Yes, I am back in the USA with colleagues, flogging our little bag of marketing services to scarily successful investment houses in New York and Chicago. I love it here but America often feels very foreign and I am ready to go back home after a busy few days.
Not only do I like the country and the people but also America’s political system. Not because I agree with it. It is endlessly challenging to accept from the money involved, the growing tension of state versus federal governance, the bloated deficit, the lack of a fully independent judiciary system and, of course, the increasingly erratic, ugly face of today’s presidency…. but because it is fascinating.
Over to Donald Trump then. There is no such thing as the Republican Party any more even after a few feeble challenges to Trump’s authority. He is running rampant and simply doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions, too numerous to mention here. Janan Ganesh, one of the FT’s leading commentators, at the time of his re-election said you should be very scared about a second Trump presidency because he cannot seek a further term of office. He can therefore do anything and not worry about a lack of popularity. In fact, it is often touted that he would prefer a Democrat successor so he can say he is the only person who can win a presidential election as a Republican… umm… Thank goodness for the courts, even his partly hand-picked Supreme Court, are just about reining him in even if it is a constant battle. The Supreme Court today, for example, has made a hugely significant ruling in upholding birthright citizenship (that almost everyone born on US soil is a citizen) which is a major blow to the Trump administration.
Sorry, Democrats, a lurch to the left Corbyn-style is no solution…
That takes us to the Democrats. What a mess! They are even more unpopular than the GOP and only enjoy a poll lead in the mid-terms because of Trump’s unpopularity although, incredibly, a third of voters still think Trump is doing a good job. Biden may now be gone but the manner in which he stayed in power long after he was incapable of holding it has contributed lasting damage.
The Democrats are led by complacent donkey’s in Congress propped up by the malign influence of the Clintons and Obamas who revel in their celebrity status. They are often seen as the continuation of an amoral establishment who, however unfair, made little difference to the quality of life of ordinary voters.
Whilst sitting here in New York, it is clear the Democrats lack a believable, forceful leader who can provide direction to the Party nationally. In this absence and the consequent vacuum comes a Corbyn style solution. Democratic socialism led by the ageing Bernie Sanders, the charismatic US representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the newly elected New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani are leading the charge. Mamdani has just succeeded in replacing three incumbent House of Representatives candidates in New York with his own people and the same is happening across the Democratic Party as frustration mounts that establishment Democrats are just not making an impact in challenging the aggressive form of US capitalism and sometimes grotesque disparity of wealth it creates.
Fair enough, except as in most Western democracies, the majority of the electorate resides in the centre-ground of politics. Trump was never a shoe-in. The Democrats drove voters to elect him with their complacency, arrogance and lack of understanding of voters’ concerns. However, they are in danger of repeating a similar mistake with an unpopular lurch to the sugar rush left. For all its merits borne out of sheer frustration we know how the story ends. If in doubt, speak to Jeremy Corbyn…
Inside Right Politics 