What are the similarities between Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un? They all think they have the biggest, fastest, most invincible nuclear weapons. They all think of themselves as wielding immense power. They all fear for their position in a true democracy.
How would Mr. Putin survive in a country with a free news media? Would he get away with arresting his political opponents? Is North Korea allowed to have political opponents? Mr. Trump might like to get rid of his. In the mean time he is busy convincing his claque that they have to ignore the fake news of the news media. How many followers does he have for his twits this week?
How can a country such as Russia be the first to circle earth with its Sputnik and brag of the super speed of its rockets when it cannot even make a decent refrigerator? How can North Korea brag of rockets that can reach North America, when its people cannot get enough food? Maybe all three of these leaders are putting the emphasis on the wrong objectives.
Mr. Trump has been particularly bad at selecting priorities. His immigration stand has been hateful and hurtful to people less able to defend themselves. In a nation built by those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free” as described by Emma Lazarus, Mr. Trump is a boor and bigot, channeling his tunnel vision of the world to America’s millions of jingoists, religious right and other losers.
It is the abject failure of politics to evolve and develop in America as a system “by and for the people” that has brought the country to a state so like the other two oligarchies of the military.
Trump saw the frustration and used it. He saw the failure of Americans to vote in a corrupted system and took advantage of it. He saw the anger and fed it. If anything, Trump out-did his counterparts in North Korea and Russia. He achieved power in a land that thought it was free. He was turned loose as a child in a candy store. He yanks at the levers of power and delights at the consternation. He abuses his country’s allies and friends.
As Orwell showed in his book 1984, it is the tensions of war that keeps the proletariat focussed on the enemy instead of the inadequacies of their leadership. Obviously, more Americans need to love Big Brother.
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Copyright 2018 © Peter Lowry
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