A Trump is not the cause, but a symptom of what’s gone badly wrong

So while walking about in Hyde Park – London on a bank holiday weekend, I got a call from a friend, who happens to be a politician based in DC. We had, what I would describe as an interesting chat, and most of it was related to US and global politics. I am no expert in any field, but for whatever reason, I have held a view that, the current global order needs a bit of disruption, and for that disruption to really happen, you do need unreasonable people to take the centre stage. And I have seen that happen over the last few years. Also by gauging the mood of the society, it wasn’t that difficult to anticipate a possible Trump win. And therefore, to me at least Brexit or Trump’s win didn’t come as a surprise. In fact, my own view was that Trump might win, and he did. As I saw it at the time. For the Donald, getting the republican ticket was already a big win, and I am under no illusion that, his win came as a surprise to him and his team also. 

But anyways, so my friend in DC is the 5th person in the last two months, to suggest that I should formally join politics. He feels, I am needed in politics. Even though, I do seem to enjoy politically charged discussions, I am not really sure if politics is really for someone like me. I can never claim that I won’t lie or mislead people, because I am afraid, I have done both, sometimes out of laziness and at times just for convenience and desperation. Also I can’t really claim to have more wisdom than others, or somehow posses better ideas than others to solve any of the problems facing the society. Yes, I can always genuinely promise to give it my very best, but the outcome can never be guaranteed. And making promises that, I can’t keep doesn’t really work for me, so that will probably make me a bad politician, and most likely people won’t vote for me, because I won’t be able to tell them what they would like to hear.

However, since I did project that Trump might win, and he did. I thought of taking the liberty to share my own two cents worth on Mr Mueller’s report. So for over some months now, in my various conversations, I have held a consistent view that, even if there were ample evidence to throw Mr Trump under the bus, it will be hard to clearly establish them, and also Mr Mueller probably won’t do it himself. And therefore, I never thought there will be any actual indictments. But I did struggle to buy into the summary issued by the US attorney general, which somehow sent out a message that, there was absolutely nothing to the entire saga, and it was probably nothing but a witch hunt. But I remember saying to myself, well! maybe I got my entire assessment of the subject wrong, and it can happen.  And then I said to my self, regardless of what Mr Barr says, it will be good to go through the report submitted by Mr Mueller. In a way, I was confident that democrats will most likely ask for the full report and may even ask Mr Mueller to testify.  Because my view was that, Mr Mueller’s report will carefully establish how the system did work to prevent a serious obstruction of justice by someone like Mr Trump. This will go on to show the American people as well as the world at large that, the system is strong, and no president can bend it to their will. Which is what the report is trying to suggest, at least that’s my read of it. So in a way, it’s inline with my own assessment. I also believed that the report might highlight discrepancies, but it will be impossible for Mr Mueller to put a finger on a direct collusion. And maybe there was never a deliberate attempt either. But that’s my own speculation on the subject matter. 

Also, if it was established that, there was an actual collusion then, the entire episode could damage the credibility of the system. It will also seriously damage the reputation of the entire intelligence apparatus of the US. So my best guess was that Mr Mueller might take the easy way out, and put the onus on the congress to investigate the evidence, or any possible trail, and let the congress deep dive into the entire episodes. The report is out, and most likely Mr Mueller will be asked to testify etc, but we will have to wait and see. The bottom line is, People will continue to believe what they want to believe, and there will probably never be a closure to the entire saga. But to me that’s not really relevant at all, it’s more of a side show as far as I am concerned. For me, I am looking at the big picture. And question I ask is, was Trump an accidental president, and the answer is Yes. But it was an accident that was waiting to happen.  A Trump is not the cause, but as I see it, a symptom of what’s gone badly wrong in our society and the world of politics. 

The mainstream political parties as well as the society at large along with the media should take the blame. And unlike others, I really don’t see Trump as the most evil person in the planet. I see him mostly as a means to an end. And here is why I say that. As I see it, the society has been sleeping walking into a chaos, and the gurus at the media outlets have helped facilitate that. I have realised that, we are in fact being governed by mediocrity. There are too many smart people who aren’t really smart at all, and lack wisdom, but somehow they did take the centre stage to set the narrative. 

