The Trump terror: Is America inviting tyranny?

With the US presidential elections gaining momentum at an expedited pace, the past few months have witnessed mounting public interest in the candidates vying for supremacy in the race towards the White House.  As usual, the top two heavyweight political factions, the Democrats and Republicans, are exercising monopoly when it comes to pre-electoral voting, and quite visibly the respective candidates enjoy unparallelled media coverage and publicity on all fronts, be it in terms of national or global exposure which unequivocally embodies the paramount importance and impact of American politics on the rest of the world. From being hailed as the single-most dominant behemoth in the global economic and political arena for roughly six decades to tackling unprecedented juggernaut arch-rivals in the form of China and Russia, the economy has endured much turbulence in the past decade, marked with  the onslaught of a destructive recession and  caprice of economic stagnancy. Such radical movement along the business cycle model - from a state of expansion, to the pinnacle of prosperity and finally hitting rock bottom with receding productivity - is not the only concerning agenda for the country, however, as shifts in previously centralised global power relations and paradigms from the West to the East brought an incoming surge of conflict and chaos. The Obama cabinet has had its fair share of successes nevertheless as policies reviving the economic impasse injected an elusive breath of fresh air, but  a look at the other end of the spectrum  shows its struggle to contain skyrocketing militancy and fundamentalism.
As this article is being penned, America holds its breath for a final showdown between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, in the impending presidential elections to be held in November. One look at the current poll analytics indicates how astonishingly close this man is to epicentre of world power, aka the White House. Quite intriguingly, in a research conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Donald Trump winning the US presidential elections is considered as one of the top 10 risks facing the world. Experts have voiced their anxiety over the not-so-remote possibility of seeing the  virulent populist at the helm of the White House, adding that his 'grand' entry to the arena of global politics could escalate concerns  over US security and atrophy the current US foreign policy, thus disrupting the global economy. Heralded as  the newest addition to the 'pantheon' of  some of the world's most infamous and controversial leaders like Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin and Franco, the man has swept the primary and caucus  elections, riding on a wave of unexpected, yet strong public support. Known for his bombastic and explosive rhetoric, the man promises to build a wall on the US-Mexican border, to bar the entry of immigrants whom he vituperatively terms as 'drug-dealers and murderers' and 'vicious snakes'. His vision to make 'America Great again' is one that is stained with the blood of the Muslim populace currently residing in the States, which is basically an election manifesto that pledges complete legal immunity for racists, fundamentalists and xenophobes.  A recent video featuring Dr Suzanne Barakat, sister of one of victims of the brutal Chapel Hill Shootings, went viral on social media networks that disseminated a strong message to the American demagogue promoting contempt and fascism.
'I want you to look at me and say that my brother deserved to die because of his faith, that he didn't belong here. When Trump says that Muslims are worthy of being killed with bullets dipped in pig's blood, then what he's essentially doing is saying that an entire group of people are worthy of violence. He's not realising that the same words that gain him votes in the campaign, are ones that also lead to potentially lethal outcomes, like in the case of my family.'
Those where the exactly same words spoken by an American Muslim woman, words which echo the terrifying consequences of hate speech and Islamophobia which Trump's campaign openly vindicates. Trump's proposals to establish a mandatory Muslim registry and shut down mosques is strongly redolent of the apartheid era of the pre 90's, a period that witnessed egregious discrimination to the extent that Black skinned South Africans were obligated to use separate entrances to subway stations.
Trump's exceedingly antagonistic stance on free trade is as disturbing as his pro-racist orations.  China was slapped with the outright label of 'currency manipulator' and the Middle East was no exception of course, having to bear the brunt of his vindictive outbursts. Advocating the extermination of the families of terrorist and invading civil war ravaged Syria were some of the points that his sanguinary campaign encompasses.  Declaring outlandish threats of a 'riot' by his supporters if he was denied the ticket to contend the upcoming elections, the rancorous Republican has made his unappeasable hunger for ultimate power and supremacy all the more conspicuous. Quite alarmingly, Trump's vehement canvass against Muslims and his hardliner, anti-Islam image has not only incited an increased tolerance towards hate crimes among many Americans, but also emboldened the voices of many other Republican front-runners  who share the same  distorted viewpoint as Trump, the most well known being Marco Rubio.  
A top-notch Harvard psychologist and researcher, Howard Gardner opined that Trump fits the perfect textbook definition of a 'narcissist', which can be elaborated as: 'A serious mental disorder in which people have an inflated sense of self-worth, a deep need for admiration and lack of empathy for others'.
Trump's shortage of empathy has been already exemplified by his brash and ethnocentric remarks about a number of ethnicities and nationalities, but it is not just the absence of compassion it seems.  Under the veneer of overpowering arrogance lies a sense of vulnerability to criticism and ideological conflict, which Trump displays by lashing out at anyone with the audacity to contradict him.  He made the headlines by hurling inappropriate and sexist remarks at a female talk show host, and was consequently slammed by the media for such shameless and flagrant behaviour in public. Many a time, Trump has drawn flak for his self-aggrandising and self-obsessed persona as he gloatingly brands his rhetoric as 'truthful hyperbole'. The megalomaniac billionaire has made quite a name by making 'boisterous' use of the English vocabulary.
As America prepares to bid adieu to its first Black president, it cannot, at the same time, afford to make a grave error in choosing his successor. What America needs right now is the kind of leadership that preserves the ideals of diplomacy, and one that seeks to break out of the maligned stereotype of 'Ugly American'. But will the 'mascot' for hate and malice be able to do that?  With the 'Trump' propaganda gaining solid ground, it is high time the Americans recognised this man for what he truly is.
A symbol of terror.

The writer is a 2nd year BSS (Hons) student of Department of Development Studies, University of Dhaka. Email: [email protected]