American politics, the presidency

America, Have You Checked the Shop Window Lately?

An outsider’s view on the state of the US presidency and US responses to it

You can drop a pile of steaming dog shit on a silver cake platter and place it in a New York patisserie window, but it does not magically conform to its presentation and become a mouthwatering piece of cheesecake. No one buys it.

Is anyone arguing yet?

So, to extrapolate: the symbolic status of the US presidency, that role as figurehead of a nation, is undoubtedly the highest office and honor the people can bestow.

The home of the president, the White House, is no longer a mere building; it has been variously described as a ‘living monument’ and ‘the people’s house.’

My argument is that no amount of idealism, of tradition, of reverence for the office and what has grown up around it — the silver platter and elegant shop window — can transform or make palatable the person who currently holds that office.

The position itself cannot infuse dignity or wisdom into a self-aggrandizing, abusive, vindictive despot, or act like some shining shield of honor to deflect corruption, grift and dishonesty.

No amount of gold can hide the moral dilemma of having a convicted felon, and one deemed guilty of sexual assault by a civil judge and jury, in the role of president.

It breaks my heart to see a proud nation (with some notable exceptions) pretend that this almost 80-year-old president is acting in the best interest of the country and people, and is making wise decisions. To say this isn’t so, suggests they all know the truth and choose to do nothing.

In most other democratic countries, someone as boastful and self-aggrandizing would have been laughed out of town, regardless of office; someone as abusive, vindictive and divisive would have been heavily censured; someone as noticeably senile and irrational would have been removed from office, for the sake of his own health.

Instead, a tribe of people daily rake through Trump’s overnight rants, his rudeness to other world leaders, and his vocal scorn of the media and anyone who dares to criticize him; Team Trump hastily try to put a sensible or at least plausible spin on his social media ‘communications’. No one seems to question that a self-funded social media platform has now become the official voice of America.

Others turn his ravings into legitimate presidential orders that punish allies, strip citizens of dignity, destroy trade and the economy, support aggressive, invading countries, and even start wars.

Meanwhile, the bulk of citizens seem content to see it as some great football game, where they sit in the stands wearing their red or blue scarves and cheer or boo the Red president, no matter what he might do.

A democracy is not a democracy if it cannot recognize and remove a dangerous and destructive dictator. Please tell me it will happen soon.

Of course, you also have a right to tell me to mind my own business, as I am an Australian citizen of no status. But, you see, we have an expression here: When America sneezes, Australia catches cold. As a long-term ally of the US, what one crazy president does, or even says, affects us all badly.