Opinion | Out-Trumping Trump—the end of the American century
By Philip Yeung, university teacher
PKY480@gmail.com
If there is any US presidential candidate to the right of Donald Trump, it is Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida. In a race to the bottom, he is frantically trying to shore up his crumbling candidacy by spitting out outrageous policy ideas that can be summed up in one word: negativity.
In the current contest, there is not even a sniff of the American dream. It is all about going full tilt for the negative. No abortion rights. No rights for sexual minorities, banning books in public libraries, suppressing voting rights for racial minorities, being anti-immigration, and, of course, being an out-and-out China-hating mad-dog.
On this last score, it should come as no surprise to any watchers of presidential politics. Being anti-China is a staple of Republican candidates. Except in DeSantis, he wants to be seen as doing something that not even the lunatic Trump will stoop to: revoke China’s permanent normal trade relations status, a status that has benefited both countries enormously for more than two decades—fighting poverty in China and keeping inflation low in America. To achieve this, he declares that, if he doesn’t get congressional approval, he will take executive action. It’s sure to send the already rocky US-China relationship into a tail spin. It’s an act of sheer lunacy, launched by a desperate and apparently brain-damaged candidate. The Republican Party is now the party of expediency, casually throwing monkey wrenches into international relations for political gain, whatever the costs. China-bashing has become a full-time job for far-right American politicians. It’s becoming an addiction. They wear their China hostility as a badge of honor, knowing it is politically fail-safe. DeSantis is merely the latest unprincipled practitioner. The China defender is now an endangered species, if not an extinct one in the US.
That, in a nutshell, is the caliber of American political leaders, and this is the country that still sells itself as the moral leader of the Western world, if not the entire world. Self-seeking, bombastic, short-termist, exploitative, and utterly shameless, they go where they can find the cheapest votes. We don’t hear about chasing a vision or doing the right thing or other high-falutin catch words anymore. This is the sad state of American politics. Do you still doubt that the end of the American century is already here?
With Biden’s dementia on daily public display, the return of the big bad ugly American, i.e., Trump can no longer be ruled out. A short while ago, Trump’s previous four-year lunacy appeared to have insured us against an encore by the world’s most dangerous man. Now, people are not so sure anymore. Worse, the only Republican primaries rival within a sniffing distance of Trump is himself a beyond-the-pale presidential office-seeker and reckless world-wrecker. We should all be very worried.
Our only hope is for the gaffe-prone Florida leader to self-implode, leaving the virtually unelectable Trump in the Republican field to go toe-to-toe with his Democratic rival. But we need another slice of luck, that Biden will suffer an irreversible public mental breakdown to force him to yield the place to a younger, rationalist replacement. If you are religious, you should start praying now for a three-in-one miracle or a trifecta in a Triple Crown. But the book-makers are already laughing all the way to the bank.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.
Read more articles by Philip Yeung:
Opinion | It's an American problem, not a China problem
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