Trump delivers dystopia
The greatest obstacle that Donald Trump faces in his bid to return to power is the greatest “achievement” of his first term – overturning the federal right to an abortion. In delivering the wish of the hardcore ideologues who turned his amoral messianism into a broader assault on rights and decency, Trump turned an abstract argument into a harsh reality for the people of the United States. The “right to life” of the fetus beat out women’s “right to choose” how to live their lives, forcing a major part of the population into a state of infantile dependence on the whims of state majorities most often shaped by cynical objectives.
As this “triumph of life” in favor of abstinence or forced delivery of pregnancies is uncoupled from any essential concern for the wellbeing of mothers and children (beyond incessant pontificating on mortality and duties) the darker objective of Trump’s enablers/handlers becomes clear: the expansion of a vast underclass of impoverished people who are dependent on the minimal income that will come their way, serving in low-paid, insecure jobs and the military. With few opportunities for education and advancement, with little or precarious access to medical care (“Obamacare” being a permanent target for dismantling), this hopeless mass can be exploited at will as workers and consumers by an elite whose tax payments decrease as their income grows in an ever more unregulated economy.
This all looks highly conspiratorial. And it is. But the objectives are real and evident in the light of day. All the elements that make up this dystopia are core issues for Trump and his enablers, they are what he campaigns for openly while flattering voters with visions of unquestionable “American greatness.” There is bittersweet irony in this ultimate man-child being used for a nation’s infantilization.
It is not Trump’s character and behavior, nor Biden’s successes or failures, that will determine the future of the United States. It will depend on women’s rage and on enough citizens realizing that what is at stake is no less than their liberty.
