TRUMP'S KRISTALLNACHT 5 11 24

The magnitude of Trump's win is awesome. His mandate is absolute in political terms.

Kamala Harris' loss is a slap in the face of the more liberal leaning Americans.

The Democrats' nakba is a tragedy for the men and women who still believed in the rescue of the American dream. The dream ended up in the gutter, like Richard III's crown.

The consequences for Americans will be enormous, given that the Senate and House will be under MAGA control. The Republican Party is dead, partially by its own moral betrayal.

There is not much that the traditional Western allies can do, since Trump's wrath will roam free. Netanjahu and Orban will be relieved. The axis Pyongyang /Beijing/ Moscow/ Teheran must feel glee. NATO, the EU, the Five eyes, Ukraine and Taiwan mostly, will have to regroup. The forgotten wars everywhere, and climate will wait. Destabilizing trends will amplify unabated.

America will cope, eventually, but the country is broken for now. It is impossible to sort cause and effect. Already some argue that Biden stayed too long, that Kamala Harris presented herself too often as a women's candidate. Both comments are largely unfair and the fable of the angry American male who flocked to Trump's machismo is unconvincing. It is far too early to make definitive assertations.

In the short run the dubious Trump court, packed with unpleasant characters, will remodel the ailing leftovers of the American democracy. It looks ominous, given the actors already under consideration.

At least Western Europe might benefit in some perverse way from this nightmare since some of the best will prefer to wait and see in more welcoming places than in America's heartland.

At the end of the day Kamala Harris' defeat is America's shame.

THE IDES OF NOVEMBER

America today doesn't make sense.

There is a president who inhabits some Ionesco scenario out of "Exit the King". Normally, one could expect him to represent calm and reason at times of scarcity of both. The reality is that everybody wants him to remain out of view...and remain silent. This is an ungrateful world alas wherein a too long goodbye , as Biden's, is already becoming a shroud which covers his impressive social and economic achievements. Times as these require a Churchill or a De Gaulle.  Even Macron would do. 

It is hazardous to predict the outcome of Tuesday's election. Both candidates sound and act exhausted. Both focus on parts of the electorate that they might have neglected for too long:  the vote of Generation X for Trump, the "frustrated" (read: dumb) males for Kamala Harris.

Trump is more wicked than he appears. Kamala is more sociologically wired than her stump speech often sounds. In reality, the day after Tuesday could unleash a beast that will unabashedly roam free. American institutions have become weakened through open hostile infiltration. A Faustian pact with the devil became normalized.

 History has a poor reputation in this country and it shows. The bitter aftermath of Europe's or China's "mistakes" should have taught Americans a lesson. The "costume MAGA parties" look ridiculous but they are, in real terms, frightening.

Whatever the outcome next week, America will lose once and for ever its fraudulent Disney image. There will be violence. If Trump were to win, the Pinochet mantra might appear in the Northern hemisphere. If Kamala Harris wins, a MAGA cataclysmic apocalypse will be unchained. Already the preparation is under way.

There are enough anti-genes in America to build up resistance but the rules and standards that apply in the better half will have to fight an uneven battle. Gerrmany's Reichswerh had a honor code after all. The manipulated MAGA hordes follow only the SA or SS .

The world at large looks on, most with fear, some with relish. The USA will sooner or later have to reexamine it workings. The democratic majority rule doesn't apply. The branches of government are independent in name only. The Supreme Court has become an alternative path for a political take-over. Societies come with their own perils, that is why they need the likes of Pasteur or Salk to survive. Here and now, America might end up with Musk and Robert Kennedy, Jr. instead.

Bonne route !

AMERICA BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL

Americans in both parties look exhausted. Never, since the Civil War, has the country be as divided. The Democrats fight an uphill battle. Trump looks and sounds often demented but his strength lies in the connection he forged with mostly rural, often southern parts of the country, that are often evangelical and conservative. Kamala Harris appears too close to San Francisco and to the more sophisticated, liberal "elites", while in reality she is just a liberal, sophisticated persona, deferential to the changes that occur in society, demography, culture and the new economy.

