No challenge to US democracy

THE EDITOR: This is a response to Kenny Persad's Newsday commentary of December 6 titled "Decline of US morality and democracy," in which he bemoaned Donald Trump's victory and criticised "the moral compass" of Americans who voted for him.

Persad concluded his piece by asking, "America, what have you become?" I would like to point out to Persad and those who share his concerns that the issue is not what America has become, but what it chooses to become and to what extent Trump's victory aligns with the aspirations and values of every-day Americans.

Persad’s commentary ignores the broader implications of the 2024 election. While he fixates on Trump’s convictions for non-violent offences, he disregards the public's disillusionment with Biden's presidency.

Biden's tenure has been marked by policy failures, economic instability and growing mistrust of government institutions. Americans’ choice of Trump over Biden reflects a rejection of policies that many believe have harmed the nation, rather than a moral failing, as Persad suggests.

Persad's oversimplified condemnation of American voters, because they voted overwhelmingly to give Trump the largest electoral majority in 40 years, exposes an inability to understand and deal with the complex motivations behind their choice.

Rather than attributing Trump's victory to the moral failing of Americans, a more intellectually honest critique would consider the notable failures of Biden-administration policies.

The so-called "woke agenda" that Persad apparently sees nothing wrong with has alienated millions of Americans who embraced Trump’s traditional values.

The biological absurdities of transgenderism demands, which the Biden administration supported and promoted, angered the majority of Americans. No American man wants his wife, daughter, sister or mother being forced to share public washrooms and changing rooms with biological men who choose to identify as women.

Biden's and the left's policies with their radical social experiments were antithetical to conservative values and were therefore roundly rejected.

Additionally, no border control, the unrestricted illegal influx of some 11 million unvetted and undocumented immigrants, sanctuary cities that shield criminals from prosecution and deportation were policies that compounded American anger.

On top of everything mentioned here, the weaponising of the judicial system against a political opponent just to keep him out of the 2024 election race undermines the very democratic principles Persad claims to be worried about. Such actions have eroded trust in the fairness and impartiality of US institutions, far more than Trump's faulty, even fraudulent business records could.

Persad's reference to "the election of a president with a criminal background" naively assumes integrity and wholesomeness of character of former US presidents, some of whom can be considered war criminals, and who would have been arrested, charged and dragged before international courts for committing genocide and crimes against humanity were it not for the military and economic might of the US government.

Trump had an unblemished record prior to being convicted. And what was he found guilty of? Simple bookkeeping violations – falsifying business records – relating to the payment of hush money to a prostitute in order to protect his family and himself from scandal.

America has faced and overcome profound challenges before, from the civil war to the civil rights movement. Trump's victory is no challenge to American democracy or it supremacy.

ANTHONY STANISCLAUS

Maraval