A Rock Star, the World and a Demagogue

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When Obama bid for the presidency in 2008, Republicans ran negative ads to suggest his worldwide appeal and popularity – referring to him as rock star – was “a bad thing” for the country, not a quality to look for in a leader they claimed. In 2016, the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, has also worldwide popularity, as a Demagogue.

As a patriot, it is my duty to warn the constituents of an impending danger, the easiness of choosing the wrong leader in the upcoming November elections.

Republican leaders have proven for more than a decade now that patriotism is just a convenient word they’ve used to fulfill their most nefarious agendas; they took the country to war under false pretense, sacrificed needlessly the lives of our young men and women in uniforms and exposed the country to external threats and terrorism. Today, they’re at it again; they’re working relentlessly to give us Donald Trump, a bona fide Demagogue.

You see, in 2008 when the young Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama, bid for the office of the presidency, no one paid attention initially; he was much like “the other” candidate for president. Besides, his African name alone could have derailed his aspiration; in addition, as a black man in America – the country as a whole doesn’t have flattering views of blacks – Obama had a steep climb to reach the Oval Office. However, after his speech at the 2004 Democratic convention – for the celebration of John Kerry as the nominee – caught the attention of the powerbrokers and elevated him to “upcoming star status”, the “Elders” of the party believed he was prematurely too politically ambitious. When Obama bid for the presidency in 2008, he was also at a big disadvantage; most political pundits had already coronated Mrs. Clinton as the likely nominee for the Democratic Party. However, he was audacious, bold, determined and had a genuine interest to solving social and economic issues of the country.

After a long and bruising primary season, – challenging the Clintons – Hillary finally conceded victory to Obama, putting an end to the speculation of a possible contested convention. Following a short period of sour relation between the Clintons and the Obamas, the two camps mended fences, hugged and sat down to strategize on how best to defeat then Republican opponent John McCain.

Mr. Obama’s likability rating was high; he was seen as smart, intelligent (the opposite of George W. Bush) and most capable of repairing the damage caused by the Bush administration on the international scene. He was admired at home by a crowd of young people who saw in the Illinois Senator a hope for change and was greeted abroad much like a rock star; ironically, the Republican Party tried to use his worldwide popularity as a wedge against him. The Republican political strategists framed Obama’s rock star popularity as something that’s not needed in a leader – all the while promoting Sarah Palin (McCain’s choice of VP) as something good for the country; I always wonder whether politics eat people’s brain, depriving them of complete rationality – Most world leaders however welcomed the prospect and looked forward to “sitting at a table” with a President Obama. That was 2008.

In 2015, something comparable happened; the real estate mogul Donald Trump announced his bid for the presidency. Already a familiar name in the business world, he was also well known in the political arena. He was not a career politician but he had the full backing of the Republican legislators in Washington; he helped the GOP leaders – whose primary objective was to cripple the Obama’s administration – undermine the legitimacy of Obama as president. Donald Trump was the ringleader in the Birther movement whose sole purpose for existing was to spread the false rumors about Obama’s birthplace. The birtherists claimed Obama was ineligible to be president because he was born outside the United States. Trump publicly declared he will provide proof about Obama’s actual birthplace. Considered a tactical weapon to use against Obama and his administration, the Republican leaders and legislators in Washington let Trump roam unbridled in his attitude towards Obama and silently approved his streak of outrageous verbal attacks on the President of the United States. The Republican elites welcomed the idea of having a Demagogue in their midst to do their most dirty work. It is the same Demagogue they now want to be in the Oval Office. Does that sound like patriotism to you?

To their surprise, they now have to fight the monster they created; it turns out that Donald Trump – the Republicans so love for having done such a great job insulting the president regularly – has become a monster they could not simply wish away. The GOP leaders must indeed travel the road they have so meticulously built.

That was just the tip of the iceberg.

On the very day Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency, he started a feud with the neighboring Head of State, the Mexican president; he tagged the Mexican immigrants coming into the United States as rapists, criminals and the like and threatened to i) deport them all back to Mexico ii) build a wall to prevent further influx into the country and suggest that the Mexican government will be forced to pay for the cost of the wall.
Later in the course of his campaign during the primary season, Mr. Trump picked a fight with China; he believes he’s able to push Chinese leaders to be fair in their trade deals with the United States or face huge tariffs for their exports into US.
In an interesting twist, he also departed from the Republican position on Israel vis-à-vis the situation in the Middle East; he hinted at how his administration would handle the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, to avoid taking side and let the two parties work out their differences. He later apologized to the Jewish Leaders in a speech at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy conference on March 21, 2016.
In regards to foreign policy in general, Mr. Trump would adopt a nationalist posture; 1) he would not get the US armed forces involved in conflicts he would find unnecessary 2) he would have the respective governments pay for US military base presence in those countries 3) naturally he would be tough with ISIS.

His unfiltered rhetoric coupled with his complete ignorance of foreign policy and his authoritarian tone already have Heads of States from across the globe shunned the idea of having to deal with a Trump administration in US; most have already begun to refer to him as a “rogue Superpower state”. Wherever Trump is not viewed as a funny man or a comedian is referred to as a Demagogue, certainly a very unflattering attribute for someone who may become the next US president.

If you are naïve enough to support Trump and your Party leaders are stupid enough to endorse him, keep the secret to yourself and don’t try to convince others to vote for Trump. You cannot claim to be a patriot because no rational mind can propose a Trump administration as something to look forward to or something good for the country. Donald Trump is a Demagogue which will endanger the nation; it is the duty of all patriots to protect the Republic from such individual.

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