IS IT TO BE THE BERN V THE DONALD OR THE DONALD V HILLIARY?

For many of us, both Americans and foreigners, the rise of Donald Trump into becoming the rising star of the non-establishment Republicon American electorate, is a cause of some trepidation. Not so, of course, for the millions of Americans who perceive the Trump message of 'making America Great again', and bringing back 'our jobs' and keeping the Latinos out by building the 'great American/Mexican Wall' and forcing the Mexicans to pay for it, and keeping the Muslims out, as the country's salvation.

The Donald, it now appears, has trodden over his feeble and reactionary Republicon establishment presidential nomination contenders. The likes of Ted Cruz, and of Marco Rubio, men whose anachronistic so-called pro-life, anti-Cuban, anti-libertarian, and unprogressive policy promises, made them unfit to become the President of the United States.  And now, having flattened the feeble Republicon opposition, Donald Trump has placed himself and those backing him in a strong position to attack his Democratic opponents and, if he were to be successful, gate-crash into the POTUS job.  

Unless, that is, unless his Democratic opponents can stop him.

And this is the crux of the matter, because, just as how the Republicon establishment had made a last ditched tactical attempt to unite their party and try to defeat Donald Trump's attempt to gain the presidential nomination, so is the Democratic Party establishment and ordinary democrats now likely to argue that the Democrats need to come together and unite the party, to defeat Trump.

For many, if not most of these political strategists and tacticians, this will probably mean them arguing that the Democratic Party should unite behind Hillary Clinton; much the same way as HC was asked to drop out in the 2008 election and  make Barak Obama's  job less difficult.

So, it is now a matter of which of the Democratic Party candidates, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sander, has the best policies and/or is currently the strongest candidate. In terms of accumulated delegates, Hillary Clinton has many more than Bernie Sanders, so, if the decision is to be made on the basis of existing delegates won, she would be the Establishment's and 'pragmatists' choice. Of course, Bernie Sanders and his backers and supporters would argue that he can still turnaround Hillary Clinton's lead.

The 'pragmatists' and the Democratic Establishment will cite Hillary's extensive  'on the job experience', including her having been a Secretary of State, having lots of contacts with foreign leaders, being a First Lady when her husband was President,  and of knowing how the Establishment works. Somewhat ironically, however, this same familiarity with the American political establishment, is also an aspect of Hillary's weakness. Her familiarity with a dysfunctional and, some would argue, corrupt military-industrial-political complex.

She is now, at the comparatively late hour, seeking to distance herself from the more questionable aspects of this power complex, but is finding it difficult to get her credibility and trustworthiness accepted. Hillary is now adopting a more accommodating posture towards issues such as Blacklivesmatters, and penal reform, but it might be too little to late, especially for someone who has been part of the Establishment for so many years. Hillary certainly finds it difficult to give the impression or demonstration of having the necessary 'fire in her belly', which could suggest that she would become a positively transformational POTUS, of the kind that her challenger, Bernie, would be.

This is unlikely to stop her supporters and backers arguing that, confronted with the spectre of a Donald Trump successful presidential contest, what America needs is to have the experienced and 'old hand' Hillary Clinton at the control of the Nation, and that it is only she who can beat DT.

And yet, if millions of Americans can, whether for reasons of desperation, despair or temporary insanity, see the cameleon-like Donald Trump as a potential saviour of the Nation. Then how much more should the progressive policies of Bernie Sanders appeal to millions of Americans who want real changes, and the avoidance of the advances of the Obama Administrations being rolled -back, and replaced by more desolation?

It is arguable that a Bernie Sanders Presidency would be the logical follow-on from the Obama Presidency, and that, were it not for his DP establishment loyalties and probably his personal relationship with HC, President Obama, if he wanted his legacy to be built on, would logically be endorsing Bernie Sanders.

Americans and the American electorate should go out and vote as they have never done before, and help The Bern to burn the Trump threat to their 'democracy.'  

If you want progressive change in how your country is run, then Feed the Burn with Your Votes!

It is one of the ironies of 'democracies' that, to often, only a minority of the electorate vote, thereby expressing their disillusionment with the usual outcome of the process.

Now is not the time for being apolitical or complacent; when history is being made and you have the power to influence whether it is one which is regressive or progressive.




OWOHROD