The curtain is brought down on the American century

As a global emblem of the present state of the Republican Party, the triumphalist “triumph of the will” Trump rally in New York’s Madison Square Garden this weekend has few peers.

The cast of support speakers was a succession of political Halloween ghouls — Elon Musk, Rudi Giuliani, Tucker Carlson, Mike Johnson — playing disciples to the Messiah of Trump Tower. And the low point came with a chap by the name of Tony Hinchcliffe.  For those who don’t know him, he’s a self-proclaimed “right-wing comedian”, with a line in racist patter. He perhaps thinks his satire is all about shocking bien-pensant, liberal, polite society — and he certainly succeeded. He even stunned the Trumpians with his references to Latino lust, as well as Black and Jewish tropes. (In New York City!)

But it was the gag about Puerto Rico, an American territory in the Caribbean, US citizens all, that went down especially badly: “There is literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico...”  Somewhat more insidiously, Carlson took it upon himself to casually promulgate the fascistic “great replacement theory”, as pernicious an idea as any to the peace of America. With zero sense of irony when applied to a nation and an audience almost entirely made up of the descendants of migrants, Tucker, who styles himself a journalist, declared: “People know in a country that has been taken over by a leadership class that actually despises them and their values and their history and their culture and their customs, really hates them to the point that it’s trying to replace them.”

It’s appalling. As Democrat organisation Battleground New York described it: “A torrent of unhinged crazy, racism and xenophobia. “Whether it was targeting Puerto Rico with obscene hate, continuing to claim the 2020 election was stolen, or trying to lay the groundwork to say the same in 2024, this rally was an obscene display of unvarnished bigotry for millions to see.” Correct.

But isn’t the problem that, well, an awful lot of Americans enjoyed the unhinged content, think Kamala Harris really is a “devil”, and, if anything, it will galvanise them to vote for Trump?  It is not going to cause much of a backlash or destroy the Trump campaign. People, on the whole, have long since made their minds up. In a presidential election where a Democrat (in both senses) is on the ballot standing against a fascist, a man increasingly compared to Hitler, millions and millions and millions of Americans will be plumping for the heir to Adolf.  They do not, it seems, cherish their liberal democracy and finely balanced constitution as is supposed. They prefer a “strong man” who shares their worst instincts. They don’t object to fascism too much, really — not if it means cheaper gas.

It could happen that America chooses fascism and the erosion of its civil and human rights. And it would not be the first time that a great Western civilisation had decided to recede into the darkness.  Given what Donald Trump’s policies would inflict on the cohesion of his country, on its place in the world and on its economy, we may soon be witnessing the end of “the American century”, which began with its rise to globalism in the First World War.

Well, there you go.  I am fully aware that the silliest, worst thing some foreigner can do is to write some snobby, condescending, uncomprehending article about American politics — telling them what to do and how to vote (usually anti-Trump, but, sometimes pro-Trump). This is not such an argument. It’s their country, and the Americans can do what they like with it.

But we can express a view. Those of us who don’t live in the United States are still entitled to an opinion on what happens there — the same as we would be on the elections in Japan or Georgia, and especially so as the sheer weight of American diplomatic, military and economic power affects virtually everyone else on the planet.

I’m not going to tell Americans to vote for Kamala Harris rather than Trump because it would be impertinent to do so; just as we wouldn’t want them telling us to get the Labour government out. (Which is why Labour activists going off to “help” the Democrat campaign in Pennsylvania always felt such a naive and patronising exercise. Generally keeping out of other nations’ internal affairs makes for easier diplomatic relations.)

Rather, this is just a plea to accept America and Americans for what they are — and try to get used to the idea that, in a week’s time, they will indeed have the nearest thing to a fascist as a president that they have ever had.

Even if Donald Trump doesn’t win, he will, once again, have come uncomfortably close to doing so; and, despite the personal cult he’s developed, there’s every reason to believe that someone very like him — and perhaps smarter and even more dangerous, such as JD Vance — will emerge to take and abuse the imperial powers of the presidency. These have, after all, been greatly enhanced by the Supreme Court judgment lending a president far more immunity for any actions taken as part of their executive duties. That’s what Richard Nixon, by the way, always wanted but was denied to him; the doctrine of “if the president does it, it’s legal”.