Americans at the grassroots level are bored, disinterested or vaguely interested about whether Donald Trump will try to get reelected as US president. Well, this appears to be true at least in terms of main daily worries. While for most in the South, Trump is a microscopic part of their focus, if at all. But Washington and the US main media seem consumed too often with all things happening around the ex-president.
The average working person or the poor are more worried about their food and energy bills and increasingly about dire weather, health care and disease. The western media and a good chunk of their audience may find Trump and his next doing or comings as fascinating news. For most of the world, especially the developing parts, they could not care less whether Trump gets into the driver seat in Washington, again. They are not only more worried about basic issues but whether the western car, a mostly US make, is going to crash into them and undermine their peace and development; or cause collateral damage whoever the president is.
A good case example is Liz Cheney, US congressional representative. She recently was defeated in the Republican party primary in the state of Wyoming; so will be out of Congress in January. Harriet Hageman who won the contest wanted to talk more about daily issues that affect their Wyoming constituents. Hageman not only won but smashed Cheney at the polls. Having Trump’s backing may have helped Hageman. But Cheney’s continuous preoccupation to get Trump from ever becoming president again did not endear her to the average voters.
Cheney, as signaled by her primary defeat speech will continue to lambast the ex-president until the “end of time”. This includes her long deliberations as vice-chairing the 6 January Committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol. A committee whose findings get so much attention that President Biden’s more recent accomplishments on passed laws on reducing inflation and battling climate change seem to have got second attention to the media’s reporting of the life and strife of Trump or Trump related.
What does most of the rest of the world think about Washington’s and friends’ preoccupation with the ex-president? Not much. Try Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission. I cannot find anything serious she directly said about Trump over the last year at least widely publicized. Neither is there anything recent by Prime Minister Modi of India who was welcomed wonderfully by Trump to America in 2019. How about Vladimir Putin? Neither Is Putin talking much about Trump who recently complimented Putin again. The Russian president knows that US policy on his country will not much change if the former US leader takes over the US again.
Remember this, too. The South and most of the world, including China and Russia, do not see the US or West in general as really being all that helpful in making a major dent to their problems especially structural ones. Though, if Trump were to win the White House, global leaders in the South might have to hang onto their hats. Then again maybe not as many of these long serving heads have had their experience with Trump. And thus, they may be more adept to dealing with a Trump in US charge again.
But once more, Trump or no Trump, these presidents and prime ministers know they are stuck with the Washington establishment. One that has certainly not always been very understanding of the other side outside the developed world. That is so be it India, Mexico, the Middle East to Russia and China and well beyond. Anyone who believes a new Trump presidency will make a serious difference, including solving global inflation, climate change or reducing tensions with China or Russia, may be dreaming. It should not be forgotten, too, as according to a recent Princeton University study that America is not a democratic country and is run by oligarchs. Sorry to say to Liz Cheney, Donald Trump did not make the US too authoritarian or far from fulfilling its constitutional responsibilities or ideals of being a shiny beacon on the hill for the underprivileged and the trampled. Despite trying to make this polemic, Cheney and her Democrat party associates on the 6 January committee would like to wrap up much with what is undemocratic and even extremist with America at the foot of Donald Trump and his foot soldiers. It will neither work for most Americans nor certainly for the South. A South which has been struggling with the impact of US and western imperialism to even the enduring legacies of colonialism, racism and indenture. Or the fact that a net of many trillions of dollars is removed from developing world economies by the West. Does CNN and other US media even care about this? Do they think the magic “wand” of getting Trump ineligible to run in the 2024 election is going to solve these problems of the poor and alienated, nationally or globally?
Donald Trump does not largely make it even as a sideshow in most newspapers in the South. And leaders around the world know what he is about: a largely entertainment show at times of irritating buffoonery, disruption and distraction, though not completely. The major issues remain for the South regarding distribution of global power and economic injustice currently and for the past. And there remains a real need for a more responsible US in managing war and peace. To a large degree, the bread-and-butter issues will not go away. Meanwhile, those informed look on at the mindless divisions in Washington as the world literally burns.
Peter Dash is an educator based in Southeast Asia.
