President Trump each time won the presidency with the promise of America First. But what was quite on full display last time and even more this time around is as if though the phrase America First is the last two words of a full sentence that Trump speaks, which goes as follows: I will destroy every country in the world but, America First.
Trump gave his ridiculous speech at the UN general assembly. I did not have the stomach to watch the full comedy show but I am sure somewhere he must have said how everyone predicted that he would lose but he won big, and beautiful too. But the parts of the speech that I was able to watch on social media did get me thinking. I was able to draw a direct line between what Trump said and what the problem with American democracy really is, and has been for a while.
Trump bashed the environmentalists. He expressed his anger against those countries that were supporting the efforts to tackle climate change. He had all sorts of names for climate action. The “greatest con job” and “green scam” were some of the names given to the fight against one of the greatest threats to the survival of humanity on earth, a fight that he said was designed by “stupid people”. So much for being presidential. Something tells me the janitor at the UN building speaks better than this piss colour haired con artist.
He also talked about US allied countries such as England, Australia, Canada, France and others that had recognised the state of Palestine. Trump’s teleprompter stopped working but when it comes to Palestine and the illegal state of Israel, I am confident he did not need the teleprompter because almost all of the American politicians can repeat verbatim the propaganda talking points that the Israel lobby inside America wants them to sing. And boy do they sing it?
Recognising Palestine is bad because that is an appeasement of Hamas. The same boring illogical nonsense rhetoric smelling of the time tested Jewish whine. Trump also said that the war in Gaza must stop. That is arguably the “greatest con job” because it is the United States that provides the weapons and the support for Israel to unleash that asymmetrical war, aka genocide. It is also the US that can end this Israeli aggression with a simple phone call. So, the aliens that many say are visiting us in November must be really confused with this rhetoric wondering if Trump was talking to himself or was it one of those lies politicians always spoke reflexively.
Thinking about Trump’s tirade targeting Palestinian recognition and climate change action, I couldn’t shake off the thought that while other countries’ leaders, even from undemocratic states, were there to advocate for the interests of their countries, Trump was there speaking on behalf of powerful lobbies inside the United States. Big oil and Israel both have powerful lobbies inside America. Each work day and night toward one goal only: to maximise their profit and to continue to steal Palestinian land respectively. America First is the biggest lie told to the American people. Being the president of the proudest and most representative democracy, Trump was speaking there not for the interests of the American people but for lobbies that are actually detrimental to American democracy and American image globally. That I think also qualifies to be the “greatest con job” right there. It was also the lobby power where he reversed his position on Ukraine and Russia.
The western nations recognising the state of Palestine also hinted at another harsh reality of American democracy: this is what is possible when you don’t have lobbies inside your country harming your democracy. This is what America could have done had there not been an AIPAC. Israel is losing the PR battle inside America. As Megyn Kelly rightly pointed out, “Everybody under 30 is against Israel”. But AIPAC wouldn’t allow any policy that reflects that American sentiment.
