Great American folly
As a Filipino, I do not expect myself to fully appreciate what it is to be an American. But I grew up in a country that copied much of its nationhood from America. If because of that alone, I cannot help myself being drawn to things that are happening in America. And one thing I can say is that, right now, America seems far worse than the Philippines is. At least in my country, we have fewer expectations of ourselves. And that does away with a lot of the hypocrisy.
Certain sectors of American society today, with a biased media leading the charge, are embarked on what appears to be a concerted effort to undermine their own president, Donald Trump, hoping perhaps to force him out or make him resign. I find this truly perplexing in light of the facts. Trump did not kick in the door and plunk himself down at the Oval Office against the will of the American people.
If I remember correctly, Trump submitted himself to a process, the same process in which many of his critics themselves freely participated, and minus a few complex details such as electoral voting, is exactly the same process America wants to foist on the rest of the world, sometimes at the prodding of the business end of a gun. In my country the Philippines, America often sends observers to make sure the same process is faithfully observed.
But ever since Trump emerged victorious in that process, a lot of Americans turned unwilling to submit to the process results and instead waged a relentless war against their own president. Such an unrelenting war could not have come at a worse time for the seemingly oblivious and unwitting Americans -they have not seemed to notice that their country is at war on several fronts and that the worst thing they could do to their own selves is to undermine their own leader.
Why do you think that madman Kim Jong Un is taking on Trump at the level of provocation that he is doing? Because Kim knows Trump is being undermined by his own people. If Kim realized that Trump has the unreserved backing of his people, he would not have dared kick up the mess he has done, knowing that if Trump went to war, he would have every breathing American marching right behind him.
But Trump has clay feet, courtesy of his own greedy people who think only of their politics, with nary a thought to what America faces and what America will be like if Trump fails as a leader at this critical time. Trump is not the best of leaders. He may not be suited for his high office. But he is the only one Americans have at this time. He is the "best" the vaunted American electoral system managed to cough up the last time.
Look at how obscene wages have spoiled American athletes into disrespecting their own flag, the same flag in whose defense, and for all that it stands for, countless American servicemen have given up their lives in various conflict areas far from home. And for what? So that athletes who have not done anything except to wallow in fame, fortune, and privilege can show their contempt for Trump? Well, it is not Trump these athletes stabbed in the back but those brave men in uniform.
These are very difficult times for America. And these are exactly the times when every American who loves his country ought to rally behind its leader. This is not the time to question leadership because the fact of the matter is, like him or not, Trump is the only leader Americans have. And terrorism is no longer at the door but in the kitchen having coffee. Kim, too, is on the way. For their own sake, America must make a choice now.
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