As most of you know, we have entered the major US election season this year and just got over the first 2 Republican primaries. Furthermore, as any seasonal show and TV series would advertise, the new season is expected to be explosive with a lot of the same potions that have made the past 8 years memorable. Or it can be seen as a European Champion’s League football direct elimination rounds, which has been producing more and more playoff games between more or less the same teams.
This season, however, the show is being played in the background of major global geopolitical tensions, wars, and calamities, with ongoing flash-points in Europe, and the Middle East, and the ever pending flashpoint in South-East Asia.
Needless to say, Donald Trump (and not Duck) has been stealing the headline, as he has been ever since 2016. The field of Republican contenders against him has been reduced to one remaining, Nikki Haley. Ironically, she was his ambassador to the UN during his presidency.
I am not sure what will happen, and frankly I can ‘t do anything about it, but here is a thought:
- If you are worried about the militarisation of the international order and the march towards war that many nations have taken, wouldn’t you want Trump to win the presidency?! It may shock you, but don’t go out furiously cursing me－which I probably deserve.
Yes, the man is pompous, arrogant and chaos rigged, but deep within those characteristics, I think he also prefers to avoid wars, although if push comes to shove, he would have no qualms.
The bottom line is that he is a businessman, and as such he would prefer to deal with a world that wants to do business, buy and sell, than a world in which everyone beats up on each other. He is not for globalisation, but wants to sell things American to the whole world; be it weapons, equipment, holidays, and anything that America can produce and make money from. During his presidency, he did order the murder of the Iranian general, but we did not have a war. He left Afghanistan (albeit cowardly), and he reduced forces in Syria (although, again cowardly, left the fate of the Kurds in the hands of their arch-enemy, Turkey).
Now, I know he would wreak havoc on the world, not to mention further division within the US, but what if I am right about his presidency reducing the risks of major global or quasi-global wars? Would it be worth voting for a narcissistic megalomaniac for another 4 years to save a few hundred thousands－to not say millions－of lives? You be the judge.
Paris, February 1, 2024
Zeejay