Trump, Khan(s) and the Democratic National Convention

S P SETH

The recent Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia was electrified when the visibly aggrieved father of a son, who was killed on line of duty in 2004 during Iraq operations from a suicide bomb, berated Donald Trump for his ignorance and churlishness in smearing and attacking minorities and their sacrifices. Khizr Khan, with his wife standing by his side, talked about his son’s sacrifice as “a patriotic American Muslim with undivided loyalty to our country”--- for which he was posthumously awarded the the Purple Heart—and questioned if Trump knew what it meant to be an American hero. Khan said, “Donald Trump consistently smears the character of Muslims. He disrespects other minorities, women, judges, and even his own [party] leadership. He vows to build walls and ban us from this country.” Indeed, under Trump’s plan to ban Muslims from the US, Khan’s son, Captain Humayun Khan, who arrived in America from Pakistan with his parents as a two-year old, would have been barred from entering the country. At one point on the convention stage, Khizr Khan seemed to be addressing Donald Trump directly to ask: “Donald Trump you are asking Americans to trust you with our future. Let me ask you: have you read the US constitution—I’ll gladly lend you my copy.”

Trump just didn’t know how to respond, confronted with someone with such unexceptionable credentials and great emotional appeal for many Americans, notwithstanding their religion. Trump’s churlish and ignorant response was to highlight the supposed docility and servility of Captain Humayun’s mother in Islamic hierarchy, as her husband took the centre stage denying his wife the right to speak on the occasion in her own right. Ghazala Khan trumped him when she penned an opinion piece in the Washington Post, which said, “When Donald Trump is talking of Islam, he is ignorant. Donald Trump says he has made a lot of sacrifices. He doesn’t know what the word sacrifice means.” Coming from a mother who had lost her son in Iraq war, it was powerful stuff. Trump just tied himself in knots, as only Trump can do, questioning: “Who wrote [Khizr Khan’s] speech?” And wanted to know, “Did Hillary’s [Clinton] script writers write it?” He even implied that as Captain Khan died 12 years ago, it is no longer pertinent and everyone should move on.

It is true that the anguish of Captain Khan’s parents at the Democratic Convention gave boost to Hillary Clinton’s popularity, widening the gap between her and Trump. But it is important not to over-estimate its electoral importance. And this is for a number of reasons. The first reason is that the election is still a few months away and it will be difficult to maintain the traction despite its emotional and heartfelt intensity. Second, it will be difficult to translate one genuine story of a patriotic American Muslim into an entire community’s commitment when Trump and others like him are able to tarnish them with Islamic terrorism. It is important to remember that Trump represents and articulates-- if one can call it that-- the fears, anxieties, prejudices and bigotry of about 35 per cent of American voters that constitute his base. And then there is a significant section of floating voters closer to Trump’s way of looking at things, though not sure if he would be presidential. And considering that Hillary Clinton is not exactly a popular candidate and has a trust deficit with American people, the choice is turning out to be between two candidates as to which one will be the lesser evil. And on present reckoning, Hillary might look like a lesser evil according to opinion polls boosted temporarily by the Khan factor.

It is a comfortable feeling that someone like Trump, who could turn out to be a serious threat globally for all kinds of outrageous things he is and has been saying, might be put back into the box and stay there. But I wouldn’t be too sure that Hillary might trump him. Of course, on the face of it and with the kind of coalition she has stitched up, she should have no worries about electability. For instance, she is more popular with women, Afro-Americans appear largely behind her and she appears to have majority support among Latinos. Besides, while the Democratic Party is mostly united behind Hillary Clinton as its presidential nominee, the Republicans are deeply divided and/or ambivalent about Trump’s candidacy. Indeed, some even have indicated that they might choose Hillary over Trump. Against this backdrop of unusual odds lined up against Trump, forecasting Hillary’s victory should be a no brainer.

But it is this kind of stitching up against him that makes Trump going. He appears to be the kind of non-political and anti-establishment guy who is prepared to say things as they are and the way many people have felt now for a long time and didn’t have anyone brave enough to give words to their feelings. He is anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant, enjoys dressing down ‘uppity’ women, talks about conspiracy theories, attacks media and believes that election will be rigged and whatever. He projects an image where he is seen as the greatest threat by political and establishment elites as they are out to get him. In other words, his supporters and others who believe in conspiracy theories, and the US is full of them, should beware of the ‘dangers’ and turn out to vote and mobilize others to do the same; because it is either Trump as the savior or more of the same and worst.

Amazingly, his campaign was able to raise $64 million in July from small donations, a testimony to his grass-roots support. In some ways, the more he is attacked for being so outrageous; the more he becomes a hero of sorts taking on the world at a time when many Americans are looking for a superman prepared to take on America’s enemies—right, centre and left. Which doesn’t mean that he will win the presidential election. What it means is that it would be foolish to right him off because he says such outrageous things, and that Hillary has the election stitched up with her carefully constructed coalition. 

Note: This article was first published in the Daily Times.     

