JOIN USBook Review: Democracy in Peril
The Donald Trump phenomenon has shaken up America and threatens to disrupt the world order. Within minutes of assuming office, Trump began to aggressively implement his conservative agenda with unpredictable consequences. Dismantling of Obamacare, a cut in spending for the poor, deregulation of financial markets, easing of gun control laws, cutting immigration, and rolling back clean air regulations were his top priorities. Traditional American democratic values are called into question. How this has changed the popular perception of the famed American dream is worth pondering.
Democracy In Peril: Donald Trump’s America examines vital questions on the present-day US and presents a picture of what has gone wrong. Journalist, bestselling author and television personality, Alan Friedman explores America through the eyes of ordinary people. He delves into issues that have polarised the nation. Through extensive travel through 16 states, he saw deep poverty and terrible inequality. For him, interaction with workers was a revelation. Strangely, these people support Trump, though he is slashing their social safety net. More Americans are falling below the poverty line. Their number has reached 43 million.
Friedman finds democracy under siege in a wounded nation, racially divided, a “nation driven by fear and anger, by unprecedented levels of racism.” He points out that racism has become socially accepted in places. Obama’s election has only stirred more racism. Friedman has no doubt that Trump was the beneficiary of a white backlash against Obama years. Trump’s incendiary rhetoric had stoked the flames of hatred and racism during the elections. For Friedman, this is not the America of his dreams where all could aspire to move up.
There are 350 million guns in circulation for a population of 319 million Americans. Over 30,000 die of gun violence in the country every year. However, there is fierce resistance to gun control. No president has shown the guts to enact effective gun control laws. True to his campaign rhetoric, Trump has tried, from day one, to repeal Obamacare that provided affordable healthcare to 20 million more Americans. It had made a genuine difference among the working poor despite the opposition from Republican-controlled states. Trump was thwarted in his initial attempts to dismantle Obamacare. His anti-immigration stand, as well as the plan to build a wall along the Mexican border, has become contentious.
Democracy in Peril is an incisive, grim, provocative and irreverent portrait of Trump’s America. Friedman minces no words. He terms Trump dangerous, unpredictable and impulsive decision-maker. ‘’He is a master of falsehood, a congenital liar,’’ and a disruptive force on the world stage. He also raises questions on the mental fitness of Trump — ‘’The US president may eventually be shown to be not merely unfit for office in moral or ethical terms, but also mentally unfit.’’
According to Friedman, the astonishing aspect of the Trump presidency is that it truly appears to function akin to a reality television plot. Trump has made the tweet the “ultimate weapon of mass distraction in 21st-century American politics” as he has sacked dozens of his own administration nominees unceremoniously and often quite aggressively by a tweet. Friedman says that Trump’s unpredictable approach to international relations, combined with his “America First” agenda, could force Washington to cede powers to Moscow and Beijing turning the world upside down.
Trump’s rise is not an isolated phenomenon. Citing the emergence of more xenophobic and far-right leaders in several nations, Friedman argues that it is a pointer to a dangerous trend towards illiberal democracy, less freedom, and an authoritarian approach to governance. These are authoritarian leaders who have won democratic elections to the office but are derailing independence of judiciary, press freedom and civil rights.
For India, Trump may turn out to be a ‘double-edged sword’. He cautions that Trump is more of a risk factor than he may appear. New Delhi’s interests are unlikely to be served by his trade wars and progressive disengagement of the US from multilateral institutions and treaties that have maintained the global order for decades, argues Friedman.
It is a timely volume, a wake-up call to right-thinking people. Friedman’s powerful prose adds to the readability of the book.