Party politics represents one of the greatest sources of division among citizens in any part of the world. The only challenge to that status would be religion.
Politicians have skilfully mastered the art of convincing people to follow them blindly, and when that approach fails to win over intellectuals and high-information individuals, they appeal to others’ desire for power and status.
In the United States of America, one of the most consequential presidential elections is five weeks away and the two candidates are slugging it out as they employ various methods to win voters.
Often, people question why Barbadians should concern themselves with what is happening in American politics when there is so much occurring on the local and regional fronts. That perspective is valid. However, it is naive to believe that who holds the Office of President of the United States is of no concern to the people in Barbados.
Just as a major conflict erupting in the Middle East or a major viral outbreak in China will affect us, so will an aspiring dictator in the White House impact the lives of Barbadian and Caribbean people.
The US State Department reminds the world that the US “works with Barbados to increase security, prosperity, and democracy in the Caribbean”, and that Barbados “partners under the US-Caribbean Partnership to Address the Climate Crisis”.
Important also are the trade and economic links. Approximately 40 per cent of the island’s imports come from the US and in 2021, trade in goods between the US and Barbados totalled US$797.5 million (BDS$1.59 billion).
Then there are familial ties through the large Barbadian and Caribbean diaspora across the United States, students in American universities and colleges, and Barbadians making a meaningful contribution to American society.
When one considers the value of American tourists to the economy, and the dependence of the island’s financial sector on maintaining correspondent banking relations with American banks, a lawless American president who is prone to rash and vindictive actions at the slightest offence to his sensibilities or ego, is a person to fear.
An American president who would allow his followers to “hang” his vice president, seek to disqualify the votes of millions of electors and claim he won an election when scores of judicial challenges he filed were all rejected as baseless, is not the kind of leader the world needs.
For those with short memories of the Trump term between 2016 and 2020, one can reference the January 2020 CARICOM “unity meeting” in Jamaica with Trump’s then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The Miami Herald stated: “Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended a meeting with a select group of Caribbean foreign ministers in Jamaica, insisting that the United States has no intention of trying to divide the 15-member Caribbean Community economic bloc known as CARICOM.”
The Trump administration wanted CARICOM to align its votes with the US regarding Venezuela and who should have been elected secretary general of the Organisation of American States. As a result, Barbados and Trinidad & Tobago did not receive an invitation to the CARICOM meeting.
Speaking at an event to mark the centenary of the birth of Errol Barrow around the time of the meeting, Prime Minister Mia Mottley commented on the controversy. “We don’t look to pick fights. I don’t look to pick fights, but I am conscious that if this country does not stand for something, then it will fall for anything. As chairman of CARICOM, it is impossible for me to agree that my foreign minister should attend a meeting with anyone to which members of CARICOM are not invited. If some are invited and not all, then it is an attempt to divide this region,” she stated.
Unfortunately, too many, including in Barbados, are enamoured by the tough guy, celebrity and entertainment factor that Trump brings to the political landscape.
To those Trump lovers, we simply ask, “Would you want a political leader who lies to you, refuses to leave office even after they lost an election, is convicted of fraud and duping students into paying for fake university certification, who abuses the levers of government, sets his supporters to stop the transfer of power, bullies critics on social media, threatens to jail anyone who seeks to hold him accountable, spreads lies about Haitian immigrants, praises dictators and threatens to round up immigrants – many of whom will be of Caribbean and Barbadian origin – and evict them?
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