Liberty Expose: The Faux Elephant In The Room
Once again U.S. President Donald Trump is stirring up controversy, this time attacking four of the new progressive Congresswomen in the House of Representatives. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC), Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tliab, and Ayanna Pressley (also known as “the Gang”) have been attacked by the President for their own questionable statements, stating that they should go back to where they come from. Trump’s comments, while creating chaos amid the Democratic ranks in Congress, may as well seal the fate of the Republican Party -- and Donald Trump’s administration -- in the 2020 election.
In the run up to the current scandal over Trump’s tweet, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had been battling the Gang over the group’s use of social media and activism in place of actually legislating. The Speaker was certainly right to call them out. AOC and Omar in particular are fervent tweeters whose posts galvanize progressives and riles up her political rivals, but achieve very little in getting policy through which is their chief job as Members of Congress (MoC). After Ocasio-Cortez accused Pelosi of singling her and the other members of the Gang because they are people of color, Trump came to the defense of the matriarch of the House Dems by stating she is not a racist. This was an admirable comment from a man who has previously traded barbs with the Speaker.
All this was thrown out the window, however, when Trump tweeted his now infamous remark. The President was admonished by the Democrats, some Republicans (mostly from Never Trump conservatives, -- most responses from GOP MoC were tepid ), and foreign politicians such as Britain’s Boris Johnson. To make matters worse, Trump’s base is making it known that they do not care about the ramifications that will come out of their dear leader’s word choice. At a rally this Wednesday, Trump supporters started chanting “Send her back” when the President brought up the controversy over how Rep. Omar gained citizenship when she came here from the war-torn land of Somalia. While I am certainly not a fan of Omar -- she has previously fought for a lenient sentence for an ISIS fighter who was arrested for supporting the terrorist organization -- the chants at the campaign rally were utterly disgusting.
The “Lock her up” chants directed at failed 2016 Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton were repulsive because it preordained guilt on someone without any sort of investigation or trial. But the chants around Omar betray everything American stands for -- or at least -- what it should stand for. Since the time of Colonial America, people from all walks of life came here to escape persecution and live a better life. What Omar is facing is what many Americans who are not Caucasian deal with everyday. They get told to “get out of my country” or “go back to where you came from” even if the victims of these racist attacks are citizens (native or naturalized). By echoing these insults, Trump is betraying the core principles of the GOP and the country. Indeed, the party’s direction on immigration is a far cry from 1980 when then Presidential candidate Ronald essentially supported the idea of opening the border so people can freely cross between them.
On top of the racist comments made by Trump, the GOP of today has forgotten its own policy platform. Through legislation such as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and the country’s budget for the coming year, the U.S. is projected to add about $1 trillion to the US deficit. After over a decade telling voters that they will balance the budget, the Republicans have finally made it clear that they simply do not care now that they are in power. Tariffs, bad tax policy and bailouts to farmers are not conservative, they are economic illiterate that will only threaten the health of American society.
On foreign policy, the U.S. is on its way to losing its hegemony. Trump’s decision to withdraw the country from the Intermediate-Nuclear Forces Treaty and the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action over Iran’s nuclear program signal to the world that we are not a reliable partner. Furthermore, the President has given North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un what the latter has always wanted -- legitimacy. By meeting with Un in Singapore, Hanoi and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), Trump has put the DPRK on par with the U.S. There is no longer a reason for North Korea to denuclearize now that they know Trump recognizes them as an equal. It also feeds the DPRK propaganda machine which entrenches Un’s image as a powerful leader who can make the world’s superpower cower beneath his heel.
With the 2020 campaign now in full swing, the outlook for the President is dire. Trump claims that polls show he is coming out on top, but this is far from the truth. When compared to the current front-runner, Joe Biden, the President’s prospects looks grim. In states such as “Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin -- and even Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio,” the former Vice President comes out on top according to the Trump’s campaign internal polling. Even though we have a long way to go before the election is over, the future holds many more gaffs, scandals and other events that could spell doom for the President’s reelection campaign. Furthermore, while the Democrats in Congress is in chaos mode, its voters are not. During the 2016 election, the left was certain that Clinton would come out on top -- scoffing at the idea anyone as brazen as Trump could topple their political juggernaut. Now the Democrats know the threat. They will not tolerate a man they see as a racist, misogynistic and incompetent remain a day longer in the Oval Office, and many Republicans and Independents who are not committed to the President may join the this crusade.
Because of all this, it is time to acknowledge that the GOP we thought existed is no more and thus no longer deserves to continue. The nationalists have taken over, seeking to tear down every redeemable aspect that the conservative movement had to offer. Reagan is no longer king of the jungle, for Trump has squashed any of the Great Communicator’s influence. If the GOP is going to learn that the President cannot be its future, it needs to lose -- hard. It could be possible that the party does go back to its roots in the post-Trump era if the President loses his reelection bid, and I do hope it happens, but I am not known to be an optimistic person. Politics has always been seen as a zero-sum game: winning is everything, honor is merely an afterthought.