Watch it, America, the boogeyman has officially arrived

Americans can count on President Donald Trump and his campaign for the elections; in fact President Trump can single handedly do it all. At a time when the rest of America is literally cringing at the thought of close to 1,80,000 people dead over the last six months on account of COVID-19, the Republicans and a handful of leaders in the Grand Old Party are making people believe there is nothing happening and that all the hoopla about the coronavirus is nothing but a figment of imagination of the Democrats just so that they could grab power on November 3.

If this reasoning by itself is not silly or painful enough, add to it the claim that “Beijing Biden” is working hand in gloves with China to bring down America.

The four-day Republican National Convention that began on Monday (August 24) will have its full share of hysterics, deep rooted conspiracies and everything else thrown in, except who is responsible for this downright mess that ordinary Americans are struggling to get over with.

At a time when Trump is trailing in the national polls and in key battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania, right wing and extremist operatives on their own or at the behest of the Trump campaign have come up with the perfect ingredients that would make Herbert Walker Bush’s 1988 campaign look like a Saturday school picnic.

Thirty two years ago, when the Bush campaign tagged Willie Horton — a convicted African American on furlough who raped a white woman and stabbed her partner — to Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis’ “soft on crime” theme, many were outraged at what they saw as a patently racist campaign.

But keeping in mind Trump’s recent campaign, that ad would not even have touched the surface. The Bush campaign, at the time, were apparently boasting that when it was all over, it would appear as if Horton was Dukakis’ running mate; but in the present scheme of things, what Horton did back then was insignificant compared to what could be dreamt of today!

The jamboree in the midst of a pandemic got off to a start in Charlotte, North Carolina, throwing to winds all norms of social distancing and masks, which was only to be expected.

Adding to the circus type environment, the President and his family members are planning to use the White House for political events, something many have questioned on legal and ethical grounds.

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But for an administration that, by the admission of its own staffers, cares two hoots for law or ethics, the blatant misuse of the White House lawns and properties would hardly raise an eyebrow to Trump and his extended family. After all, here is a President who sincerely believes that he is above everything.

If Day One of the Republican National Convention is anything to go by, it is absolutely clear on what is in store over the next three days in the aftermath of the re-nomination of the Trump-Pence ticket without much difficulty and fanfare. Even if the Grand Old Party is going to end a Convention without a platform, the foundations have already been laid out by the Trump family and speakers like Nikki Hailey.

To put in a nutshell for a person and a White House that thrives on the fear syndrome, the framework is in place: the Democrats are a “vengeful mob” waiting to lay waste; hoodlums and anti-social elements have started sharpening their knives to slit the throats of your wife and girlfriend; and mobs are just waiting for Biden and Company to enter the White House to loot and plunder your businesses.

If this is not enough, “Beijing Biden” and “Nasty Kamala” are getting ready to sell the country to the Chinese. As Donald Trump Jr.—the eldest son of the President—put it, Joseph Biden is the Loch Ness Monster of the Washington Swamp!

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According to the Junior, who is a key member of the re-election campaign team, Biden, as Senator and Vice President, has had every opportunity to crack down on China or come up with trade deals that favor the working class, but has failed to do so. “That makes sense, considering that Joe Biden is basically the Loch Ness Monster of the swamp. For the past half century, he’s been lurking around in there. He sticks his head up every now and then to run for president, then he disappears and doesn’t do much in between,” Trump Jr remarked.

It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what this Trump game is all about. In 2016, Trump pretended he was the savior of the Republican Party, which he perceived to be in tatters. Four years later, the GOP is worse off even if the leadership will not admit it, for fear of invoking the rage of the President.

However, today, the country, according to Trump, is in shambles and he alone can fix it from the clutches of a “cancel culture” that is trying to undermine everything America is all about. In 1988, it was the likes of Willie Horton who were given weekend passes by Governor Dukakis of Massachussetts; in 2020, the Hispanic mobs are rampaging through the streets of California, thanks to the furloughs extended by Senator Harris when she was Attorney General of the Golden State!

The beauty of it all is that Trump seems to have figured out the endgame, if nothing works in favor of him and he loses to Biden on November 3—the election had been rigged and stolen from him; and for this reason, he will not leave the White House. Perhaps he will chain himself to the fence of the White House and refuse to leave; or worse still, call his supporters to descend on Washington DC and throw the city into chaos.

Many are convinced that he will leave quietly, perhaps registering his protest by not attending the swearing-in ceremony of the incoming President on January 20, 2021. However, a handful are still worried that it might take the National Guards to show him out of the White House.

In his opening address to the RNC with the crowd yelling “four more years”, Trump could not contain himself: “ If you want to really drive them crazy, you say 12 more years,” leaving many to wonder whether it is just one of those remarks of the man that should not be taken seriously or if reflected a person once again toying with the idea of a “limitless” Presidency.

Writing in Vanity Fair, Jeff Sharlet says, “Trump lacks the drive of Mussolini or the will of Putin. He won’t seize that kind of power. He’s not actually that bold. But he’ll take it if he can. If it’s easy. Inertia, the tendency of things in motion to remain in motion, will carry him there if we don’t apply friction every inch of the way.”

(The writer was a former senior journalist in Washington D.C. covering North America and the United Nations.)