H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncom

The realisation of Henry Mencken’s prediction became glaringly apparent when on Tuesday, November 8, 2016, in the US presidential election, 62,984,828 Americans voted for Donald Trump: a semi-illiterate and repugnant reprobate with undeniably deplorable sexist, racist, and xenophobic tendencies. Since then, hundreds of mental heath professionals have described him as suffering from a mental pervasive disorder characterised by aggression, egomania, cheating, grandiosity, instability, lying, narcissism, self-interest, and stealing. 

During his first — and hopefully last — term in office, Trump has managed to make over 20,000 — and still counting — blatantly false and misleading claims; has pursued self-enriching policies and unabashed nepotism; has corrupted government institutions such as the Department of Justice and in the process destroyed the concept of a just democracy; has withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear pact, and terminated DACA — Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — which protected some 800,000 young unauthorised immigrants from deportation; has abandoned many other treaties and agreements including defence pacts with Western allies and thereby undermined the credibility of the US; has audaciously belittled other nations and referred to Haiti, El Salvador, and an assortment of African nations as being “shithole countries”; has made the US the laughingstock of a world in urgent need of critical thinking and moral leadership to combat the current COVID-19 pandemic; and has confirmed he is a populist demagogue preying on voter disaffection while stoking racist rage and vicious violence by fanning the flames of the class divisions and political polarisation that continue to debunk the illusion of an “American Dream.”

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’” 

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968)

While the general consensus of opinion may be that getting Tweedle-Dum out of the White House is essential for restoring the “normality” required to heal the traumatised American psyche, the reality is that electing Tweedle-Dee as the next US President will do little if anything to improve the situation, and the transformation of the “American Dream” into haunting nightmare will only accelerate. Replacing a 73 year-old corpulent and corrupt curmudgeon with a soon-to-be 78 year-old doddering and delirious Democrat — infamous for his “hands-on” lurking proximity to women — will neither alleviate the plight of millions of Americans struggling with poverty and dependent on government food assistance https://bit.ly/31Dx5s6, nor be of much benefit to the rest of humanity apart from Israel which as a result of having a debilitating stranglehold on Congress — courtesy of voracious pro-Israel lobby groups — is annually bilking $3.8 billion from tax paying Americans which helps to finance its ongoing criminal ethnic cleansing and land grabbing occupation of Palestine https://bit.ly/3m8CiQG.

Though the US has been in serious decline since its ill-fated and illegal launching of the Iraq War, the Trump presidency has accelerated the process and electing him for another term would — on the basis of his performance so far — result in diminished prosperity, restrict opportunities for current and future generations, increase racist and xenophobic sentiments while eroding the rights of African Americans and Latinos, lead to the complete evisceration of democracy, and further undermine the extent of Washington’s prestige and influence abroad. 

Alternatively, while a Joe Biden presidency may provide Americans with a veneer of apparent sanity and elicit a huge sigh of relief from most people in the world, the thrust of America’s desire for global domination and morally degenerate conduct will remain unchanged with some 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and territories overseas https://bit.ly/2J4Tl83 while Britain, France, and Russia combined have only about 50; will continue adding to the more than 20 million people it has already killed in some 40 “victim nations” since World War Two; will with its flawed concept of “American exceptionalism” presume to interfere in the affairs of other nations either politically or with military interventions as was the case in the 2003 Iraq War which Joe Biden wholeheartedly supported; will accommodate the military industrial complex’s desire for endless wars with a Department of Defence budget estimated at $636 billion; will in the meantime spend only $66.6 billion on education so that half of the nation’s adults cannot read a book written at the 8th-grade level; and will continue trading in death and destruction with conventional weapons sales to some 170 countries which between 2002 and 2018 amounted to more than $200 billion.

So irrespective of whether the American people choose Tweedle-Dum or Tweedle-Dee for their next president, the reality is that neither of them — in the twilight of their lives — has the necessary moral fortitude or basic physical capabilities to reverse the self-destructive tendency of the American psyche and the decline of an America that can never be made “Great Again.”

“Washington is not merely the most complete police state since Stalinism, but also a threat to the entire world. The hubris and arrogance of Washington, combined with Washington’s huge supply of weapons of mass destruction, make Washington the greatest threat that has ever existed to all life on the planet. Washington is the enemy of all humanity.”

Paul Craig Roberts, American economist and author. 

William Hanna is a London-based freelance writer on democracy and human rights and author of the recently published book, The Grim Reaper. Further information including book reviews, articles, sample chapters, videos, and contact details at: