OP-ED: The struggle for power in American politics

Republican or Democrat, disclosure of their previously taken atrocious policies either to stay in power or to come into power has become a need in the current political situation of America. Be it Trump or Biden, one is a mere reflection of the other, only the degree to which their evil motives extend in political spheres decides who’s more superior in his evil-doing and a better villain. 

Under Trump’s presidency

To begin with, Donald Trump, ever since he became president, has merged racial discrimination, white supremacy, and corporate dominance within the political and economic realm in an unprecedent manner. As a business tycoon he knows the policy of investment and profits. 

He pleased his cronies by signing international contracts for his son-in-law Jared Kushner’s family business and masterminded huge profit bonanzas at the Trump Organization which encompasses 500 business entities of which Trump is the sole owner. 

According to Forbes, Trump’s businesses raked in $1.9 billion of revenue during his first three years in office. Trump’s golf course and club portfolio produced the biggest chunk of revenue, some $753 million in three years. 

Additionally, acts of racial prejudice increased, with around 667 black people unjustly shot by the police between 2017 and 2019, a sign of the use of repressive apparatus in the political realm. 

From the year 1981 to 1989, during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, a similar scenario was observed. Black workers suffered disproportionately from both unemployment and social service reduction. In 1983, for example, 19.8% of all white men were unemployed whereas the figures were 32.3% for black men. 

Due to Trump’s racist and sexist attitude, Trump has provoked and turned many people against him but he has excelled in forging alliances and manipulating the opponent. Even though Trump is a profane man, he has managed to win over the evangelical community. 

He successfully courted the anti-abortion vote. To stay in power, one must win over people or bring shame to the opponent in front of the people. He degraded Biden in the political realm regarding his intelligence and political record, persuading people through manipulation and negotiation. 

For that, he needed to investigate Biden properly which he accomplished thanks to men like Roy Cohn who assisted Joe McCarthy and later served as Trump’s mentor. According to Truthdig, Rudy Giuliani, at some point in the fall of 2018, hooked up with two shady operators, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, and began to investigate Biden, his son Hunter, and the latter’s links to the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. 

When Volodymyr Zelensky became that country’s president in April 2019, Trump felt emboldened, thanks to Giuliani, to press the new leader to relaunch an investigation into the Biden family. As Peter Beinart wrote in The Atlantic: “By keeping Hunter Biden’s business dealings in Ukraine in the news, they have turned them into a rough analogue to Hillary Clinton’s missing emails in 2016 -- a pseudo-scandal that undermines a leading Democratic candidate’s reputation for honesty. The Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee last fall launched a $10 million advertising blitz aimed at convincing Americans that Joe Biden’s behaviour toward Ukraine was corrupt.” 

The role of the Democrats

The Democrats play no role that is different to that of the Republicans. They have made use of internal politics equally to defeat or degrade their opponents or in order to conceal their inconspicuous political stance. 

In 2000, the Democratic party blamed third-party candidate Ralph Nader for the election of George Bush, calling Nader a spoiler, perpetuating a myth that he stole votes from Al Gore. In 2016, they recycled the bigotry by smearing Green Party candidate Jill Stein and scapegoating Wikileaks for the election of Donald Trump by blaming Hillary Clinton’s defeat on the publication of emails which exposed the corruption of the Clinton campaign. 

Long before Trump’s presidency, white supremacy and hostility towards ethnic groups and minorities had existed. Trump or Biden, neither are democratic in their political spheres. 

Democracy, even though it is said to exist, is nevertheless disguised under the filthy politics of the candidates trying to defeat each other through atrocious policies. US politics, be it under Trump or Biden, only favours the elite white members of the nation. 

The common people are still exploited, dominated, and subjugated on a regular basis. The Democrats being for the working class is a myth just as Trump is for the conservatives. Both parties use populist politics to exercise power over the commoner in one way or another. 

Therefore, the US election is nothing but a charade and merely decides who will play the leading role in the charade every four years.

Nree Raha Adrija is a freelance contributor and Marxist activist.