Andrew Sia
Published: Nov 8, 2024 6:40 PM
COMMENT | What can Malaysians learn from Donald Trump’s presidential victory? It is this: if the Madani folks cannot deliver real reform, they too may lose.
And it will be the fault of Pakatan Harapan and their partners. Just as the Democratic Party is to blame for the defeat of Kamala Harris.
You can hate Trump all you want. Call him a conman, braggart, molester, criminal, dictator, etc to your heart’s content, but he successfully sold himself as someone who would “clean up” the rigged system, while Harris seemed “more of the same” control by the elite.
The Dems repeatedly painted Trump as a “Hitler” who will destroy democracy in America. But it was not enough to just be “against” something.
Fear and hatred alone could not bring victory - not when many working-class Americans are struggling to make ends meet and are desperate for change.
As Robert F Kennedy (RFK) Jr, the nephew of former president John F Kennedy, put it, many Americans in cities are living in tents and in their cars. For others, the bills from just one medical problem will make them homeless.
Bogeyman politics
What positive vision did the Dems offer? Their messaging on how they will improve people’s lives was unclear.
Instead, their main campaign was being “anti-Trump”. And, pardon the pun, their only trump card was abortion and “woke” cultural issues, not real economic reform.
Also, it’s not that Harris was a paragon of honesty compared to Trump, as she has conveniently changed her stand on key issues such as healthcare for all, reducing guns, defunding racist police departments, fracking for oil, and criminalising immigrants.
Just that she has been more slick and polished than Trump who rambles on all over the place.
Similarly, our Madani government has been ignoring many important reforms - such as cleaning up the police force, making the MACC truly independent, and stopping the appointment of politicians and their family members to plum GLC posts.
For me, another crucial reform is political funding, as this means rich tycoons can bend the system to benefit themselves and their obedient politicians. But little is happening.
Instead, Anwar is probably banking on Harapan supporters thinking they have “no choice” but to support Madani even though they are not happy with poor reforms – because the other side is “the Taliban”.
Yet the Dems failed in their strategy to use Trump as the great bogeyman. Will Madani succeed with PAS as the bogeyman?
Bread and butter
In the end, it was bread and butter issues that decided the US election.
An article in the US government-linked National Public Radio (NPR) summed it up: “Americans were less concerned about Trump’s rhetoric and instead longed for change”.
Ironically, even though Trump has been rabidly anti-immigrant, he made huge gains among Latinos, Asians, and black voters.
Many experts cite out-of-control inflation midway through President Joe Biden’s term as key to Harris’ downfall, the article read.
Published: Nov 8, 2024 6:40 PM
COMMENT | What can Malaysians learn from Donald Trump’s presidential victory? It is this: if the Madani folks cannot deliver real reform, they too may lose.
And it will be the fault of Pakatan Harapan and their partners. Just as the Democratic Party is to blame for the defeat of Kamala Harris.
You can hate Trump all you want. Call him a conman, braggart, molester, criminal, dictator, etc to your heart’s content, but he successfully sold himself as someone who would “clean up” the rigged system, while Harris seemed “more of the same” control by the elite.
The Dems repeatedly painted Trump as a “Hitler” who will destroy democracy in America. But it was not enough to just be “against” something.
Fear and hatred alone could not bring victory - not when many working-class Americans are struggling to make ends meet and are desperate for change.
As Robert F Kennedy (RFK) Jr, the nephew of former president John F Kennedy, put it, many Americans in cities are living in tents and in their cars. For others, the bills from just one medical problem will make them homeless.
Bogeyman politics
What positive vision did the Dems offer? Their messaging on how they will improve people’s lives was unclear.
Instead, their main campaign was being “anti-Trump”. And, pardon the pun, their only trump card was abortion and “woke” cultural issues, not real economic reform.
Also, it’s not that Harris was a paragon of honesty compared to Trump, as she has conveniently changed her stand on key issues such as healthcare for all, reducing guns, defunding racist police departments, fracking for oil, and criminalising immigrants.
Just that she has been more slick and polished than Trump who rambles on all over the place.
Similarly, our Madani government has been ignoring many important reforms - such as cleaning up the police force, making the MACC truly independent, and stopping the appointment of politicians and their family members to plum GLC posts.
For me, another crucial reform is political funding, as this means rich tycoons can bend the system to benefit themselves and their obedient politicians. But little is happening.
Instead, Anwar is probably banking on Harapan supporters thinking they have “no choice” but to support Madani even though they are not happy with poor reforms – because the other side is “the Taliban”.
Yet the Dems failed in their strategy to use Trump as the great bogeyman. Will Madani succeed with PAS as the bogeyman?
Bread and butter
In the end, it was bread and butter issues that decided the US election.
An article in the US government-linked National Public Radio (NPR) summed it up: “Americans were less concerned about Trump’s rhetoric and instead longed for change”.
Ironically, even though Trump has been rabidly anti-immigrant, he made huge gains among Latinos, Asians, and black voters.
Many experts cite out-of-control inflation midway through President Joe Biden’s term as key to Harris’ downfall, the article read.
United States Vice President and Democratic Party candidate for president Kamala Harris
A Republican pollster observed that voters said, “I think the democracy criticisms (Trump as dictator, etc) are overblown and I’m going to vote for my pocketbook because I know that’s not overblown.”
Or, as NPR summed up, Trump’s victory may have simply come down to an old political cliché: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Senator Bernie Sanders slammed the party he is aligned with: “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.
“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?” Sanders asked.
Sanders, who is Jewish, added that both Biden and Harris “continue to spend billions funding the extremist (Israel Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu government’s all-out war against the Palestinian people” despite strong opposition from a majority of Americans.
