SEEMINGLY adopting the playbook of tyrants — the very tyrants Washington has railed against the world over — President Donald Trump is trying to hold on to power by suggesting that any votes cast against him should not count for they are by illegals.
Supported by sycophants who should know better, Trump claims outrageously that results that do not favour him are due not only to a flawed process, but also corruption and trickery by his opponents.
His base believes him. I think we cannot be faulted for having a laugh at the self-proclaimed bastion of modern democracy being made silly by a president hell-bent on wrecking the country's democratic process with his attempt to disenfranchise voters in broad daylight.
After all, the United States has the tendency to stick its nose into other countries' affairs, including lecturing on how they should conduct their elections, and is often quick to criticise and judge. It is also not beyond the US to declare losers as winners in some other countries' elections.
Perhaps a little bit of comeuppance is good after all these years of telling others off. I was also slightly amused by the alarm raised by the American intelligence community that there were attempts by foreign countries, especially Russia, China and Iran, to influence the country's elections.
These countries were said to have used US-based social media platforms to create and distribute fabricated content, and even used the president's own lies to undermine the elections.
Consider the fact that there have been many instances where the US had interfered in other countries' democratic processes, supporting and funding candidates and, if those spy novels were to be believed, even overthrowing governments to have leaders friendlier to Washington installed.
The US, via its various agencies, think tanks and non-governmental organisations, has been funding or training politicians and political parties the world over as part of its regime-change policy.
If some reports were to be believed, some were also said to be active in Malaysia a few years ago, allegedly funding and training politicians.
I am not sure about the nature of the regime-change policy, but ultimately, it has been suggested that all these, apart from promoting democracy and good government, are also tied to the catch-all "protecting American interest and the American way of life" — be they containing the spread of communism, securing strategic locations and shipping lanes, keeping check of global upstarts, getting a cheap supply of oil and gas, or others.
It is rather interesting that the US intelligence community is worried about something the country has been doing in other countries all this while.
The US, when it feels that its interest is being challenged or compromised, would often flex its economic, political and military muscles to get its way. It is the big-stick diplomacy that existed for a long time, that is until Trump America's First policy that discourages foreign adventurism.
For instance, he eschews foreign military activities and has made a pledge to end American involvement in many armed conflicts.
Trump is also against the idea of the US having to be accountable to the world community, much less to smaller nations that have an equal say in the ways of the world.
Thus, while we were all aghast at it getting out of the Paris climate accord, the Iranian nuclear deal and the World Health Organisation, for instance, it was to be expected in Trump's America.
We also note Trump's clear intention of the US having the flexibility of unilaterally flexing its muscles without having to be approved by committees and accords.
Trump seems to believe that it is the US' world and the rest of us just live in it.
Previous administrations, and likely President elect Joe Biden's, too, liked to tell us how to live our lives and if we were to mess with America's interests, we would likely see some intense scrutiny of us.
The end of Trump's administration may see the US reinstating or reclaiming its role in global affairs. The world has already adjusted to the US keeping to itself, and now likely we have to contend with an active Washington again.
Trump is a jester who stumbled into the presidency. He is at times despicable, with harsh words describing opponents and a general disregard for other nations and nationalities.
He is xenophobic — one of his first acts as president was to ban Muslims from several countries—and jingoistic to the core.
However, at the end of the day, he frustrates Americans more than he does the rest of the world. Yet, 70 million Americans voted for him, the most ever for a losing candidate?
What does that say for the half of Americans, and the US, who supported him?
The writer, a former NSTP group managing editor, is now a social media adviser and can be reached at zainulisa@gmail.com