It is certainly paradoxical that Donald Trump, New Yorker, wealthy parvenu, became the crusader for the often less-affluent, less-educated, predominantly white male voters. This doesn't stop some of the wealthiest, often found among the High Tech wizards, to forego his vulgarity and to lend him generous financial support. Elon Musk acts as his Goebbels. The Hitler precedent comes often up but the Fuhrer in the early 1930s looked rather smart....  The international cabal (an arc of contradictory countries which covers such unlikely countries from North Korea, Russia to Israel...) favors the like-minded (?) MAGA candidate.

Kamala Harris needs to clearly distance herself, as much as courtesy allows, from President Biden, who showed again how dangerous he can be when allowed "free speech". His comments about the Trump followers are erasing the gaffes of the comedian who made the unfortunate utterance regarding Puerto Rico. Biden became a godsend for the GOP. Kamala must think "with friends like these....".

The polls are inconclusive, the mood is somber. If Trump wins, America will enter into a repetitive pattern of deconstruction and revenge. If Kamala Harris becomes president, the MAGA Sturmtruppen will repeat and expand on their January 6 Capitol riot and sabotage the rule of law. Internationally, Trump will not be shy to embrace Orban rather than Macron or to find a deal with Putin on the back of Zelensky. While the remnants of the former world order are under fire by the expanding BRICS, the EU and NATO might well arrive at the conclusion Wir schaffen das NICHT.

A Harris presidency would be applauded by most in the EU and be approached with caution worldwide. She is a persona with class, a woman with a contemporary mindset, a Mensch...In so many words the choice is easy, between a healer and a destroyer.

BELGISCHE REGERINGSFORMATIE IN ECHTENACH MODE

Het duurt, tot vervelens toe. De financien zieltogen, bedrijven worden ondermaats, het bestuur is ongeloofwaardig. De troep onderhandelaars doet voort. 

Nergens ziet men zo een stel weinig aantrekkelijke,slecht of onheus geklede, slecht bespraakte individuen "non stop" optreden voor de cameras. Soms leek het of RTL een monopolie had van miserable kadrering ( o.m.waarbericht rond de sympathieke Farid of kunst (?) en filmkriek in het Journaal) maar nu hebben wij de formateur en apostels. Mahdi en Prévot (zou een goede minister van buitenlandse zaken zijn) zijn uitblinkers. Rousseau kon beter zijn opwachting maken voor West Side Story.

Het draait allemaal rond de "supernota", maar wat uitlekt is niet van aard om het vertrouwen in een nieuwe efficientie te herstellen. Dit land is de opdeling van bestuur en verantwoordelijkheid beu. Het wil europees en internationaal herrijzen. De vorming van een Brusselse regering is niet langer een mop maar een tragedie, zoals de metro,de burgemeesters, het urbanisme (?), de verloedering van milieu, verkeer, diensten...armoede.

Nemen die lui ooit een vlucht uit Zaventem of Charleroi (!!!!!!!!!!!!) en durven zij het vergelijken met elders ? Uieindelijk blij ven ze misschien beter t'huis want zelf de goede bedoelingen (Mevr. van der Straeten) leveren alleen maar ongewenste resultaten op. 

Een bezoek van Ensor's intrede van Christus in Brussel in Los Angeles ( natuurlijk opnieuw aan Belgie ontnomen) ware aan  te raden . Christus heeft het beter in Californie dan moest hij in Belgie zijn gebleven !

BRIC(S) A BRAC

Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa were the original BRICS. Now they are joined by Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Turkey is applying for membership.

In the past, Western steered alliances ruled the world...SIC TRANSIT ! The former Western world order is no longer. NATO is a beggar's opera. Bush killed the American inroads in the Middle East. Obama's Asian grand design is dead on arrival. The EU became what it is, an ambition drowned in a pool. 

The new axis of evil engineered by Putin should alarm the West. What it might lack in engineering or focus, it compensates with  some form of nihilistic acrimony. They come together less about goals than because of shared resentment. Putin has showed how he can master hurt feelings and imagined humiliation. This is all the more ironic since this former KGB apparatchik is the heir to the Gulag and the various coups in Prague, Warshaw and Budapest (Remember Mr. Orban?). True, China's Tien An Men follows the pattern.

What is at stake here is the Russian strategy to break the world into pieces. The growing falling apart of coherence, or a guiding agreed philosophical Meridien, benefits the freelancers. Russia watches while the American Secretary of State runs to  exhaustion.  Netanjahu's thank you note might well be joining the BRICS, club of enemies.

