I AM not an admirer of Donald Trump, but I believe three things happened to Mr. Trump on two occasions. Those two occasions were during his first presidential campaign and secondly during his first term. The three things were – the role of powerful state security agencies to undermine his first term presidency, which Mr. Trump called the Deep State, unprofessional journalism of America’s mainstream media directed against Trump and thirdly, the abandonment of any pretence of the democratic state to observe democratic rights of those the state does not accept as head of government.
Mr. Trump announced the sum of 1.8 billion dollars as a settlement fund for those in his government during the first term who were harassed by state security. Whether you like or dislike Mr. Trump, there seems to be evidence, not sparse but abundant, that state security under President Obama tried to undermine the Trump presidential campaign and state security (which Trump calls the Deep State) during his first term tried to damage his presidency.
This is a situation that people around the world do not want to admit for two reasons. One is because they do not like Mr. Trump and do not want to say anything in his favour and secondly, it exposes the fraudulent nature of Western democracy. The West, even when its power was at the zenith with empire status, hypnotized the world into the belief that its democracy is impeccable, and this democracy is the recognition of the rights of all humans to be free from the unjust power of the state.
The story of the harassment of Donald Trump during his first presidential campaign and his first term as president, has shattered the illusion that the people of the world had that governments change in the Western world by competitive elections in which every human is free to contest.
There is one man that Mr. Trump has his sights on. His name is James Comey. Mr. Trump fired him as FBI director. He was charged with perjury and freed. Mr. Comey has been charged again. This time for threatening the life of Mr. Trump. Why is Mr. Trump so after Mr. Comey? Because he knows how state security was politicised first by President Obama and by Mr. Comey when he was the FBI director.
In July last year, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabarrd released a declassified report into Mr. Trump by state security during Mr. Trump’s first term. This document is priceless because it shatters the illusion that the world had that Western democracy is superior to governance outside of the West.
Obviously, Mr. Trump read that report, and he is aware of what President Obama did and Mr. Comey. If I lived in the US, I would not have voted for Mr. Trump, but I believe he had a right to run for president of the USA. When incumbent governments decide who should contest elections, then the collapse of democracy is inevitable.
In Guyana, a man I find to be unacceptable to be a politician, Mr. Azruddin Mohamed, ran for the presidency in the last general elections and became the Leader of the Opposition. The constitutional body that administered elections in Guyana did not seek to invalidate Mr. Azruddin’s candidacy. We do not do that in Guyana. That should not happen in a democracy. But it happened in the US during Trump’s first term, and it happened in Romania last year.
The frontrunner was a pro-Russian candidate. The Romanian election council through a conspiracy with the EU Commission, banned his candidacy. The descent into comicality took place when the council said he took money from the Russians and did not provide the world with the evidence. American Vice-President Vance knew what the EU did in Romania and last gave the EU a good tongue-lashing over its interference in the Romanian general election.
But the EU was at it before in France. The presidential front-runner, Maria Le Pen, has been legally banned from contesting the election next year. I would never have any appreciation for a human like Ms. Pen. I find her racist and obnoxious. But the EU, which came over to Guyana last year and lectured Guyanese on how to architecture a level playing field in elections, barefacedly moved the goalpost in France and Romania.
The Romanian and French examples have not achieved the traction the American situation have gained and that is because Mr. Trump won the presidency twice and so he has first-hand knowledge of the Deep State and how powerful it is in the US. And so, the West goes around the Global South lecturing countries on how to shape democracy but hasn’t a clue what democracy is about. Democracy is not about committing genocide. But that is happening right now in Gaza.
DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited.
