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Trump is the
Less Effective Evil
Trump simply continues a U.S. policy that “makes
countries unlivable and then tells fleeing victims that
the door is shut.” Anti-Trumpism is grossly inadequate.
The whole system is evil -- Democrats included.
By Margaret Kimberley
“It is good to
fight for humane treatment of Syrians but their
rights should be respected whether they are at an
American airport or in Damascus.”
February 03,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- "BAR"
-
The trope of supporting the Democratic Party as the
lesser of two evils has proven to be a huge failure.
Barack Obama epitomized the foolishness of this
political choice. As Black Agenda Report pointed out he
was not less evil than Republican presidents. He was
just the
more effective evil. As the first black president
and with the Democrats’ undeserved reputation as the
party of justice and peace, he was able to get away with
more evil doing than any other president in recent
memory.
Donald Trump is
just the opposite. He is openly evil and successfully
appealed to 60 million voters in spite of, or in some
cases, because of that fact. In little more than one
week Trump has moved forward on his pledge to build a
wall on the Mexican border, repeal the Affordable Care
Act without replacing it, build the DAPL and Keystone XL
pipelines, and ban immigration from seven predominantly
Muslim nations.
His executive
order banning citizens of Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan,
Somalia, Iran, and Iraq from entering the United States
generated immediate outrage and a swell of popular
action. What went unnoticed is that citizens of these
seven nations were first chosen for scrutiny and travel
restrictions by Barack Obama.
“All seven of these countries have at various times been
subjected to American aggression.”
Trump’s
executive order only mentions Syria by name and includes
other “countries of concern,” a term that is an Obama
administration contrivance. Visa waivers no longer
applied to people who visited any of these countries.
Even persons with dual citizenships were subjected to
these restrictions which amounted to nothing more than
war by other means. All seven of these countries have at
various times been subjected to American aggression.
They have all been attacked with military action, proxy
wars and sanctions. America makes countries unlivable
and then tells fleeing victims that the door is shut.
The Trump
team’s amateurishness turned the immigration ban into a
public relations problem. They did not anticipate
popular outcry, demonstrators converging on airports and
lawsuits filed to protect people who just 24 hours
earlier were legally able to enter the country. Some
were freed in the ensuing chaos but others were detained
or stranded and unable to enter the country. Federal
judges ruled against it in a variety of ways and the
acting attorney general finally declared that the
Justice Department
would not defend the executive order. Trump
responded by firing her.
But these
temporary setbacks should not be seen as a complete
victory nor should they result in support for the
Democrats. The ham fisted Donald Trump did what others
have done before him. He benefited from policies enacted
by predecessors and gave himself wider latitude to carry
out human rights abuses. Bush claimed a right to
indefinitely detain anyone he considered a terror
suspect. Obama took this doctrine one step further. He
claimed and acted upon a right to kill anyone he deemed
a terror suspect. The NSEERS policy which subjected men
from 25 countries to travel restrictions and extra
scrutiny began with Bush but was continued under Obama
for two years. Obama did not dismantle the program
completely until he was on the verge of leaving office.
“Trump benefited from policies enacted by predecessors
and gave himself wider latitude to carry out human
rights abuses.”
The response to
this crisis must include an honest assessment of the
Democratic Party and its role in creating it. The
Democrats’ treachery and ineptitude which brought Trump
to power has still not been discussed thoroughly and
should be on the agenda for any and all discussions.
Right wing Democrats like
Cory Booker should not be let off the hook because
they showed up at an airport making an obvious case for
following immigration law. This same man turned his back
on the wishes of his supporters and instead followed the
dictates of his corporate backers when he thwarted a
plan to bring cheaper drugs into the country. The
politicians who put their thumbs on the scale for the
unethical and incompetent Hillary Clinton also must
explain themselves. This needed conversation cannot be
lost in the effort to fight Trump.
No one should
think that the Democratic Party will be able to
capitalize on this situation or anything else Trump
presents to them. One can also assume that his 60
million voters are quite happy with this decision and
will applaud him for making it. There isn’t necessarily
a downside for Trump in getting bad press when his
would-be opponents are hapless and won’t admit that
their implosion handed him the presidency.
It is a good
thing that so many people rose up against presidential
law breaking. But that presents yet another
contradiction. This resistance will be valuable only if
it results in mass action against the larger political
system. Selective amnesia for Hillary Clinton or other
Democrats will not do. Appeals to the phony clarion call
for lesser evilism should not be the response to Trump
administration policies.
“There isn’t necessarily a downside for Trump in getting
bad press when his would-be opponents are hapless and
won’t admit that their implosion handed him the
presidency.”
It is good to
fight for humane treatment of Syrians but their rights
should be respected whether they are at an American
airport or in Damascus. They leave their homeland
because Obama administration policy destroyed their
country in the frenzy for regime change and that must
not be forgotten. The silence of Obama supporters during
the commission of this war crime should not be forgotten
either.
The ruling
classes prefer Obamaesque evil over Trump’s for obvious
reasons. They need a president who can commit wrongdoing
with a smile, not with a sneer. We the people shouldn’t
be fooled by either one. The story of the immigration
executive order is a test case for progressives. Will
they fight by returning to a discredited party or will
they fight to create something new?
Democratic
senators ought to reject every Trump appointee still
awaiting confirmation. They must act like the
Republicans do when they are out of power. Until the
immigration executive order some Democrats, like
progressive heroine Elizabeth Warren, were supporting
some Trump nominees. The “going along to get along” must
end. But so should support for the Democrats. People who
raced to the airport to try to help their fellow human
beings should look elsewhere and kill off the
incompetent lesser evil for good.
Democrats owe
their members more than just speaking up when Trump
commits an illegal act. That is just a starting point.
The Trump presidency is proof of the Democratic Party’s
irrelevance. Its failure is proof that new politics are
needed. Claims of lesser/greater evil must not rule the
day. All of the evil must be excised no matter where it
comes from.
Margaret Kimberley's Freedom Rider column appears weekly
in BAR, and is widely reprinted elsewhere. She maintains
a frequently updated blog as well as at
http://freedomrider.blogspot.com. Ms.
Kimberley lives in New York City, and can be reached via
e-Mail at Margaret.Kimberley(at)BlackAgendaReport.com.
The views
expressed in this article are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of
Information Clearing House. |
