The reasons for Donald Trump’s triumphant march to securing his party’s candidature for presidentship are a reflection of much that has gone wrong in the US
Now that, barring the proverbially unexpected, Donald Trump will be the Republican candidate for the United States presidency, the talk is about what brought him so far and the chances of his making it to the White House. As to the first, a very large number of Americans believe that they have had enough of the way their country is run. Perhaps the most important reason is economic. Chris Hedges writes in his incisive, Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Wages of Rebellion: The Moral Imperative of Revolt:
“The rising living standards experienced by the American working class in the 1950s have been in precipitous decline since the 1970s. The real earnings of the median male have declined by 19 per cent since 1970, and the median male with only a high school diploma saw his real earnings fall by 41 per cent from 1970 to 2010. Moreover, the memory of the post-war moment of prosperity and the belief that prosperity should still be possible — along with the revocation of the protection under the Constitution that most Americans want restored — have left Americans increasingly alienated, frustrated and angry.”
Hedges further points out, “The poor population in the United States — 15 per cent of the total and a disturbing 21.8 per cent for the children under the age of 18 — is expanding. The 46.5 million people living in poverty in 2012 was the largest number of poor counted during the fifty-four years in which the decennial census have calculated poverty rates.”
Hedges points out that the masses of under-employed and unemployed have discovered the hollowness of the neo-liberal promise that the rich will share with them the wealth accruing from economic deregulation and financialisation. He adds, “In this discovery, this understanding that workers will never have what they expect, lies revolutionary fodder.”
While it is difficult to see a violent revolution sweeping the US, one can see riots becoming increasingly violent and widespread and significant changes coming through the ballot. Who could, 20 years ago,visualise an African American US PresidentIJ All this is for the future. At this moment, the fact is that a very large number of Americans — not just the working poor but unemployed or under-employed college graduates and students, along with unemployed journalists, artists, lawyers and teachers— are fed up and want a major change, all the more because they believe that those responsible for the crisis unfolding from 2008 have gone — and will go — unpunished.
One result of the alienation was the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement; the surprising surge of support behind Senator Bernie Sanders's bid to become the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, is another. The third is the support behind Trump's candidature, which has also the backing of some of the privileged who hate President Obama's policies.
Trump's intemperate trashing of everyone and everything he perceives as standing in his way strikes a chord in many who have come to hate existing politicians who, they feel, are rotten to the core. The promise to expel all illegal immigrants and build a wall along the US's border with Mexico, appeals to those who blame migrants for their job losses or difficulty in finding employment. His promise to stop all Muslims from entering the US until the Islamist threat is over, strongly appeals to those rendered paranoid by terrorist strikes within the US.
The consequences, including the erosion of the US's standing and salience abroad, do not seem to bother them. Many of them believe that the faster the US sheds its resources-draining involvements abroad, the better. Many of them, not educated beyond high school, are unable to foresee the disastrous harvests of some of his breath-taking economic nostrums.
Is the coalition behind Trump large enough to ensure victoryIJ Will a section of traditional Republican supporters not vote for himIJ Will all Democrats — particularly Senator Sanders's supporters — vote for Hillary ClintonIJ There are yet no credible answers to these critical questions. Meanwhile, the commonplace feeling is that he is unlikely to win but may spring a surprise. What thenIJ An articulate and well-informed cab driver answered, “God save America!”