Turkey’s crisis deepens

S P SETH

The tumultuous events in Turkey are a harbinger of worst to come. The failed military coup has catapulted the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan into turning the country upside down to re-engineer its make up by going after a whole range of institutions suspected of subverting/sabotaging and seeking to overthrow the country’s elected government. A military coup is rarely a justified exercise because (i) it does more harm than good by violating the principle of people’s sovereignty exercised by a duly elected government and (ii) it tends to be self-perpetuating thus losing whatever little rationale it might have, in the first place. Therefore, it is not surprising the attempted coup in Turkey aroused such concern and reaction. But to use it as an exercise in settling political scores with related or unrelated enemies will only further inflame the situation. There are reports that the Erdogan government had lists already prepared for purges and suspensions, and the failed coup has brought forward the whole exercise.

While a faction in the military engineered the failed coup, it is being made out that it was somehow a much bigger affair involving elements loyal to Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric who lives in self-imposed exile in the US. Gulen is being made out as some kind of a superman with wings spread out all over and able to act at will. It is even suggested that the US was behind the coup, with Gulen’s presence in the US being proof of it apparently. In other words, cleric Gulen is even able to manipulate and mesmerize the US into doing his bid. Turkey’s labour minister, Suleyman Soylu, who is said to be close to Erdogan, reportedly told a television station that “America is behind the coup.” And Erdogan has, more or less, has said the same.

And it has gained so much currency and self-belief in the Erdogan quarters that President Obama was obliged to personally deny this. He said that, “Any reports that we had any previous knowledge of a coup attempt, that there was any U.S. involvement in it, that we were anything other than entirely supportive of Turkish democracy are completely false, unequivocally false.” One reason for making these accusations against the US would seem to be to exert pressure on Washington to extradite Gulen to Turkey. Which the US is reluctant to do without solid evidence of his involvement in the coup. Indeed, Erdogan personally asked Obama to hand over Gulen to his government. To which Obama said: “I told President Erdogan that they should present us with evidence that they think indicates the involvement of Mr. Gulen, and it would be processed the way it is always processed, and that we would certainly take any allegations like this seriously.” In the meantime Turkey needed to conduct its investigation of the coup attempt “consistent with the rule of law.” Which is sound advice for the good of the country, but it is only further complicating US relations with the Erdogan government.

Erdogan and Gulen were erstwhile political allies and worked together to rid Turkey’s political system of military domination. Gulen suffered under periodic military coups in Turkey as he reminded in a statement denying any such involvement. He said: , “As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt.” The Gulen-loyalists are accused of having infiltrated the military to create a strong faction, which then sought to engineer the coup that failed. How they managed to continue operating as an autonomous force within the military without being noticed stretches one’s imagination! It would seem that ever since Erdogan purged the generals and put some of them behind bars after he came to power early in the last decade, there was some disquiet among elements of the armed forces, which eventually led to the failed coup. And the government would need to go through the process of uncovering the truth seriously and transparently without hysteria and paranoia leading to large scale purges.   

Erdogan and his loyalists seem to smell rat almost at all levels and in all institutions, and that rat is an undifferentiated Gulenist. Which is now leading to large-scale purges, dismissal and arrests in the military, judiciary, educational institutions, bureaucracy and wherever. It is beyond belief that during his several years in power, all these so-called saboteurs and terrorists with links to Gulen and his movement, somehow continued to function to bring down the government. Besides, there apparently was, if one can believe, some sort of intricate mechanism for all these diverse elements to be acting for one unified goal of overthrowing the Erdogan government. The Turkish government doesn’t do its cause any good by giving free reign to its paranoia of seeing enemies all around. Gulen’s followers, like others who dare to disagree with Erdogan, are “terrorists”—no two opinions about it.

Prime Minister Binali Yildrim likened Gulen’s followers to a “parallel terrorist organization.” And added that, “We will dig them up by their roots so that no clandestine terrorist organization will have the nerve to betray our blessed people again.” And the process of digging them up “by their roots” has started with thousands being hauled up with no end in sight. A state of emergency has been declared for three months, which is likely to be extended as Prime Minister Binali Yildrim has indicated. He reportedly said, “Our goal is that it shouldn’t be extended, but if the need arises it may of course be extended.” The first decree issued after the emergency ordered the closure of 1043 private schools, 1229 charities and foundations, 19 trade unions, 15 universities and 35 medical institutions, all suspected of links o the Gulen movement. And it is just the beginning. The witchhunt unleashed by the government against its ‘enemies’ is likely to make many people worry that it might be their turn next.

At a time when the government is waging war against Kurds, IS and all sorts of conceivable enemies, it simply is madness to whip up mass hysteria imagining that the government will be able to direct and control it at its will. And that is what Erdogan is doing, apparently unmindful of the forces that he is unleashing. He has justified the declaration of emergency in Orwellian doublespeak. He said that, “A state of emergency is not against democracy, the rules of law and freedom. On the contrary, it aims to protect and strengthen them.” And he darkly said that, “A lot of people have been arrested but we haven’t come to an end yet. We have so many suspects, and so many suspicions. Theses detentions and arrests will provide us with many names.” The numbers already arrested are staggering and the process will continue. In other words, Turkey will increasingly become unstable, further adding to the instability of the region around it.

Not surprisingly, Turkey’s NATO allies are worried as Turkey is an important ally. The US uses its Incirlik air base to attack IS positions in Syria. Turkey is being urged by its NATO and European allies to act with restraint and lawfully. NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, urged “a swift return to calm and full respect for the rule of law and democratic institutions.” But such advice is rather adding to tensions between Turkey and its western allies.

Note: This article was first published in the Daily Times