Two fundamentals questions revolving around Donald J. Trump, the president of the United States, on the eve of the November elections, some say, the “most important elections in modern times:”
- Is Trump an anomaly in respect of the presidency of the United States?
- Or is he a product of the American historical systems of white supremacy, and extractive, heterotopian, patriarchal, white supremacist, patrimonial, megalomaniacal, feral neo-capitalism?
Some background:
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is the 45th and current president of the United States. Before entering politics, he was a businessman and television personality.
Born and raised in Queens, New York City, Trump attended Fordham University for two years and received a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He became president of his father’s real estate business in 1971, renamed it The Trump Organization, and expanded its operations to building or renovating skyscrapers, hotels, casinos, and golf courses. Trump later started various side ventures, mostly by licensing his name. Trump and his businesses have linked to more than 4,000 state and federal legal actions, including six bankruptcies. He owned the Miss Universe brand of beauty pageants from 1996 to 2015 and produced and hosted the reality television series The Apprentice from 2003 to 2015.
Trump’s political positions have been described as populist, protectionist, isolationist, and even ultra-nationalist. He entered the 2016 presidential race as a Republican and was elected in a surprise electoral college victory over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton while losing the popular vote. He became the oldest first-term U.S. president and the first without prior military or government service. His election and policies have sparked numerous protests. Trump has made many false or misleading statements during his campaign and presidency. His statements have been documented by fact-checkers, and the media have widely described the phenomenon as unprecedented in American politics! Many of his comments and actions are characterized as racially charged or racist and white supremacist.
Is he any different to previous Presidents of the United States of America?
In other words, is Trump an anomaly, say different to Lyndon B. Johnson, a known supporter of white supremacist groups like the KKK? Donald Trump, according to well known social and political commentator, Jeremy Scahill is no different from other Presidents of the United States. He is arguably a product of the Republican Party with its historical roots in supporting white supremacy and racism in America, its umbilical ties to corporate capital and its close relationship to Wall Street and the captains of industry. Yes, Trump is brash, uncultured, dishonest, misogynistic, patriarchal, and overtly racist, but how does that make him different, when America was born out of racism and founded its empire on the back of the proceeds of stolen labour through the institution of slavery; which it has never taken responsibility for.
It has a history of violence, conquests and imperialism starting with the so-called discovery of America by Christopher Columbus; who started with slaughtering more than 500 000 indigenous peoples. The British and French colonialists continued this trend with more than 95% of the total population of the indigenous peoples of the Americas wiped out, actually causing mini climate change.
The slaughter did not stop after its independence in 1776, where it set its sights on the Philipines, eventually amassing more than 800 bases, islands and territories around the planet that it controls. It has never resolved its past debt of slavery, never paid compensation to the later generations of slaves, and certainly never repatriated any land to the indigenous or the African-American peoples. America has either been in armed conflict, or at war with some nation for roughly 93% of its existence, since independence.
Donald J. Trump is merely following the playbook of every white person, liberal or otherwise that is socialized into a racist system of white supremacy; for being of European descent, and their childhood conditioning. And, much like every white person in the country, he represents what every white person in America is exposed to daily; the complete and utter dominance of the white race in all aspects of American life, across all the areas of human endeavours -the innate belief system that, “white is right!” He is a product of a violent system! The only difference is that he doesn’t pretend otherwise, no matter how obnoxious and embarrassing white people find him.
