Robert Inlakesh
Source: Al Mayadeen English
The US political system is most emphatically not run by the public and voters have little choice over which policies will be implemented.
As Aaron Bushnell stated before his self-immolation in February:
"Many of us like to ask ourselves, “What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?” The answer is, you’re doing it. Right now."
Keeping in mind this powerful quote, what is communicated in this article has to be placed within the context that anyone voting for a supporter of the Gaza Genocide is either morally bankrupt or confused. For those who are simply so heartless that the atrocities in Gaza - which are committed with their tax dollars and permitted by officials they vote into office - do not factor into their decision on who to vote for, they are not worth even addressing. However, it is completely understandable why there is immense confusion on the part of many Americans and Westerners more generally.
Amerocentric Identity Politics
The US political system is most emphatically not run by the public and voters have little choice over which policies will be implemented. Although many will swear that their candidate is wonderful and committed to representing the will of the people, you can often predict the stance of nearly any US elected official based on their sources of campaign donations.
Both the Republican and Democratic Parties have their own Overton Window, shaped by two primary factors - donors and their voter base - and dictated from the top down. The problem for both parties is that a disgruntled American public began to move beyond what was considered acceptable discourse and embraced policy positions deemed “too radical” by the Oligarchical system. a trend which really began to take form under the administration of former US President Barack Obama. This change in American public thinking stemmed from a wide range of reasons, with the steep economic decline being a primary factor, as it made building a sustainable future increasingly unlikely for those whose parents' generation had once had such opportunities.
The two-party system was losing faith and the donor class understood that it was time for a change, yet, they didn’t want to do anything that would prevent them from hoarding more money and assets. So, the orders were given. The Democratic Party would come to represent the identity politics of just about every minority group in the United States, whereas the Republican Party would also be transformed and assigned the role of representing White identity politics. Evidently, this isn’t to say that the Democrats don’t have a base of White supporters, or that the Republicans don’t have supporters from various minority groups; but ideologically speaking, these are the two identity camps.
If you really think about it, this strategy that we see being implemented today is a stroke of genius on behalf of the Western elite. What they have succeeded at doing is taking the masses who are becoming ever more economically disadvantaged and as a result, are searching for real alternatives to improve their lives, feeding them back into the hands of their oppressors by playing to their emotional sensibilities, biases and theories. A classic divide and conquer tactic.
What we now call Western nations were built upon various forms of identity politics, whether through nationalism, racism, sexism, religious supremacy or a combination of all. However, each of these methods of sowing division has its own limitations and must adapt to changing economic and socio-political climates. The United States, in particular, is perhaps the most plagued nation in the world when it comes to its history related to identity politics, making it ironic that the Republican identitarians claim to oppose identity politics while Democratic Party identitarians view it as a force for equality.
When we look at Donald Trump and his rise to power, he cannot be reduced simply to the man standing on stage, but instead, the set of ideas he represents. If you examine the different issues he addresses, you’ll find that he often travels across the United States making various claims and promises that he never intends to follow up on. For example, in the lead up to the 2016 election, he said he would be investigating child sex trafficking, releasing the JFK assassination and 9/11 documents, while pledging to get America out of its endless wars, he even hinted at putting Hillary Clinton in jail, all of which he never actually followed up on.
Supporters of Donald Trump can be ardent opponents of the Covid-19 vaccine for instance, some of whom went on anti-Lockdown protests hoisting up “Trump 2020” flags. This is despite Trump having initiated Operation Warp Speed to expedite vaccine distribution and encouraging people to get vaccinated. So, how could someone who felt so strongly about Covid-19 vaccines square that circle? Similarly, supporters of Kamala Harris today are justifying her actions as “Top Cop” who put Black Americans in jail for minor offenses by claiming she will apparently work for the best interests of African Americans.
Simply, many White working class and middle class people see Donald Trump as the embodiment of the “American Dream”. When they hear Trump speak, they are filled with nostalgia for “the good old days”. In a similar way, when liberals and many Americans from various minority communities see Kamala Harris, they see a Black Woman who is battling against a misogynistic racist. For both sides, the facts do not matter at all, the only consideration is rhetoric and appearance, that’s it.
For instance, there are many traditional Democratic Party voters who decided they would not vote for President Joe Biden in the November election, because of his support for the Genocide in Gaza, but are now die-hard supporters of Kamala Harris. How can this be? It is very simple, Joe Biden is an old White man and Kamala Harris is a Black woman.
It does not matter that there isn’t a single policy position that distinguishes Kamala Harris from Joe Biden, or that Harris has been a part of the administration enabling the Gaza genocide. Harris’ supporters often focus their responses on slogans like “we need to beat Trump”, “saving Democracy” and “joy” or “hope”, rather than specific policies. This is because they struggle to identify policies that actually deliver what they want, and the few policies which do make sense are the equivalent to giving a starving man crumbs.
The American ruling class have now created a perfect distraction, by turning the bulk of White people against minority communities and having them fixate on whichever minority group they choose to hate the most. While on the other side those who oppose the White identity politics which have emerged from the alternative Right-Wing media and political establishment, believe that having a more diverse group or representatives that use the rhetoric of peace and love will be enough to save them from the Trump boogeyman.
Kamala Harris is almost exactly the same as Joe Biden, with the key difference being that she can actually put together a coherent sentence. She does not deviate from President Joe Biden’s policy position on Gaza, in fact her rhetoric is almost identical, despite attempts to portray her as somehow different. On the other hand, Donald Trump is overtly racist against Palestinians and appears to go even further in supporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is possible, in the event of the ongoing genocide until early next year, that Trump could be even worse. The people of Gaza are already suffering through a hellish reality, unlike anything we have witnessed before.
Trump may be expressing his support for the genocide and his election campaign is being bankrolled by the richest Israeli billionaire, Miriam Adelson, who donated 100 million dollars to help him win the Presidency. Yet, in the case of Kamala Harris, from her AIPAC speeches praising Israel, to being part of US President Joe Biden’s fully fledged support for the ongoing genocide in Gaza, in addition to her acceptance of millions of dollars from pro-Israeli Lobby groups, she is unmistakably a pro-Zionist candidate through and through.
In Palestine, the difference between Trump and Harris is very minimal. Even in the event that Donald Trump seeks to do worse, in such a hypothetical, what more could he possibly do to make the situation much different, besides completely cutting off all aid and causing the mass starvation of every Palestinian in Gaza. Even in this case, the people of Gaza are already going through a famine.
At the end of the day, if you are a victim of genocide, you won’t really care whether the person enabling it is White or Black, or whether they use softer or harder language to justify the slaughter of your loved ones. Just as the people of Iraq didn’t care that America’s Secretary of State was Black when the Bush Jr. administration invaded their country, no oppressed people feel better about being bombed with munitions sent by a Black woman opposed to a White man. When a mother holds the headless body of her toddler, screaming in pain and disbelief, she doesn’t pause to consider whether the bomb that killed her child came from Donald Trump or someone else.
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