Meanwhile the American presidential campaigns are giving free elections a bad name. Thanks.

ADAM GOPNIK REGARDING "THE UNMAKING OF AMERICA" (The New Yorker Oct.21,2024)

The US economy is booming. It is the envy of the world. Creativity rules... So why is the mood so somber? 

Elections and campaigns seldom bring the best out of people and candidates. In the US, the tone and tenure of Trump hits rock bottom. Kamala Harris stays on course but she cannot stay idle and ignore the lies and insults that multiply by the hour. In his latest "performance", with the blessings of the cardinal of New York, Trump surpassed himself in vulgarity and name calling.

Surprisingly the race is tight. Trump holds on to his followers, predominantly found among males in his predictable middle and southern zones of "influence", and among plutocrats he seduces with taxes on imports and tax breaks for themselves. He is supposedly making inroads with some Latino and Black voters. Vice-President Harris scores in the large cities and seaboard, with women and students.

The Republicans, or better the "Trumpians," focus on border security, immigration, and a mix of baloney, insults and complots. The Democrats follow a defensive, classical design wherein trusted alliances and creative social engineering stand central. 

Obviously there is more to it than just a summary of headlines. Here lies the perverse turn of this campaign, unlike any other. What is at stake is an existential outcome. If Trump wins, the end of America as we know and trust it, becomes a reality. The monsters that lie quiet will be awakened. The EU and NATO will need to regroup. The Middle East will be "free for all". Taiwan will be in shock. Russia & Co. will send heartfelt congratulations. The rest of the world will probably cope. One often forgets Australia...wrong! There is also Netanjahu of course but he is a closet Trump fan anyway...

If this is not ominous enough for a global freak-out there are the perverse implications of a real American coup d'état, a reversal of values, a vindication of imaginary persecution and deep-state plots cooked-up in abortion clinics and campuses, in art galleries and theatres. Trump imports his expensive bibles from China rather than trusting the Christian printers next door.  One can bet the cardinal is happy to support the enemy of women's rights over another imported dark Indian candidate.

Gopnik writes about the Apocalypse to come if Kamala Harris were to lose. Already many usually more serene observers note with some Angst that the outcome feels too close for comfort. The noise is always louder than reason of course, but given the existential nature of this critical watershed, one must hope that the better angels will prevail. The question remains how angels will force the remaining closed minds to open and to break through the walls of prejudice and of a perverse, fascist Welt Anschauung. 

BART DE WEVER EN ECHTGENOTE SERVEREN

Bart De Wever bekoort de perslui met koffie en Cola. Hij is een intelligente, geslepen politicus. Hij kent ook zijn Machiavelli.

Nochtans is er is er in zijn "entourage" te weinig plaats voor een meer internationaal afgestemd imago. Het blijft in de eerste instantie Vlaams baggeren, à la Demir. Sinds Jan Wolkers heeft turks fruit trouwens een " reputatie"...

Jammer, want dit land is internationaal meer en meer deficitair geworden (EU, NAVO,VN, Buitenlandse zaken, Onwikkeling, defensie...). Het heeft niel langer de invloed die het nog kon verzilveren tot Jean Luc Dehaene.

De schaarse berichtgeving ivm. de onderhandelingen over de nieuwe regering zijn trouwens zorgwekkend. Als men de weinige prestige zuilen ( o.a. Munt, PSK, KMI) die nog overblijven gaat toebedelen aan overkoepelende overheden, gaan die verloren. De teleurgang van de Belgica is de laatste alarmbel. De ramp van de opsplitsing van buitenlandse handel blijft ook een negatief dividend afleveren. Bart Eeckhout's alarmbel in De Morgen (19/10/24) is daarom pertinent, helaas.

De formateur kent geschiedenis en precedent. Van hem kan toch worden verwacht dat hij zijn overings opmerkbaar parcours als burgemeester en ook zijn succesvol partij profiel kan inruilen voor een internationale, europese meerwaarde. 

Hij zou ook nog zijn zoon kunnen aanraden niet te paraderen met een soort romeinse verwijzing -SPQA (!)-, die beter past bij  Nuremberg dan Antwerpen .