Over time, the disconnect with the society has grown because the smart people fell into their own trap. And I do find myself frustrated with so called experts and also the main stream media to some extent, who continue to push their own agendas and narrative as news report down people’s throat, and in doing so carry on insulting people’s intelligence. Without listing out the shortfalls, I would say that in short, a Trump was needed, and that’s why I have always referred to Mr Trump as a disruptor, believing that the institutions of the country will provide checks and balance. And Mr Mueller reports more or less confirms that. But the underlying issue for me is not Mr Trump, but the decay of the US society as well as the global society at large. 

The mainstream parties have let themselves down, and the society is complicit in all this also. You can blame the social media all you want, but no one is responsible for our own trash that we all tend to carry inside our heads. Yes, it is easier to say that, it’s all media’s fault and obviously the unscrupulous politicians who are diving the society, and somehow the poor society is always the innocent party, but is it ? Most of the problems facing the society, in fact comes from within the society, and it isn’t difficult for anyone to benefit from it. If the society has developed a taste for suckling on trash or putting it politely  idiocracy then, it’s a bit rich for the society to blame the media or politician for providing them with something to suckle on. It’s the GIGO affect, garbage in-garbage out. And all of us are busy piling up the trash. If the “ eye “ can only see or observe the “ I “ then, we should simply disband the idea of living in large organised societies. The idea of conceiving a constitution to govern an organised society isn’t going to work for long, and we are struggling already. This is why it’s important that, we create a universal citizens charter type agreement defining our obligations and responsibilities towards each other.

We are always pushing our own agendas, and the system that was initially created and conceived  is starting to struggle. The idea of capitalism that some of us take pride in, isn’t really working for majority of the global population. People are feeling eroded, and yes you can’t really blame globalisation or immigrants for our own shortcomings, but it’s the easiest excuse. Personally, I am firm believer of globalisation, but not as it is, in its current design. Rich are rich because it is the poor who follow the rules, and rich have the means to play within the rules, and sometimes also bend it. But the issue isn’t  about rich vs poor. Or capitalism vs socialism. What we do need to realise is that, the system needs an urgent upgrade. We need to urgently upgrade capitalism as well as globalisation. A system has to work for everyone, but I am not sure if we can ever design a system that works for everyone. What we can do however is to, keep working tirelessly on continuously improving the system. I firmly believe that capitalism can be improved. 

Economy or companies without a society won’t exist. Business leaders need to stop being cute, and learn to level with the society. Media should stop preaching a narrative, and relearn to focus on reporting facts, and letting people decide. No one has the wisdom to tell a society what it should do, and what it shouldn’t. And the overall well-being of the society should always come first. Smart people running the world have frankly caused a lot of the ongoing chaos. We are dealing with the various feedback of our actions and inactions. None of what we are going through just happened.  And it is time that these smart people were shown a mirror. Going after a Trump won’t solve the problem, and I can understand the temptation of some to make a Trump into an evil villain, but that it didn’t work, it only helped embolden those who have learnt to identify themselves with someone like Trump. And if smart people want to learn from their mistake then, they should make a genuine effort to reach out to those who feel disconnected and unheard. Preaching won’t help, and telling people they are idiots won’t help anyone either. 

A society is bigger than any political party , and for me at least, the interest and well-being of the global society is bigger than any of my own vested interest. Regardless of what becomes of me, I will eventually die, but the society will carry on. And I do want the society to do better, and continue to do better. I don’t see a fight between US and Russia helping anyone, and there has been enough collateral damage because of our screwed up geopolitics. We need less experts, and more humans with genuine compassion in their hearts. This is not in any way a utopian thinking. It is in fact a smart way forward, we do need to learn to get along, and this is why I continue to push for a global citizens charter agreement, where our obligations and responsibilities towards each other as well as the environment is clearly spelled out and very well defined. The concept of constitution is an old idea, and it needs an upgrade, our ancestors did whatever they could to keep a society together, but nothing is permanent, and the same goes for a system or an idea, be it religion, the idea of a nation state, or the idea of capitalism for that matter. We need to constantly evolve, and without it our society will struggle to co exist otherwise. 

My sincere hope is that, the disruptions caused by Mr Trump or an event like Brexit will wake many smart people up, and hopefully, we can all come together to change the direction of our travel. Economy will continue to change and more complex, and the idea that a government can solve all the problems of a society is completely misleading and wrong. We need to level with the society, and stop feeding each other trash. No one has the wisdom to know everything, there is always so much that we don’t know. As I see it, we are the problem, and the faster we realise it, the better it is going to get from here on. Unlike many, I am quite optimistic about the society going forward, and that’s why sometimes disrupters are a necessary evil, because they can show us our ugly side.