There is no week in the US without a scandal involving Trump and his decisions. What is going on in the US? More specifically, why is Trump doing all in his power to destroy the Republican party’s image with nonsensical decisions over the economy, migration, free speech, and foreign policy? Was all this part of his plan? Did Republicans make a mistake by choosing him as a candidate? Does the party have any influence over Trump at all?
Give me More
It is hard to see what the party of the free market has become today. Years ago, the Grand Old Party was the herald of the free market. Protectionist policies pushed by Democrats were the subject of heated debates, making them one of the most popular topics in financial news networks on Thursday nights. Now, apparently, for the Republican Party, tariffs seem to be the new panacea to all economic problems.
I ask, a tax imposed on imported goods at levels never seen will provide all the money necessary to cover the US’s budget? The short answer is no. That is not possible. There are already plenty of articles that talk about the big risks a tariff-based economy will pose. During the early 2000s, several countries that suffered China’s leviathan export frenzy tried to apply tariffs to protect their economies, with no success but to the detriment of their consumers.
China was unstoppable and convinced the rest of the world that it could play fair in the commerce trade if it could enter the World Trade Organization (WTO). Knowing well about China’s hunger for global influence as well as its under the table negotiations with financial and news agencies to appear fair to the rest of nations, numerous countries accepted the inevitable and remove tariffs on several goods allowing their own markets to develop and create product niches as well as personal and local brands that help them differentiate the benefits of local goods from Chinese exports.
Despite this global experience and documented exchange, which is now studied in economics faculties around the world, Trump insists that tariffs will ultimately benefit the US economy in some way. At the same time, the Republican Party seems to fall into this nonsensical spiral while remaining mute and condoning the destruction of the US global influence and its long-term financial stability.
Free Speech
Is there a limit to expressing one’s thoughts? What about what a person could say? Some experts claim that free speech is under greater threat now than at any time in the United States. Which reminds me, didn’t Republicans complain about the muzzle in social networks when Meta and Twitter shadow-banned conservative influencers and news? Did social network moguls force their points of view on their consumers and, with that effort, make the world appear more left than right in the last 5 years?
There is no doubt that freedom of speech is annoying, problematic, uncomfortable, but in the end, it is what makes a home, home. The ability to express your thoughts is what makes you free. Would any muted voices cease if incarcerated, expelled, or muzzled? Can the Republican Party work out of this dilemma in the future when the left accuses them of being tyrannical in the next elections?
However, we need to explore the other side beyond political interests. So, I ask, is it good that people express their support for violent groups that only desire the destruction of America and their allies and their peoples? Is it ok that destructive ideologies bring disorder, chaos, and self-destructive intentions to young minds while claiming hate and destruction as their prerogatives for freedom, while they spread misinformation?
For many, balance seems to be the answer, but who tunes the scale? The king or the peasant? And who will deal with the results of those affected? It is in this scenario that the Republican Party must be vigilant that due process is followed to guarantee that every single decision is made with proof at hand, without personal preference or discriminatory practices. Freedom of speech is what makes a country civilized, and losing it would only mean regression for the whole country and its citizens.
Migration
At this point, many left-leaning news outlets and social network personalities have repeatedly mentioned that Trump is racist and prefers an America that is exclusively for white people. Although this statement could easily be perceived as false and biased if we take a look at Trump’s entire personal life, friendships, and political career, he appears unaware that the last 5 months of his government’s recent actions are reinforcing this idea among US citizens and the world.
The recent arrival of white South African refugees to US soil in early May this year struck the media as evidence of Trump’s racist tendency, mainly when his deportation orders have led to hundreds of ICE raids, which, according to media and recent irregular arrests, use racial profiling, to look for suspects with irregular migration status.
ICE agents seem to forget that thousands of European and Soviet migrants have also exceeded their visas, but do not suffer the weight of the federal agency’s iron fist as hard as the Brown and Black population. You only need to perform a simple search on Reddit to find forums where European workers with overstay visas claim that ICE agents arrived at their workplace looking exclusively for people of color (Hispanics) to arrest for illegal entry or overstaying in the United States.
If this tendency to brand the Trump government as racist continues, it will harm the Republican party for the following years. This time with tangible proof, and regardless of their historical effort to abolish slavery, they will be remembered as inhumane, racist, and cruel, all because of the mismanagement of a President.
Foreign Policy
Maybe this is Trump’s worst chapter in his almost five months of Presidency. Due to his commerce policy and nonsensical desire to take over Greenland and Canada territories to turn them into the 51st and 52nd states, for ‘security reasons’ (who cares about Canada and Greenland’s own security, of course), Trump has earned the wariness of several ‘allies’. Beyond that, he has shown a terrible tact to engage in international negotiations to end a war that, during his campaign, he claimed he would stop in 1 day: the Ukraine–Russia war. Despite the evidence that indicates that Putin is extremely treacherous and cannot be trusted, Trump chose to play mediator as if to ignore the pain and loss that Ukraine suffered because of the Russian invasion.
After a terrible meeting with Vladimir Zelensky, which was very well branded as an ambush by the media, Trump created, on May 21st, another confusing situation with the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, to whom he presented supposed proof of Afrikaner farmer genocide. Although it is known that there has been violence based on ethnicity in South Africa, and most recently against white communities, it has been clarified that it is not true those events were signs of genocide.
Not only was this a new embarrassment for Trump’s foreign policy, but it was also a sign to the American people that their President has a temperament that is prone to mismanagement. Wasn’t there one person in his cabinet to advise him against this show? Aren’t there good advisors surrounding Trump about potentially terrible decisions? Or perhaps he does not welcome anybody who challenges his ideas?
Day after day, we see a Republican party that seems to be going with the flow. They appear not to be able to influence Trump positively, nor do they seem willing to demand accuracy and care from his actions. The Republican party needs to consider the collateral effects of its negligence in the following months if they want to win the House again, or the Democrats will continue using Trump’s subsequent years in office to reinforce stereotypes against the elephant, just as they did when they took the majority support of the African American middle and lower class community during the last century.
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