Sidelining reformers
The irony is that the Dems did have two candidates who advocated rolling back elite control of America - Bernie Sanders and RFK Jr. But party leaders shut them both off in favour of so-called “corporate Democrats” - Hillary Clinton (2016), Joe Biden (2020), and Harris (2024), all of whom largely ignored the pain of the working class.
For example, Biden earned the nickname “Senator Credit Card” because he helped strip bankruptcy protection from millions who had financial problems to enrich credit card companies.
In contrast, Sanders pushed for genuinely “popular” policies such as subsidised healthcare and free public universities for all Americans.
A Republican pollster observed that voters said, “I think the democracy criticisms (Trump as dictator, etc) are overblown and I’m going to vote for my pocketbook because I know that’s not overblown.”
Or, as NPR summed up, Trump’s victory may have simply come down to an old political cliché: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Senator Bernie Sanders slammed the party he is aligned with: “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”
“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.
“Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?” Sanders asked.
Sanders, who is Jewish, added that both Biden and Harris “continue to spend billions funding the extremist (Israel Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu government’s all-out war against the Palestinian people” despite strong opposition from a majority of Americans.
Sidelining reformers
The irony is that the Dems did have two candidates who advocated rolling back elite control of America - Bernie Sanders and RFK Jr. But party leaders shut them both off in favour of so-called “corporate Democrats” - Hillary Clinton (2016), Joe Biden (2020), and Harris (2024), all of whom largely ignored the pain of the working class.
For example, Biden earned the nickname “Senator Credit Card” because he helped strip bankruptcy protection from millions who had financial problems to enrich credit card companies.
In contrast, Sanders pushed for genuinely “popular” policies such as subsidised healthcare and free public universities for all Americans.
United States senator Bernie Sanders
He wanted to rein in the “one percent”, the corporate oligarchs that have captured most of the wealth while leaving the middle and lower classes to struggle.
While Trump was a crony capitalist masquerading as a fake populist, Sanders was the real deal. And that’s probably why he was deemed too great a threat to entrenched corporate interests.
So, the Democratic party’s leadership was accused of rigging the party primaries (internal party elections) to ensure that Clinton, and later Biden in 2020, would win to become their presidential candidate.
And this was despite multiple polls showing that Sanders would have beaten Trump easily in 2016 if he had been allowed to be the Dems’ candidate.
In 2024, the chicanery continued. The Democratic party ironically refused to practice internal “democracy” by having primaries to select a presidential candidate.
Instead, they concealed Biden’s obvious old age mental decline – until it could no longer be hidden during the June debate with Trump.
Thus, RFK Jr, who like Sanders also warned against corporate self-enrichment, was shut off from the party of his own uncle and father and forced to run as an independent candidate.
Even then, the Dems still tried to block him with lawsuits, etc, to bar him from various state ballots. In the end, RFK quit the presidential race and endorsed Trump.
In other words, the Dems had rejected those who wanted to rein in elite interests and ended up allowing Trump to claim the mantle of “saving America”.
A column in the left-wing Indian Express newspaper by Aakash Joshi described Trump’s speeches as rambling, but the campaign did focus on core issues such as the loss of manufacturing jobs and immigration.
The Harris camp, on the other hand, resorted to “the TikTok-ification of political grammar” (soundbites with little substance) and failed to address fundamental issues.
So here are the lessons for the Madani government. Clean up what you promised to clean up. Stop suspicious crony deals. No to Najib’s house arrest nonsense.
Battle corruption without fear or favour. Be fair to all racial groups instead of pandering to just one. And above all, improve the livelihoods of the people.
In other words, get genuine Reformasi back on track. Otherwise, don’t be surprised with a shock loss at the next general election.
While Trump was a crony capitalist masquerading as a fake populist, Sanders was the real deal. And that’s probably why he was deemed too great a threat to entrenched corporate interests.
So, the Democratic party’s leadership was accused of rigging the party primaries (internal party elections) to ensure that Clinton, and later Biden in 2020, would win to become their presidential candidate.
And this was despite multiple polls showing that Sanders would have beaten Trump easily in 2016 if he had been allowed to be the Dems’ candidate.
In 2024, the chicanery continued. The Democratic party ironically refused to practice internal “democracy” by having primaries to select a presidential candidate.
Instead, they concealed Biden’s obvious old age mental decline – until it could no longer be hidden during the June debate with Trump.
Thus, RFK Jr, who like Sanders also warned against corporate self-enrichment, was shut off from the party of his own uncle and father and forced to run as an independent candidate.
Even then, the Dems still tried to block him with lawsuits, etc, to bar him from various state ballots. In the end, RFK quit the presidential race and endorsed Trump.
In other words, the Dems had rejected those who wanted to rein in elite interests and ended up allowing Trump to claim the mantle of “saving America”.
A column in the left-wing Indian Express newspaper by Aakash Joshi described Trump’s speeches as rambling, but the campaign did focus on core issues such as the loss of manufacturing jobs and immigration.
The Harris camp, on the other hand, resorted to “the TikTok-ification of political grammar” (soundbites with little substance) and failed to address fundamental issues.
So here are the lessons for the Madani government. Clean up what you promised to clean up. Stop suspicious crony deals. No to Najib’s house arrest nonsense.
Battle corruption without fear or favour. Be fair to all racial groups instead of pandering to just one. And above all, improve the livelihoods of the people.
In other words, get genuine Reformasi back on track. Otherwise, don’t be surprised with a shock loss at the next general election.
ANDREW SIA is a veteran journalist who likes teh tarik khau kurang manis. You are welcome to give him ideas to brew at tehtarik@gmail.com
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