Land of the bended knee…

If we can’t think for ourselves, if we’re unwilling to question authority, then we’re just putty in the hands of those in power. But if the citizens are educated and form their own opinions, then those in power work for us. In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness.

–Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World

I’ve been asked repeatedly why I’m so invested in American politics. The answer is straightforward: what happens in America reverberates globally.

Meanwhile, it returns us to the axiom attributed to Austrian diplomat Klemens von Metternich, which is often restated as: “When America sneezes, the world catches a cold.” By most accounts, the guy in charge there is a very sick individual, and he’s giving the world the shivers every time he parts his lips.

But that’s not the only reason.

President Donald Trump is spreading vicious lies about my country. He is repeating the patently false White genocide narrative as an excuse not to attend the upcoming G20 Summit taking place in South Africa. Since our President visited the White House in May, when the lies first surfaced, the manufactured narrative about a White genocide has been comprehensively debunked by many fact-checkers, including the Institute for Security Studies. It is well known, however, that Trump has no qualms about repeating lies, primarily if they’re targeted at a specific audience.

In this instance, Trump does so not out of spite, but out of necessity. The Trump Administration has been staunchly defending Israel’s military campaign against the Palestinians in Gaza. Trump’s recent visit and warm reception in the Israeli Knesset suggest a relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that extends beyond the provision of weapons and diplomatic support. It has been alleged by independent media that the lies about South Africa are being spread as a token of support for Netanyahu. Those allegations seem supported by Netanyahu’s vindictiveness, which is at the centre of the wave of war crimes being committed against the Palestinians in Gaza. It’s an open secret that Netanyahu loathes South Africa after this country initiated a case of genocide at the International Court of Justice against Israel.

So yes, I have a perfectly valid reason to feel slighted and drawn to ranting, much like many Americans, for reasons ranging from principled opposition to what is now frequently being described as authoritarianism, to tribal loyalty by those not satisfied with the pace of Trump’s onslaught against America. As an aside, it must be mentioned that there is also growing tribal loyalty for Trump right here in South Africa, by those who, no doubt, are nostalgic for a glorious apartheid past.

To understand how we arrived here, three decades ago, American scientist Carl Sagan warned of a dystopian future America in his book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Sagan’s apprehension proved quite prophetic.

I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time — when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness…

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance

While Sagan was penning this stark warning in 1995, Donald Trump was coming off a $3.2 billion debt burden to publicly list his company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts, on the stock exchange. I don’t think Carl would have, in his wildest dreams, imagined that the leading object of his warning would be this very man. While Trump managed to dubiously escape his debt troubles, he “left many casino workers, contractors and lenders in trouble.” That escape set the tone for an ominous future for America, but would also cast a dark shadow on the rest of the world.

Continuing the legacy of his unpleasant first term in office, Trump, in his second term, somehow perfected the art of assembling an army of sycophants around him. This allowed him to cement his prowess at deception on a massive scale. Scenes of Trump’s stooges sitting around a table in the Cabinet Room praising him have become all too common, as has a succession of spineless foreign diplomats and world leaders visiting the White House Oval Office to pay tribute to him.

The era of bending the knee had begun.

It’s now protocol to defer to Trump and declare allegiance if you want to avoid his notoriously petty vindictiveness. Even the media know their place. Asking anything but softball questions that let Trump preen his feathers will put a journalist in serious jeopardy, not only with the Administration but also with the media owners, who have, like other tech billionaires, long since bent the knee.

The White House has taken on the atmosphere of a Game of Thrones set, complete with knee-bending tributes, backstabbing, pervasive lying, fearmongering, constant plotting, and the disbursement of threats. There is also a discernible contempt for the American citizenry, backed by contemptible actions and words from Trump’s sycophants. Even an obscene ballroom is under construction at enormous cost to pander to Trump’s vanity. It feels like we may even witness a modern version of the Red Wedding there.

Future historians will examine this dark period in American history with considerable distaste. I venture that it will become clear to them, as it appears to me now, that while Trump has a lot to answer for, it’s the Americans themselves who must bear the brunt of responsibility for making Carl Sagan’s fears a reality. Americans have allowed their country to slip away from them, either through complacency, criminal neglect or placing too much trust in their politicians while showering them with undeserved praise and worship.

I recently came across a list of lies that far too many Americans apparently believe, which may shed light on the root causes of the country’s current state of affairs. An American YouTuber I follow, who now resides in Europe, shared these on his channel. A detailed explanation of each lie in the video below is available.

• Universal health care is too expensive.
• Free college means lower-quality education.
• Europeans are crushed by taxes.
• Public transportation is for poor people.
• The U.S. is the freest country in the world.
• Gun control doesn’t stop crime.
• Christian nations are the most prosperous.
• America has the best education system.
• Everyone wants to live in America.
• American democracy is still the gold standard.

These lies didn’t magically form on their own. They were intentionally manufactured, incubated, and socialized over many years by the politicians Americans trusted and idolized. I don’t differentiate between Democratic and Republican politicians because the differences are only artificial. The fact that their lies stuck and still do is shocking.

While the YouTuber makes a brief reference to American exceptionalism, I feel it needs to be expanded a little. Simon Anholt is a policy advisor to governments worldwide. He created the Good Country Index, which is a measure of “what each country on earth contributes to the common good of humanity, and what it takes away, relative to its size,” based on seven metrics.

America is not among the good countries. It ranks 50th overall out of 174 countries polled. It ranks 64th on the Science & Technology metric, 84th on the Culture metric, 149th on the International Peace & Security metric, 44th on the World Order metric, 86th on the Planet & Climate metric, 42nd on the Prosperity & Equality metric, and 10th on the Health & Wellbeing metric. You will notice that America lags far behind the Social Democracies in Europe at the top. It’s therefore ironic that the word “social” is viewed with so much distrust and distaste in America.

Considering what Americans believe about themselves, in a country with such a poor showing globally, it’s not that difficult to see why someone like Donald Trump wormed his way into the Oval Office. America was ripe for the taking. However, there is one other person who made a telling contribution: Joe Biden.

The former president’s role in handing the country to Trump on a silver platter must not be underestimated. Biden was instrumental in providing the legitimacy, not to mention the weapons, for Israel’s brutal military campaign in Gaza. That moral failure and guilt probably became a burden too heavy to bear, causing him to step down from contesting the 2024 presidential elections. His replacement, Kamala Harris, was a weak candidate who failed to sway Democratic voters, many of whom clearly did not approve of the support for Israel.

While the appetite for Trump-style governing appears to be waning, America has a long three more years to endure as penance for the egregious misstep of trusting him with power. Only time will tell if enough knees have bent to sustain his reign of terror and travesty.

Meanwhile, Americans have to abandon insular thinking and the idea of making America great and accept that only by contributing more to the common good of global humanity will it become a better country. America will be great, only if the entire world says so.