(Worth reading article by David Brooks; why disaffected voters continue to vote for Trump and readily believes his lies and conspiracy theories. It leaves one to wonder whether more Trumps are in the future as it is not easy to solve economic and social deprivation of disaffected masses in current technologic age. It may get even worse. f.sheikh).

In a recent Monmouth University survey, 77 percent of Trump backers said Joe Biden had won the presidential election because of fraud. Many of these same people think climate change is not real. Many of these same people believe they don’t need to listen to scientific experts on how to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

We live in a country in epistemological crisis, in which much of the Republican Party has become detached from reality. Moreover, this is not just an American problem. All around the world, rising right-wing populist parties are floating on oceans of misinformation and falsehood. What is going on?

Many people point to the internet — the way it funnels people into information silos, the way it abets the spread of misinformation. I mostly reject this view. Why would the internet have corrupted Republicans so much more than Democrats, the global right more than the global left?

My analysis begins with a remarkable essay that Jonathan Rauch wrote for National Affairs in 2018 called “The Constitution of Knowledge.” Rauch pointed out that every society has an epistemic regime, a marketplace of ideas where people collectively hammer out what’s real. In democratic, nontheocratic societies, this regime is a decentralized ecosystem of academics, clergy members, teachers, journalists and others who disagree about a lot but agree on a shared system of rules for weighing evidence and building knowledge.

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As much as Trump and many others may want to live in a white nationalist nation walled off from the world, that is not reality. The U.S, for better or worse, remains a powerful force in the world, and yet, it cannot survive without the rest of the world. While this may seem contradictory it is not. More than contemporary globalization has created a world of interdependencies in which most nations must cooperate politically and economically in order to survive. We now have global problems, from the pandemic to global warming, to the economy that requires the effort of us all to resolve.Trump’s actions in this post-election period are not unexpected. Sadly, the Republican support for the undermining, not just of the next administration, but of democracy itself, is also expected given their performance thus far. It is saddening and frustrating to watch one’s nation sink towards being a failed state with so many facilitators both in the government and among the citizenry. I know that in the near future we will rue this period when we could have done many things but actions were not taken. This failure impacts not only the United States but the rest of the world as well to a greater and lesser extent. The actions of the Trump administration and his enablers embolden dictators and undermine nations fighting for the freedom to choose their government and voice their needs. Hopefully, the Biden administration can begin to recover democracy and to move forward in cooperation with the rest of the world to address the many crises we face. However, they cannot do it without the people, and they cannot do it if the Republicans continue to put power over governance.

Mahboob Khawaja, PhD

A Presidential Election in Stained Democracy

When false claims challenge the truth, it breeds fearful and ferocious public outcomes. No wonder, why the American masses are more divided today than at any time in recent history. The American presidential election failed to produce a viable prospect for the working of democracy. The nation is entrenched in an unending political crisis, more of opinions than substantial truth and reality. Opinions vary but the truth is not transient and adaptable.   American democracy appears to be unraveling along many fault lines of time and historic consequences and being unable to see the reality beyond the obvious. Former President Obama’s published memoirs: “The Promised Land” emphasizing the distinction between truth and falsehood as if he had the current presidential elections in focus.

At issue is the human character, leadership with a sense of responsibility and honesty, human equality, hopes for justice, and truth digging. The American masses are fast embracing the fear of an uncertain political future that could deplete human patience and increase threats of greater vulnerability to chaos and political darkness. President Trump claims that the 2020 elections were rigged and/or were “fraudulent” and alleged false voting accounting in certain states – those states he did not win. Joe Biden (President-Elect) views a fair and accountable process of the current presidential election and its results as approximately 76M Americans voted for him to be the next elected president of America.  His voice of reasoning and legitimacy rests in “We, the People”, the core value of the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence. Not so, President Trump is challenging this notion in many states calling for recounts of the voting results and simultaneously echoing accusations of a “fraudulent and stolen election.”  All of the 50 American states and other territories have systematic plans in place for local, regional, and federal elections making the U.S. democracy work for a few centuries.

Undoubtedly, competitive elections create contradictions, new challenges, hatred, and conflicts and often undermine the conception of goodness, virtue, and honesty. Once the process is over, competent and intelligent proactive leaders heel the masses and work out a unifying of thoughts and coherent agendas for reconciliation and unity of minds for a better future.  In his victory speech, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris did exactly that to console the American people as elected President and VP of all the American masses. The normality of the transition of power to the elected president is in jeopardy as the Trump administration refuses to certify the outcome of the election, and the President-Elect encounters immense problems trying to plan for the future, not just to deal with the COVID-19 massive pandemic and its dreadful impacts but how to carve out a smooth sustainable future for the American people. Trump’s own taskforce paints a dire situation: “aggressive and unrelenting- Covid-19” pandemic across America. The US news media reports that more than 251,000 Americans have died and more than 11 million are infected by the virus.

