CAN any Republican challenger stop the bigoted,
bilious and bombastic Donald Trump from amassing sufficient delegates in
the primaries and caucuses to become the Republican Party's nominee for
the US Presidential election scheduled on Nov 8 this year?
Although Ted Cruz has emerged as the strongest alternative to Trump,
the Texas Senator is unlikely to energise the Republican faithful to
rally behind him. Although Florida Senator Marco Rubio is the Grand Old
Party (GOP) establishment's favoured candidate, he is lagging in the
delegate count.
If Trump succeeds in becoming the GOP's standard-bearer, can a man
labelled by other Republicans as a con artist, a declasse mountebank and
a fraud win against the Democratic contender?
Whether former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Vermont Senator
Bernie Sanders become the Democratic nominee, both offer conventional
policy prescriptions.
Trump's jaw-dropping proposals include building a US$8 billion
(RM32.93 billion) wall on the southern border and suggesting Mexico pay
for its construction, deporting 11 million illegal immigrants from the
US and banning Muslims temporarily from entering America.
Equally headline-grabbing are Trump's rants against women.
Angered by Megyn Kelly's questions about the Republican frontrunner
calling women "fat pigs," "dogs" and "disgusting animals," Trump blasted
the Fox News anchor for asking "ridiculous" questions during a Fox News debate last August.
"You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming
out of her wherever. In my opinion, she was off base," Trump ranted.
A more intriguing question: can a Malaysian Trump reach the pinnacle of political power in this country?
Unfortunately, some Trump sound-alikes exist in this country. In
response to a complaint by a female Member of Parliament (MP) about a
leaking roof in Parliament, her male political opponent – sharing
Trump's obsession with female bodily fluids – fired back that she also
"leaked" every month.
Some Trump wannabees in this country indulge in name-calling and
revel in making outrageous statements – for example, labelling a
category of citizens, who have resided in this country for decades, if
not centuries, as "pendatang" or immigrants. There is little
justification for claiming Malaysian politicians, compared with their
American counterparts, are less cringe-worthy.
That last Thursday's televised debate in Detroit involving four
Republican contenders, including Trump, descended into vulgarity and
was, for long stretches, a juvenile name-calling slugfest underscores
the fact that American TV networks expect US presidential aspirants to
entertain viewers rather than elucidate policies for voters.
More worrying, Trump's rise as a successful vote-getter stems from
the widening income gap in the world's richest economy. Large swathes of
American voters are angry because they have gained little benefit from
the country's increasing prosperity.
Writing in The Salon, Paul Campos highlighted a clutch of
revealing statistics. In 2014, US per capita gross domestic product
(GDP) was US$55,185 – nearly double that in 1974. GDP is the total
output of goods and services within a country.
During the same 40-year period, the average household income of the
bottom 50% of American households barely edged upwards – from US$25,475
in 1974 to US$26,520 in 2014.
"In other words, half the population has gotten essentially none of
the extra US$10 trillion of national wealth that the American economy
has generated over the past 40 years," Campos noted.
Over the same period, the average household income of the top 5% of
American households accelerated almost two-fold from US$187,729 to
US$332,347.
For America's 13,000 richest households, comprising an infinitesimal
0.01% of the total population, their annual household income, adjusted
for inflation, skyrocketed by about seven-fold during the last four
decades – from less than US$5 million to more than US$30 million, Santos
wrote.
That American politicians like Trump, by targeting immigrants and
religious minorities, have becoming increasing popular is a major
concern for developing economies.
"Trump voters don't want to hear that we need a president who will
strengthen the safety net or a central banker who will weaken the
dollar. They want a strongman who will stick it to their enemies at home
and overseas – Putin with a New York accent," Matt O'Brien wrote in
Wonkblog.
"It is a combination of anger and fear that does not put people in a
particularly reflective frame of mind. This is the politics of the
viscera, not the brain," William Galston, Brookings Institute's
governance expert says.
In Malaysia, top political leaders have often argued redistributing
income should continue to be a major priority, that a widening income
gap in this country is a lesser concern.
Trump's rise to pre-eminence in the US suggests complacency on this issue isn't an option.
Time is also running short. Failure to redress this growing
disproportionate disparity in wealth – particularly within the same
ethnic group – could have significant and adverse political implications
in a general election that must be held months after the current
Parliament's mandate ends on June 24, 2018.
Opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of
the writer and should not be attributed to any organisation she is
connected with. She can be contacted at siokchoo@thesundaily.com
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