Boomerang against Trump
Yesterday's boomerang for Trump risks going back for years and compromising the very political viability of future leaders who want to collect his legacy, his themes, his battles. The comment by Federico Punzi, editorial director of Atlantico Quotidiano
Donald Trump has his responsibilities and will pay dearly for what we saw yesterday. From today, it will be more radioactive than ever. From today, it will be more difficult, regardless of merit, for his reasons for electoral fraud to be heard and evaluated.
The first effect is that the certification of Biden's victory in Congress will proceed more expeditiously, the "objections" to the votes of the electors in the contested states withdrawn, any discussion of the irregularities buried.
It will be more difficult for anyone to defend, or just calmly evaluate his political heritage, which nevertheless presented many positive aspects; and it will be more difficult to support him in the future, should he want to run for the presidency again.
It will be more difficult for him to find allies and supporters, among politicians but also in the world of media, economy and finance. Many who could have continued to support him will turn away.
If the defeat of measure, the election deemed "stolen" by a good slice of Americans (not just his constituents), the 74 million votes, left him a great influence on the Republican Party, and therefore the prospect of re-running for the House Bianca in four years, it is very likely (not certain, but very likely) that the assault of a crowd of her supporters on the Capitol in Washington will spell her political end.
On the other hand, from November 4th onwards, despite still having a lot to lose, he decided to go all-in as his style, he played with fire, considering that the gravity of what happened required it. Right or wrong, he lost control of the situation. And finally, last night he shouldn't have let Biden get ahead of him in delivering an official speech. He should have immediately condemned the ongoing Congressional occupation and promptly ordered the intervention of the National Guard.
Yesterday's boomerang risks going back for years and compromising the very political practicality of future leaders who want to collect his legacy, his themes, his battles: any doubt about the regularity of the electoral process will be criminalized; the social and political stigma on anyone who exhibits sympathy for him or his positions multiplied; the Democrats will undeservedly pass as defenders of the Constitution and the GOP, torn apart, through a painful process of purges and abjurations, the lost and disillusioned voters.
The raid on Congress is an unjustifiable and counterproductive act. But it would be intellectually dishonest to keep quiet about the other factors that ignited the political climate in the United States leading to yesterday's dramatic scenes. In these hours, of course, many will instrumentally blame Trump (and his allies in the GOP) with all responsibility, discharging themselves. But dishonest analysis will not help cure the ills that plague American politics and reconcile a deeply divided nation.
This political crisis is also the result of years of delegitimization not only of Donald Trump, legitimately elected in 2016, but of half of America, vilified, forgotten and humiliated long before his candidacy.
The Democrats have been playing the delegitimization of their opponents (and their constituents), whoever they are, for decades. The myth of the stolen election is ancient, but in recent times it dates back to 2000, to the disputed victory of George W. Bush, who seems to have forgotten how he was mocked and demonized. And it reaches the present day, passing through the Russiagate hoax in 2016, when an attempt was theorized and practiced – this yes coup, implemented from within the institutions – to overthrow or at least cripple the Trump presidency.
In the background, a cultural polarization, even before political, growing in American society: between the coasts and the interior of the continent; between metropolitan areas and rural areas. Without forgetting the threat of “Cancel Culture”.
Disastrous consequences also had the months of riots, fires, looting, "autonomous zones", statues demolished and political violence of the radical left, from Antifa to Black Lives Matter: violence which was also subversive and remained unpunished, tolerated by the political authorities – citizens state – and judicial, acquitted by the media. Often the mayors (Democrats) ordered the police not to intervene and to withdraw, even if police stations were attacked and city halls occupied; (Democratic) governors refused to bring in the National Guard to protect the lives and property of their citizens, as well as the security of government buildings; often the prosecutors (also Democrats) did not prosecute those responsible for the violence.
(extract from an article published in Atlantico Quotidiano; here the full version )
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/boomerang-contro-trump/ on Thu, 07 Jan 2021 07:28:23 +0000.