Biden

It is urgent for the U.S. to again become an example of old-school democracy, at a minimum by complying with the law.

I am writing these lines before we know the results of the gringo election, and I am somewhat surprised as I am writing them by the way that this question is becoming so widespread in the media and online: “Ok, Donald Trump is a disaster, but wouldn’t it be better for Mexico if he wins than if Joe Biden wins?” I will be brief: No.

The first reason is, it is up to us and to the whole world, with which, remember, we are still connected, in spite of the phobias of our Mexican president.

The Trump’s defeat is essential for quite varied reasons, ranging from the security of the planet — between flattery of and competition with Kim Jong Un over whose is the biggest — to climate change, to the need to undo the populism that is proliferating all around the world.

Because we do indeed live in a very ugly time: brash, macho, xenophobic, authoritarian, dismissive of knowledge of any kind, makeshift, chauvinistic and loud.

You already know that I’m talking about the dream team that includes Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Nicolás Maduro, Daniel Ortega, whoever is the current tyrant in Cuba, Viktor Orban, Jair Bolsonaro and our Mexican president, among many others.

It is urgent for the United States to again become an example of old-school democracy, which, at a minimum, complies with the law, which respects certain forms, which doesn’t gamble on self-destruction as a way to stay in power.

What is meant by what is more or less basic is: Accidental leaders are always more harmful than those who respect the foundations of democracy, nationalism is aberrant and dangerous, assaults on the media are always a sign of an unhealthy democracy.

The other reasons are more local, if you want to call it that: Do we need to give democracy a bath, like rain after a drought?

But aside from that, I do not believe that realpolitik is a very smart approach either. Do you really believe that the new North American Free Trade Agreement is safer with Trump’s jingoistic volatility than with Biden’s pro-labor stance? Do you seriously think there is a connection between our Mexican president and Agent Orange, who does not have a connection with anyone other than himself, and who pats you on the head right up to the moment when you leave him parked there for a second?

Even deeper: Does it really suit us to swallow so much racism, so many insults, so much wall? Can such misogyny, such corruption, such racism be appropriate for the country that wants to rule as the number one world power? And what about the children in detention? And the Dreamers?

I think the question “Wouldn’t it be better for Mexico?” in itself captures the times in which we are living.

Populism is the defeat of rationality, the normalization of the absurd.

The question to ask yourself is: Is it really wrong for the president to insult the citizens, or to be a racist, or to speak of women in that vile way? The absurd one is Trump.