By Deauwand Myers
The recent summit between a real dictator, Kim Jong-un, and a wannabe neo-fascist, Donald J. Trump, may be much ado about nothing. Seeing the two corpulent men on the world stage, North Korean and American flags presented side-by-side, was surreal. The international community was fascinated with this spectacle. Me? Not so much.
I've received a great deal of reader feedback about my stance on North Korea. Succinctly, I argued that North Korea will never give up its nuclear ambitions, because the Kim regime sees said ambitions as integral to its survival. Military engagement will most likely be the only way to bring an immutable end to Kim and company.
Another reason for this view? To negotiate any meaningful resolution to North Korea and other geopolitical crises, we need serious, sage and engaged elected and diplomatic officials. On that metric, America is woefully lacking. We have an incompetent and inept leader in Trump.
Trump is the very definition of an empty suit. Venal, mendacious, and without a whiff of integrity, 45 is surely smart (he leveraged white angst, aka racism, to win the nomination and the presidency, after all), but that's about it. If he were in the very least intellectually curious, and not so arrogant and lazy, he'd actually read white papers, intelligence reports, and study up on issues the government faces.
How was Trump elected?
I have had so many people ask me this question. Further, what are my views about the crisis on America's Southern border, particularly the separation of children from their parents? Obviously, it's abhorrent.
Yet, I cannot stress this enough: Democracies deserve the governments they get. For all those who supported the current administration, or ridiculous enough to equivocate 45 with Hillary Clinton as being the same or similar, you were obviously mistaken, especially if you're in a swing state.
Environmental regulations, healthcare, judicial appointments, discretion on how laws are enforced, and even the psychological mood of the country, wherein people feel emboldened to be more overtly racist and cruel simply due to the Oval's occupancy ... the difference between the two choices is (and was in 2016) exceedingly stark.
Secretary Clinton was a bit boring, stiff, and less engaging than Obama. So what? She wasn't running to be your girlfriend. If the juxtaposition of anyone sane vs. Trump is not enough to motivate the electorate, nothing will.
This is why we rarely know the names of prime ministers. They are often technocrats and politicians chosen by other technocrats and politicians (in parliamentary systems).
As I've written before, this fetishizing celebrity and sparkle, even in who runs our governments, must end, so should (on the left) this unrealistic and destructive pursuit of ideological perfection over reality.
Don't believe me? Do a simple thought experiment: Everything Trump has done ― reverse it. That's a would-be Clinton administration. I'm not for fetishizing Trump, but at the same time, elections have consequences. Leftists were lukewarm or anti-Clinton. The left made perfection enemy of the good.
Now that a second appointment is up for the Supreme Court, there's much gnashing of teeth.
First, breathe. Second, we must quit blaming the doom, impending and otherwise, on Clinton, Obama, et al. Mostly, white supremacy and misogyny are why we are where we are. The electoral college, another relic of white supremacy, is why we had Bush II, and now Trump.
Besides racism and misogyny, some blame must be placed on Obama: his ego, political naivete, and latent sexism.
Consider: former speaker Nancy Pelosi advised Obama to quickly pass Obamacare, because the GOP would never cosign on it. Instead, Obama wanted to be like Reagan and get consensus with an intractable enemy in the GOP.
This led to a year of hemorrhaging of political capital for Obama, et al, demagoguery via the GOP, while simultaneously strengthening the Tea Party. Had Pelosi been an old, white man, I really do think Obama would have heeded her sage advice and expeditiously pass Obamacare.
Moreover, Obama, like Bush II, wanted all of the political spotlight. He picked Joe Biden like Bush II picked Dick Cheney, because these vice presidents didn't have any political ambitions beyond that office. (Belatedly, Biden considered running, but that was very, very late in the election cycle, only after Clinton seemed to falter during the presidential primaries).
Had Obama picked Clinton as his vice president, or someone else who wanted to be president, we would not have had a debilitating primary battle between Clinton and Sanders.
Now, we are left with Trump, a racist man who praises dictators and believes he is above the law. He's a malignant narcissist, and dangerously ill-informed or uninformed, while controlling the most powerful nuclear arsenal in the world.
