The brutal assault on the fundamental values that built the world leadership that the United States maintained for more than a century may worsen from the first Wednesday of November. Respect for democracy, inclusion, and diversity, as well the widespread belief about equality in opportunities was a path toward prosperity, were for a long time the great pillars with which the ideology of the “American Dream” drove the global expansion of the capitalist system. That is, until the arrival of Donald Trump.
Almost perfect expression of the aspiring tyrant – “I can shoot anyone who wants in the middle of Fifth Avenue and nothing will happen” -, as President Trump leads a political current that sees supreme virtue in extreme wealth, which tries to isolate his country from rest of the world, and also fears and therefore rejects most ethnic and religious minorities.
Manipulation genius, capable of turning any matter into a circus of insults. Prototype of the populist leader of the 21st century, he knows how to navigate the drains of social media, Mr. Trump has been able to win the support, even the fervor, of what John McCain called “the crazies”, a mosaic of primitive Americans who seem to consume any type of Fake news he produces in daily basis.
It is in this context that the 2020 electoral process in this country is framed.
The underlying fact is in accordance with all public surveys, at this time any of the candidates would defeat Trump, by a margin of about 4 percentage points. Joe Biden, the vice president of Obama, would do so, Senator Elizabeth Warren and, yes, Sanders, the 78-year-old socialist.
Towards what will undoubtedly be a kind of referendum, the internal process of the Democratic Party has served to try to mobilize large social segments that likely wouldn´t vote for Trump´s re-election. Until now Bernie Sanders has been the most efficient into mobilizing young people, women and even Latinos.
Many things can still happen before the national Democratic convention in the summer in Wisconsin. After the 2016 lessons, no one would dare to assume that Trump is not able to regain the support of Vladimir Putin or some other obscure force, or even sell widely the idea that the bonanza in the financial markets of these years is owed by the whole planet to him personally.
In any case, it remains to hope for the discipline of the aspiring Democrats – just what did not happen when Sanders did not support Hillary – and the ability of the person who finally wins the democratic candidacy to motivate and mobilize a sufficiently large segment of those who have been victims of the gentleman of the orange toupee.
