Is the US now one of those ‘shithole’ countries?

The big question: Is the US now one of those ‘shithole’ countries that then President Trump talked about? Is Trump the main architect behind it? Long before Independence, in fact, after the Second World War we began turning our attention to the US. It was seen as the land of opportunity, but of course racial injustice limited our ability to migrate to that country. Instead, many of our people in the 1960s went to England, some, part of the Windrush generation. Canada began to open itself to us, many of our young ladies went as ‘Domestics’ and then were able to settle there and take advantage of opportunities available. With all of this the US still remained the place to go; its theatre, music and communication generally dominated our airwaves. We even clung to Tarzan and to the cowboys, identifying with them as they took the land of the indigenous people and occupied the whole of North America minus what became British and French Canada. To us who lived under British colonialism the US, the fountain of democracy was attractive. The Civil Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Voting Act of 1965 made the US appear much more attractive. So, I grew up with the belief that the US was the fountain of democracy.

What has happened since? As I delved into the history of the US, certain truths began to reveal themselves. I once stated that one of the good things about Trump was that he was able to expose the real America. When the Declaration of Independence stated that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” it was definitely not referring to people of African descent and to Indigenous people. Today, even the unscrupulous and despotic Putin is questioning American Democracy: “As for the persecution of Trump . . . for us, what is happening in these conditions, in my opinion, is good, because it shows the whole rottenness of the American political system, which cannot claim to teach others about democracy. . .” Putin of all persons who has no understanding of what Democracy is and means!

Since 2020 Robin Wright in the New Yorker under an article captioned “Is America a Myth?” wrote, “The foundation of our nation has deepening cracks- possible too many to repair anytime soon, or perhaps at all. . .” In 2022 two American historians, Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer edited a book, Myth America: Historians take on the Biggest Legends and Lies about our Past. About 18 historians have exposed the legends and lies about the past, writing on topics such as ‘Founding Myths’, ‘American Exceptionalism’, ‘The Vanishing Indians’, ‘Voter Fraud’ and the ‘January 6, 2021, Insurrection’.

What prompted this article is the news that Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy has initiated the Impeachment of President Biden. There is nothing unusual about this except, that they don’t know why they are impeaching him. They are embarking on a fishing expedition hoping to find something, perhaps some link with his son. Donald Trump is the person behind it. What better thing for him, having twice been impeached, to run against someone whom he hopes would be impeached, even once. While we were clear why Trump was being impeached, the Republican’s fishing net has not as yet come up with anything.

But now to Trump! What a man! He faces four criminal indictments, two on State charges in New York and Georgia and two federal indictment charges amounting to a total of 91 felony counts. Including in all of this is his call to Georgia’s Secretary of State to find the number of votes he needed to win the state and the concoction with the help of assistants of a fake electors’ scheme. Then there was the January 6, 2021, Insurrection based on his lies. Trump and his team have failed to come up with any evidence yet held on to this crazy idea of having secured an election win.

But a number of strange things are happening in this ‘so-called’ fountain of democracy. Presidential contender and Governor of Florida Ron de Santos has embarked on a policy of banning books in his state totalling about 176. Classes on African American Studies that were fought for in the 60’s and 70’s are banned in Florida High Schools. Among the books banned were ones I used in Secondary School – “The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn”, “1984” and popular books such as “I know why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and Noble Prize winner Toni Morrison’s, “The Bluest Eye”.

There is so much more that can be said about the state of American politics, but I will only mention two- Alabama’s failure to comply with a panel of three federal judges that directed that State to comply with the Voting Rights Act. Then just to mention New York Congressman George Santos whose lies have become legendary. A federal Grand Jury has indicted him on 13 criminal charges, including wire fraud and theft of public funds. I am left with no space to deal with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and the gifts he had been getting from a billionaire friend. Something is sick in American politics and society! The charges against Donald Trump matter little to many of his supporters. Some see them as fake news. To others it doesn’t matter!

• Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian