The drift to the right: conclusion

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Because of the surging torrent of news, I’m offering below my original piece, penned on July 11th, which seems about six years ago, followed by two postscript updates. I’m sorry that this makes what follows disjointed, but it does at least give an idea of the rush of events.

In the US, politics is basically a two-horse race, massively dominated by the Republicans and the Democrats. As to where these stand on the political spectrum, I can’t resist quoting a sketch by the British comic actor / writer Peter Cook. This was written in the early 1960s when the British Prime Minister was the Conservative Harold Macmillan, and Cook imagined the PM briefing a newly appointed British Ambassador to Washington:

“You ask me to outline for you the American political scene. Well, it’s really quite simple. There are two Parties, the Republicans and the Democrats. The Republicans are the equivalent of our Conservative Party. And the Democrats are the equivalent of our Conservative Party.”

Not entirely fair, but there’s a measure of truth in it. This year, as things stand, the contest will be between Donald Trump (Republican) and Joe Biden (Democrat). Now, about Trump, I have sounded off in this column before. He is a foul individual, in all sorts of ways. He has recently been found guilty on over 30 criminal counts. Of course he has angrily disputed the legitimacy of the courts; but imagine a Presidential candidate who denounces his own country’s legal system for personal gain. This is also the jerk who, when president, described Africa as a “shit country.”

(Readers, now remember this is till me writing on July 11th). The Democratic candidate is Joe Biden, currently president and trying to secure a second term in office. There are grave problems here, as Biden is evidently a much more decent fellow than Trump, but very elderly and as recent events have shown clearly losing his wits. In a televised debate between the two candidates Trump came across as he always does, that is, mean-minded and aggressive. Biden could hardly get through a sentence without losing his way and for much of the time was unintelligible.

Now, not to be too hard on the man, let me quote a recent opinion piece by a British columnist Michael Day: “Born with a speech impediment, Biden faced constant bullying until he taught himself not to stutter. His family faced unemployment and tough times. In addition to personal tragedy, Biden also suffered humiliation in his political career. When embarrassed or under attack, his reaction is to dig his heels in. According to American author Frankling Foer, ‘Now, in the greatest crisis of his career, he’s falling back on his ingrained instincts, his desperate desire to prove himself. But at this moment, given the stakes, his instincts feel less redemptive than delusional.”

There is a lot at stake here. Even assuming Americans don’t hurtle down once more into the Trumpian abyss, we don’t want the USA, the “leader of the free world”, governed by someone who’s losing their wits. Yet how is he to be stopped? When I wrote to a dear American friend and colleague who raises funds for the Democrats, asking “can anything, anything, be done to persuade Biden to step down, maybe at the Democratic Convention?” (the Convention precedes the election, on August 19th-22nd) he replied “that will be too late. We have to look to Biden’s advisers to do the right thing.”

Meanwhile, we wait with bated breath, as Biden’s advisers appear to be on an extended coffee break. A recent US political cartoon had two frames. One had the caption “How it started” and an image of Barack Obama announcing “Yes, we can!” (one of his catch-phrases). The other had the caption “How it’s going” and an image of two donkeys pushing a decrepit Biden forward and braying “Yes, you can!”

Speaking to ABC News on July 5th, Biden said only “the Lord Almighty” could convince him to drop out and went on: “I don’t think anybody is more qualified to be president or win this race than me.” This sounds frighteningly close to megalomania.

I’m rounding off by quoting a recent email to me from the American colleague I mentioned earlier (who is, by the way, Bernth Lindfors, the doyen of African literary studies in the USA). At a press conference held on July 11th “Biden did say some important things about foreign policy, an area in which no Democratic candidate who might replace him could match his expertise.

He is right about all he has achieved in his three and a half years in office. Unfortunately, he seems determined to ‘finish the job’, ignoring the fact that 75 percent of the electorate think he is too old to function effectively for four more years. The prospect of Trump returning to the White House with all the new powers our conservative Supreme Court has given, is really frightening, [enabling him to] resume office as a dictator.”

Postscript. Writing this PS on July 21st, things are moving at a tumultuous pace — really, a daily update is needed. Biden continues to resist calls to step down (and to add to his personal woes has come down with Covid).

There has also, of course, been the assassination attempt on Trump. Motives for this remain obscure and security shot the perpetrator dead, so he’s not going to tell us much (also lacking is any explanation as to why the security forces were so useless) but the effect has been to give the Trump campaign an emotional boost—surely not the effect intended? Further hot news: Trump has appointed as his running-mate one JD Vance, whose main claim to fame is strenuously resisting any notion there should be further American support for Ukraine: further evidence that Trump and Putin are snuggle-buddies.

PPS!! Now I’m writing on July 22nd and Biden has withdrawn from the race, saying, in an extremely dignified speech: “I believe it is in the best interest of my party and for the country for me to step down.” To paraphrase a line from Macbeth: “nothing in his career became him like the leaving it.”

Who will replace him as candidate for the election we shan’t know until the Democratic Convention, towards the end of next month, but it’s possible it will be his deputy, Kamala Harris, which would raise the possibility for the first time in history of the USA having a female president. What a roller-coaster! I’m a columnist for thepost, not a news reporter, but for the first time I now know how nail-biting it must be to be on the news desk.

Chris Dunton is a former Professor of English and Dean of Humanities at the National University of Lesotho.