The Trump Administration is Playing with “We, the People”

John W. Whitehead (End the Government’s War on America’s Military Veterans. Information Clearing House: 11/10/2020), is an American Constitutional attorney and an author (Battlefield America: The War on the America People), offers this latest assessment:

The 2020 presidential election may be over, but nothing has really changed…The U.S. government still poses the greatest threat to our freedoms. More than terrorism, more than domestic extremism, more than gun violence and organized crime, even more than the perceived threat posed by any single politician, the U.S. government remains a greater menace to the life, liberty and property of its citizens than any of the so-called dangers from which the government claims to protect us.

Wickedness and piety cannot be combined in one human character. Trump inflicted disharmony and racial discrimination against the black and brown population both citizens and those wishing to enter the United States. What about absolute power instigated by absolute-minded maniac leaders regardless of the democratic principles?  Today, President Trump fired Christopher Krebs, Director CISA (Cyber Security and Infrastructures ), for telling the truth that the presidential election was fair and without any security breach or fraudulent intervention. Earlier, Trump fired Defense Secretary Asper for opposing the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and launching an attack on Iran. President Trump could have learned from President Putin – how to resolve successfully the Nagarno-Kharbach prolonged problem between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

There is always inconsistency in a delusional mind and so is Trump paranoid and vengeful who has incapacitated the inborn faculties of American lifelines to be a morally and intellectually crippled and more of a besieged nation in its conduct of basic tenets of the American liberty, justice, and democracy. This was not accidental but a planned scheme of things although unknown in its short-long terms consequences over its ability to cope with the change phenomenon for a sustainable future. America under Trump became insane – a victim of its own obsession with power and fearful of its future. The Washington-based war culture has incapacitated the US policymakers to think rationally and act responsibly in global affairs. Strange as it is, President Trump and his advisors cannot explain why every day 18-25 US war veterans commit suicide (“Why Do Soldiers Commit Suicide and Global Warlords.” Uncommon Thought Journal, USA). 

Trump claimed “America First” but acted as if a “Trump cult” was the preferred and chosen value and nothing beyond that spectrum towards a conception of goodness and sincerity to the American national interest.  He favored Netanyahu over America. When asked about the peaceful transfer of power, Secretary of State Pompeo responded, “Yes, there will be a smooth transfer of power to a second Trump presidency.”  Is Pompeo Trump’s “puppy’? Across America, morality and intellect appear to be in a shallow laughable reserve. One wonders, how the conscientious and informed global community will view such a threshold of disingenuous and wicked “Trump cult” behavior? America is in desperate need of political change, national unity, harmony, and a coherent transition process to replace disunity, hatred, turmoil, and missing the consciousness of a viable democracy. Trump’s refusal to recognize Joe Biden as an elected President seems incredibly shallow without moral and intellectual force or feeling – a kind of dead-ended unconscious human behavior generating formidable historic problems for a democratic America. Could Joe Biden learn from Trump’s negligence and offer hope for change and better global relationships including Russia and China and the Arab Middle East?

“We, the People” An Agenda for Joe Biden – President-Elect

1. Be the leader of all America as you claim to be and listen to voices of REASON, even the dull and ignorant – they all have a story to tell. The dignity of moral values and tranquility of temperament should be the characteristic of sustainable wisdom for official policies and practices.
2. A focused mind is more powerful than all the advanced weapons and machinery.  Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic is a critical issue to be dealt with cautiously and scientifically for the good of the masses.
3. Trump neglected advice and reasoning in all official endeavors. He opted for transgressors, killers, and morally corrupt rulers across the globe.  You will have the opportunity and time to take corrective actions to enhance human equality, human rights – be it in Kashmir, Palestine, Myanmar-Burma, or elsewhere, and legislate changes to ensure the participation of people of color as equal citizens in American political systems.
4. Be conscious of your leadership strength and weaknesses and aware of the people around you and your political maneuverability. Do not engage in any hybrid culture – part human and part inhuman. You take oath in the name of God – The Merciful, The Beneficent – and the art of leading mankind is being part of mankind on a living Universe and Earth as we are accountable for all of our commitments and pursuits.
5. Be a peacemaker, not a warmonger, as there are much evil and much good in the creed of human optimism. True leaders create new leaders and always listen and accept readily intelligent advice from people of knowledge and wisdom. Your passion should be a progressive and changing America for the best of people and humanity. Every beginning has its end as America is at the conclusion of an unpredictable age, not the end of the world. Your vision and leadership initiatives could reframe the historic time for a progressive and changing America for the best of people and humanity.

Dr. Mahboob A. Khawaja specializes in global security, peace and conflict resolution with keen interests in Islamic-Western comparative cultures and civilizations, and author of several publications including: Global Peace and Conflict Management: Man and Humanity in Search of New Thinking. Lambert Publishing Germany, May 2012. His forthcoming book is entitled: One Humanity and The Remaking of Global Peace, Security and Conflict Resolution