Now that Joe Biden is in the unassailable driver’s seat with a majority in both the houses and with an unambiguous agenda of putting the US back into the center stage of national and global priorities, I have suddenly awakened to the realism on how we lost the last four years. It’s a colossal loss – personal, social, national, and global. Many amongst you may not realize how personal or social it was when the stock market kept rising and your personal bank accounts were fattening. I believe we at least agree on national and global loss that is irreparable and irreplaceable. To those disagreeing on the prior two, I will dedicate a separate blog to help them understand.
A Wall Partially Built
Well, the Wall that was partially built, with taxpayers’ money, now will be in shambles. You may not realize that our kids, their kids, and most importantly, “We” will have to pay that. When we see our retirement funds are drying, we may trace those to too many of those decisions that were taken under the Trump Era. The Wall is an example, a magnificent representation of those four years that cannot be dismantled but will remain as a living testament to Trump’s legacy.
The Wall is not all
I always liked Trump’s anti-establishment approach to problem-solving. China and North Korea are classic examples of deep appreciation of his good work. Similarly, forging an alliance in the South China Seas, consolidating the QUAD, the five eyes, seven eyes, and the nine eyes, against an existential threat, are no mean achievements. Let’s not be too liberal to ignore how he relegated Muslim Terrorism to an inconsequential presence. Let’s understand the importance of forging that middle east alliance between Israel and the Sunni nations. It’s no mean achievement to renegotiate NAFTA, make Japan and the South Asian nations realize the cost of their security, that the US was paying from its pocket. Let’s not overlook the change to immigration policies without ignoring the trepidations and the tragedies of those separated families.
Yes, it was full of commotion.
Politics moved from theatrics. Every day was a threat, and politics dominated our family room, our social moments, and our board rooms. Low moral code bequeathed our daily life as White Nationalist, (Un)Americanism and Polarization became pervasive as much as hate. Those living in the metros might not have realized. However, I presume you saw the siege at the Capitol; that’s not even the tip of the iceberg. I suggest, for at least a few years, exercise caution when you are in the countryside. Such is the divisive phenomenon that Trump articulated across the nation that QANon, Proud Boys emerged even within the legendary troops’ rank and files. Can you ignore this?
An insecure populist demagogue
Of course, at every level, the only criteria of serving in the government was a spineless servile attitude. Right from those who surrounded him, until those smaller peripheral cities, he built a chain of servility, lacking in character and commitment, that was ready to compromise the most avowed commitment of the nation, to the nation, and to the global community. Strategies and policies suddenly became knee jerk. Twitter was the official media, and cartoon channel lost its relevance. Sometimes, America was here, and exactly at the same time, America was elsewhere, never with those partners and collaborators of national and global order. Allies and Alliances were perturbed, confused, just like a Saturday night hangover. Despite this, life kept moving forward. As you all know, time is merciless, does not wait for any, and did the same with the Trump era. Despite our constant yearning for it to be stopped, of getting frozen ignoring the warming, the global warming. That’s true. Most emissions commitments, policies, and restrain carbon footprint were thrown into the abyss – Dismal and dismissed, as those are regarded in the countryside. It’s a high cost. The global warning did not stop. That’s the timer on which humanity is sitting right now. We will realize it when some of those frosty glaciers will release another life form (like SARS CoV2) to inundate humanity while we are sparing on where it came from or sparing over (vaccine) nationalism.
What do I say? Will the good, the bad, and the ugly be thrown out through the window of time? Or Biden retain some part of my lost four years?
I, Shashank Heda, authored the above article. It’s not yet published on my blog site, mymilieu.org. I am so thankful to my mentors and teachers, who constantly encourage, and I appreciate those who silently admire with a smile but fail to compliment.
Shashank Heda
Dallas, Texas
Putting out Trump’s Asia dumpster fires starts at home
https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Putting-out-Trump-s-Asia-dumpster-fires-starts-at-home
mymilieu.org 