaction of someone following a comedy series. But, amid this comedy show, we nearly forget that we are facing real danger. In less than a year, this man could wield the powers of war and peace in the world, and throw us all into a disaster because of his ignorance, lack of experience and shortsightedness.

An open letter from a large number of experts and former U.S. officials in the area of foreign policy said that the experts and officials considered it their duty to advise Americans on the danger of Trump reaching the White House. They said frankly, “Mr. Trump’s own statements lead us to conclude that as president, he would use the authority of his office to act in ways that make America less safe.” One might add that it would make the whole world less safe.

History has taught us that many intelligent groups of people have descended into an abyss of bad choices, pulling the world with them into disastrous times. Of course, Adolf Hitler comes to mind; and Donald Trump does not hesitate to imitate his companion, Benito Mussolini, that other buffoon and womanizer, whose burned corpse was hanged in the streets of Milan.