Opinion

Tom Kelly: Although I detest what Trump stands for, he is mesmerising

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly

Tom Kelly is an Irish News columnist with a background in politics and public relations. He is also a former member of the Policing Board.

President Donald Trump on the campaign trail
President Donald Trump on the campaign trail President Donald Trump on the campaign trail

Months ago President Trump outlined his re-election strategy to the media and America.

Any result against him would be down to electoral fraud. Any win by the Democrats would be invalid. It did not matter it was untrue. Therefore no one should be surprised by the depths this president is prepared to plumb in order to stave off electoral defeat. Now losing the battle, he is out to fulfil his own prophecy.

Trump claimed four years ago that he would go to Washington to clear the swamp and as he stared defeat in the face, he insisted on dragging American politics into his sewer of falsehoods, untruths, lies and even more lies.

Losing an election is tough for any politician but more so when that election is a referendum on the character of the incumbent.

Trump the bully, Trump the bigot and Trump the narcissist has shown he is prepared to take down with him the very institutions that he as president under the American Constitution is supposed to defend and protect.

Even though I detest everything Trump stands for and says, he is mesmerising. It is like watching the Omen and being fixated and frightened at the same time. Trump’s flirtation with dictatorship can seem attractive (even in a democracy) to a populace in a state of flux and which is looking for a strong man to protect it.

Little wonder that nearly half of American voters buy into his fanaticism. He sounds confident even against a backdrop of chaos and uncertainty. Chaos created by him. American voters don’t like being told the truth. Honest Jimmy Carter tried it and lost.

Trump does not have voters, he has believers. He doesn’t have followers, he has cultists.

Trump reaches deep into American communities which are diverse. Most of us see America through the prism of New York, New England, Chicago or LA. But throughout middle America there are those who regard New Yorkers as alien as someone from Kazakhstan. Californians are like Martians!

His appeal is to white supremacists, conservative Catholics, strudel baking grannies, gun-toting rednecks, bible bashing pastors, store owners, anti-government militias and God-fearing Americans still hiding under the bed from an imaginary communist threat. Think American Dad in real time without the humour or irony.

To Trump’s credit he mobilised his voting base and his message about reopening the economy resonated.

But so too did Biden. He touched his blue collar base.

A staggering 73 million Americans bought into decent Joe - despite his faltering speeches and advanced age. Sleepy Joe is the tortoise who beat the hare.

Seventy one million Americans wanted a break from the despotism of the Trump administration. Biden represented hope. Not the worldwind type of hope of Bill Clinton or Obama. Just hope. The way you pray at night and hope to wake up safe in the morning.

Americans who voted for Biden/Harris know their democratic system is broken and has been for years. The floating voter is nearly non existent. The red and blue states are silos and no-one is open to persuasion. Republicans and Democrats are by and large pitching to closed minds and those with pre-determined prejudices.

It is bizarre in the extreme to hear an American president declare he has won the election with only half the votes counted. Even more strange for him to question the integrity of officials overseeing the counts. His scatter gun approach saw him call to keep on counting in Nevada and Arizona whilst trying to halt counts in Pennsylvania and Georgia. Trump makes Putin look democratic.

A seemingly unhinged Trump said he wouldn't concede. When the tantrums fade he will have to leave the White House.

It all reminds me of Dr Willis in the Madness of King George who said: “If the King swears and indulges in meaningless discourse, he will be restrained”, to which the King replied: “I am the King of England.” Willis then retorts: “No sir, you are the patient”.