The duck triumphs

Donald Trump, the real estate moghul, has more or less pocketed the Republican Party’s nomination for the American presidential poll this November. A total outsider, a totally unconventional political entrepreneur, a deliberately provocative politician, Trump has clinched the nomination despite open and well-organised opposition from the Republican Party establishment. Nine months ago every noted American political pundit had declared this duck to be a dead bird even before it reached the fish market: it was smelly, slippery and rotten, something that no American customer would care to buy. Nine months later this maverick politician has defied all those who had elevated themselves as the gate-keepers of conventional political wisdom. With a foul mouth, a very deep pocket, and a fabulous mastery over social media, Trump has saluted the Republican mainstream politicians and their traditional calculations, with a raised middle finger.  

Trump will most probably have Hillary Clinton as his Democratic Party rival. And, he has already promised that he would have no qualms about being personal and vicious to her, who he chooses to refer as “Crooked Hillary.” Between now and November, the world will watch with fascination — and, trepidation — as American presidential politics degenerates into unbecomingly ugly name-calling.  

Trump’s triumph tells the world quite a bit about the US. Admittedly the American political culture has never been totally hostile to ‘outsiders’. Senator Barry Goldwater (Republican) in 1964 and Senator George McGovern (Democrat) in 1972 were successful in capturing presidential nomination by positioning themselves as outsiders, as “anti-Washington” insurgents, with a promise of bringing about radical change in the way America conducted its internal and external affairs. Both suffered massive, inglorious defeats in the general election. But there is something deeply disturbing and equally regressive about Trump’s triumph. He has pursued a strategy of mobilising white America’s resentments and fears about the non-whites, especially the Hispanics and Muslims, and has been tapping xenophobic sentiments against a world Washington no longer controls and dominates. That he stands (nearly) rewarded with the presidential nomination of one of the two leading political parties reflects unflatteringly on the American society and its political culture. America has opted for a political figure the outside world can see only as the latest incarnation of old, very unlovable Ugly American.