‘We Underestimated Discontent in America’

Even a black-and-white leaked memo alleging plans to alter the election results didn’t seem to bother Donald Trump. He is a strong contender to win the next election. According to American expert Willem Post (Klingendale Company), we should also learn from this. “Obviously we were naive.”

Prosecutor Jack Smith discovered what that note meant by the newspaper The New York Times Leaked?

“The plans of Trump and his team to influence the election results are legitimate. The memo was drafted by Kenneth Chesbro, one of Trump’s official lawyers. It proves that the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 has a long history: the memo is exactly one month old.

Chesbro says in the text that he knows full well that his plan is illegal, but he immediately adds with diligence. The group behind Trump circulated fake electoral votes in seven states a week after writing the memo. They must be ready behind the scenes to vote for Trump instead of Joe Biden. Vice President Mike Pence was expected to side with Trump, and this is the most convincing evidence that Attorney General Jack Smith can bring: There’s a conspiracy here.

What does this mean for Smith’s case against Trump?

“Trump’s strategy to become lawyers is to argue that free speech allows Trump to say whatever he wants. But it’s not just words. It is about actions that come from it. A textbook example of this is Trump’s phone call to local official Brad Raffensberger (Secretary of State, P.G.) of the State of Georgia. Out of which he polled nearly 12,000 additional votes.

“This note bothers Trump because it implies that Trump was premeditated. For example, the fake election votes were ready. But Trump flew into a rage at Pence because he didn’t want to appoint him as the next president. It’s clear from his reaction that the note hardens him: apparently his anger could increase even more.

So what is Trump saying?

“At an election rally on Tuesday night, he called Smith thug, or a criminal lawyer. This is truly unprecedented. He always referred to the Biden family as the crime family. Hunter Biden’s son, in his view, “should get the death penalty instead of a traffic ticket.”

For any ordinary politician, last week’s indictment would be a nail in his political coffin. Trump turns it into arguments for his campaign. How is that possible?

“There are a few reasons for this. First, we all underestimated the discontent in American society. The economic crisis of 2008, the effects of globalization and the poverty of small-town America: the Netherlands and Belgium have a welfare state with a social safety net to absorb such shocks. It is much less common in the US.

“General unemployment may be low in America, but in many places people have to work hard at Walmart and McDonald’s. Go to America and travel: imagine yourself in Africa in some regions, there is so much poverty.

“Also, Trump is an incredibly talented populist, the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades. I’ve attended his rallies a few times myself. It usually only appears on the news in Belgium and the Netherlands for a few seconds. For example, you don’t understand how Trump holds the attention of his audience for two hours. Who can do that in this day and age?” Can? Trump seems to be able to seduce and intoxicate his audience. I sometimes say he is the Pied Piper of Hamelin: He marries discontent and exploits it.

“More than 70 million people say they’ll vote for Trump even if he goes to jail. If it turns out that he really wanted to stage a coup in court, I’d like to see it again.

Former journalist Ko Wellgraven argued in a Dutch newspaper Faith An op-ed for Biden to pardon Trump, as Gerald Ford did for Richard Nixon. He thinks this will save us from a political and constitutional crisis. Do you think that’s a good idea?

“For a new book, I am trying to answer the question of what is the American soul. This is a kind of impetus for progress, but Rule of Law – A rule of law. America is based on laws and regulations. If hundreds have been convicted of attacking the Capitol, how can you morally and legally excuse those responsible?

“I see one exception where a pardon would be a good idea. I’ve often talked about the political civil war in America over the past year. I always speak metaphorically. After all, there are no deaths on American streets — for now. If that situation threatens to happen, it’s in the country’s best interest to pardon Trump at the last minute. Maybe. For example, in exchange for the condition that he withdraws from politics. But that seems very unpleasant to me: then America will lose a part of its soul.

What do the past seven years say about the state of American democracy?

“If the cases that are going on now come to a successful conclusion – I mean everyone accepts the verdict – we will simply look at this as a difficult period that has passed. But given the current polarization, we can still talk about a crisis for American democracy. Let’s also not forget that on January 6, 2021, we saw a former president who refused to accept the election results. Then your democracy is in big trouble.

“We see populism gaining strength everywhere. I grew up in the 1960s. And then in the 1990s, like Francis Fukuyama, we all thought the whole world was going to become democratic. Obviously we were very naive. So we can learn from this.

What can we learn from America?

“Education is important. We need to develop more committed citizens. Language and math are important, but so is citizenship education. We really need to be careful. Freedom House, a Washington-based democracy watchdog group, and the press are not for nothing to warn. Economists “Democracy is dying in London – for fifteen years.”

Former first lady, secretary of state, and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton agrees with you. She covers it in an article Atlantic to loneliness and isolation in the unique American society. Does she have a point?

“First I look at the object. The American dream is for each generation to be better than the last. It still exists in so-called blue or Democratic states. But in America’s impoverished South and Midwest, people are struggling the most. You have to go through it Main Street To drive by, you see empty shops.

“What Biden does is very important. Like Franklin D. Roosevelt (US Presidents in the 1930s and 1940s, PG) According to him, Biden is investing a lot of money in America, for example in infrastructure. It works. Of all the major economies, America is doing the best right now.

What do you mean by this?

“It shows that maybe we need a little more government intervention in the land of bare-bones individualism. It’s related to what Clinton is saying, which is that the attitude in America needs to change from ‘you’re on your own’ to ‘we can do this together.’ The top roof is entitled.The material aspect is very important.Imagine it completely Main Street Become more prosperous in America, then you’ve already eliminated most of that discontent.

“One of the big criticisms of the Democratic Party is that all the Ivy League presidents — except for Biden. They’re educated at top universities. They’ve lost touch with ordinary Americans. Former President Barack Obama, for example, was accused of allowing people to impunity the top bankers on Wall Street. Main Street It had to be paid. It’s not for nothing that Biden has always described himself as a unionist.

So yes, Clinton is right: One way to restore American democracy and fight extreme populism is to show what you’re doing for ordinary citizens. That’s what Biden is doing now on the campaign trail: Stand next to bridges and roads being built to show that something is happening. Tragically, Clinton as a person is utterly reprehensible to the vast majority of Americans. They take out on her the discontent of the old politics.