Why a Donald Trump Presidency will spell the end of America
There are many reasons to criticise US presidential candidate Donald Trump, but why exactly he would make such a poor leader does not seem to have been precisely delineated. Yes, Trump is an arrogant buffoon who had driven countless of businesses into the ground. Yet if his nomination were so unlikely, it is odd that he has been able to win over all other major rivals. What would appear to be Mitt Romneys coyness, lacking the outbursts which so characterise the likely soon to be Republican candidate, is not a requisite for becoming a candidate.
There are 2 principal reasons why Trump will likely also end up driving the United States into the ground: 1) his inability to listen to others and 2) his lack of respect for the nationals of all other countries.
The United States is still in a very vulnerable position right now. George W. Bushs war on the Middle East led to enormous debt burden, much more so than had ever been seen in the United States. Most of this debt, obviously, is not in the hands of US creditors but rather those in China. China, for its part, while just a few decades ago was an extremely poor country, has been racing at some 10% economic growth, which although slacking recently, has placed it in a new global position. But while China acquired the means of economic growth, it did not capture it mentality. This can be readily seen by the recent curbing of Apple products. All US companies, driven by the promise of a multibillion person market, ignored historical realities and nearly all such products are now being openly copied and imitated. In other words, China holds he financial cards of the US in its hands, and the presumption that it will play fair in the future is an unwarranted one.
So, the US financial vulnerability to a less- than scrupulous creditor, means that the importance of international relations at the moment is at an all-time high, much more so than it was in the past. The mindless outbursts of a President as Donald Trump in such a delicate situation is like the old phrase of a bull in a China shop. It will likely worsen the impending US crises and undermine its leadership at a time when global warming and renewable energy is at a critical juncture.
This problem is compounded by Trumps arrogance. Trump is simply a self-centred individual with little awareness either of his own ignorance or empathy for the knowledge of others. In this, it is likely that he will act very much like a USSR Joseph Stalinthough not necessarily because he will kill millions upon millions of individuals, but rather because of Stalins gross ignorance.
A little known feature of Soviet history is that, by assuming absolute power in the USSR, Stalin actually created the Great Famine of 1932 by failing to listen to its geneticists. Pretending to know it all, this trouble state of affairs could have been resolved by Soviet geneticists, who were actually at the forefront of the field at the time. However, Stalin instead chose to listen only to Trofim Lysenko, a quack who pretended to biologist.
Lysenko’s influence led to the destruction of soviet genetics, further worsening the story. Geneticists were shot on sight or placed in gulags (essentially concentration camps) where they soon perished. The foremost leader of Soviet genetics prior to the rise of Lysenko, Nikolai Vavilov, died at the age of 54 for malnutrition. Tragically, Vavilov had given Lysenko his first formal scientific position, hoping to rationally convince him of the validity of the science of genetics; but Lysenko, as Stalin, distrusted everyone and was more focused on the acquisition of power than on the advancement of science.
If you think such an incident to be too far removed from the socio-political realities of the United States, dont be. Power hungry Trump has given every indication that the only counsel he listens to is his ownwhich is what has ironically enabled him to ascend in the Republican nomination process. His ability to say what he wants due to his self-funded campaign, also means that, if nominated to the presidency, he will continue to follow te same pattern of behaviour.
Being presidential simply means that one is aware of ones own limitations and abilities, and thus open to counsel by experts in their respective fields. Taking Stalin as a counterpoint, when it became clear that Lysenkos agricultural policies would not work (because they were not based on real science), Lysenkos influence was placed into question. At a personal hearing before Stalin, Lysenko is able to convince Stalin of the validate of his approach by taking 3 potatoes from each pocket, claiming that the larger potatoes came from his agricultural farms. Stalin, ignorant of biology and even more so of genetics, was convinced by Lysenko, leading the USSR into a 30 year prolonged agricultural crisis.
While the circumstances between soviet Stalin and capitalist Trump are obviously not the same, one cannot help but be concerned about the global impact the election of Donald Trump will havegiven the power and influence of the United States in the world scene at the moment. A buffoon upon the worlds most powerful office simply does not bode well for anyone, not just for the United States but also for the rest of the world.