He's so bad, even as an agnostic, I pray. So should you … and vote.
Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside Seoul.
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I've received a great deal of reader feedback about my stance on North Korea. Succinctly, I argued that North Korea will never give up its nuclear ambitions, because the Kim regime sees said ambitions as integral to its survival. Military engagement will most likely be the only way to bring an immutable end to Kim and company.
Another reason for this view? To negotiate any meaningful resolution to North Korea and other geopolitical crises, we need serious, sage and engaged elected and diplomatic officials. On that metric, America is woefully lacking. We have an incompetent and inept leader in Trump.
Trump is the very definition of an empty suit. Venal, mendacious, and without a whiff of integrity, 45 is surely smart (he leveraged white angst, aka racism, to win the nomination and the presidency, after all), but that's about it. If he were in the very least intellectually curious, and not so arrogant and lazy, he'd actually read white papers, intelligence reports, and study up on issues the government faces.
How was Trump elected?
I have had so many people ask me this question. Further, what are my views about the crisis on America's Southern border, particularly the separation of children from their parents? Obviously, it's abhorrent.
Yet, I cannot stress this enough: Democracies deserve the governments they get. For all those who supported the current administration, or ridiculous enough to equivocate 45 with Hillary Clinton as being the same or similar, you were obviously mistaken, especially if you're in a swing state.
Environmental regulations, healthcare, judicial appointments, discretion on how laws are enforced, and even the psychological mood of the country, wherein people feel emboldened to be more overtly racist and cruel simply due to the Oval's occupancy ... the difference between the two choices is (and was in 2016) exceedingly stark.
Secretary Clinton was a bit boring, stiff, and less engaging than Obama. So what? She wasn't running to be your girlfriend. If the juxtaposition of anyone sane vs. Trump is not enough to motivate the electorate, nothing will.
This is why we rarely know the names of prime ministers. They are often technocrats and politicians chosen by other technocrats and politicians (in parliamentary systems).
As I've written before, this fetishizing celebrity and sparkle, even in who runs our governments, must end, so should (on the left) this unrealistic and destructive pursuit of ideological perfection over reality.
Don't believe me? Do a simple thought experiment: Everything Trump has done ― reverse it. That's a would-be Clinton administration. I'm not for fetishizing Trump, but at the same time, elections have consequences. Leftists were lukewarm or anti-Clinton. The left made perfection enemy of the good.
Now that a second appointment is up for the Supreme Court, there's much gnashing of teeth.
First, breathe. Second, we must quit blaming the doom, impending and otherwise, on Clinton, Obama, et al. Mostly, white supremacy and misogyny are why we are where we are. The electoral college, another relic of white supremacy, is why we had Bush II, and now Trump.
Besides racism and misogyny, some blame must be placed on Obama: his ego, political naivete, and latent sexism.
Consider: former speaker Nancy Pelosi advised Obama to quickly pass Obamacare, because the GOP would never cosign on it. Instead, Obama wanted to be like Reagan and get consensus with an intractable enemy in the GOP.
This led to a year of hemorrhaging of political capital for Obama, et al, demagoguery via the GOP, while simultaneously strengthening the Tea Party. Had Pelosi been an old, white man, I really do think Obama would have heeded her sage advice and expeditiously pass Obamacare.
Moreover, Obama, like Bush II, wanted all of the political spotlight. He picked Joe Biden like Bush II picked Dick Cheney, because these vice presidents didn't have any political ambitions beyond that office. (Belatedly, Biden considered running, but that was very, very late in the election cycle, only after Clinton seemed to falter during the presidential primaries).
Had Obama picked Clinton as his vice president, or someone else who wanted to be president, we would not have had a debilitating primary battle between Clinton and Sanders.
Now, we are left with Trump, a racist man who praises dictators and believes he is above the law. He's a malignant narcissist, and dangerously ill-informed or uninformed, while controlling the most powerful nuclear arsenal in the world.
He's so bad, even as an agnostic, I pray. So should you … and vote.
Deauwand Myers (deauwand@hotmail.com) holds a master's degree in English literature and literary theory, and is an English professor outside Seoul.
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