Donald Trump may Herald a Revolution

When I think of the rise of Trump I can't help comparing him with Samson. Here was a man of prodigious strength who shook the temple of the heathens and destroyed them. The tale of Samson in the Bible is a much-loved tale as is the warrior Samson himself. Samson had lots of enemies who got his strength drained by sending a girl Delilah, but in the end result, she loved Samson. The main thing is that Samson heralded a change in a moribund society and in that respect he was a catalyst.

Donald Trump has risen literally from the ashes like the mysterious bird the Phoenix. He was ridiculed and slighted and all sorts of lurid tales were attributed to him. Yet like the mythical bird he won. Earlier the 4th estate led by the Ivy League had ridiculed him as a clown and later as a bull in a China shop. When all this failed lascivious tales of his encounters with women came up. But these backfired as the tales though true, probably created more of an aura around him. More the condemnation the stronger he became.

The last sling like that of David was there, but again it did not kill. A lurid tale of "golden showers" was floated to show the man as a ravager and unworthy to be US president. This again did not work as the Donald had already been voted in by the electoral college. The last barb was to delegitimise the win of Donald by saying he never won the popular vote. True, but that is the beauty of the system that two or 4 over populated states do not swing the verdict in detriment to all the other 48 states. Donald won and now he is the president of the USA from the 20th of January and the last charge by the anti-Trump brigade failed.

The French Revolution in 1789 ushered in change. So did the Russian revolution. America did not have a similar revolution. It need not always be an armed revolution but sometimes a revolution can be brought about by a leader when he takes the wheel of the nation as a helmsman and steers the ship in a different direction. Too long was America following the beaten track and for too long the US political leadership handled the world with a fear of China and Russia. NATO had outlived its utility with the collapse of the Soviet Union, yet billions were spent to prop up the alliance. It was a devious exercise and burned a big hole in the US treasury. Nobody thought how long this will continue and now we have a man who has rightly said the NATO is no longer what it was for and some out of box solution is required.

The vested interests are worried but NATO has to change and there has to be an equitable distribution of expense. Donald has signaled no free lunches now and this alone will save the US treasury billions.

The bogey of Russia has long dominated the US think tank. It was a futile arms race and in the bargain, the USA was losing sight of a greater danger in the Middle East, the rise of the ISIS. Short sighted policies that resulted in the removal of Saddam and Gaddafi, two bulwarks against extremist Muslim activity put America at risk. The result is that over 5000 young men were killed to try and make the world safe. But it ended by making the world much more dangerous. 8 years back there was no ISIS and yet in this short span of the Obama regime, the ISIS has emerged the greatest danger the world has faced and yet the American military think tank and administration were talking about Russia.

Somebody had to change this and this is what Trump will hopefully do. He has promised to crack the ISIS and this means a range of activities and coordination with Russia and facing the ISIS head-on. In the bargain he has identified religion as a source of this terror and his comments have to be seen in that back ground.

Donald has turned to the threat from China. Previous US leaders acted like the ostrich hiding his head in the sand at the onset of a sandstorm. Obama is guilty of allowing a Chinese build-up in the South China sea and also creating a morbid fear of China on the two nation theory. It also accepted unfair trade practices of the Chinese republic and allowed China to dominate entire Asia. All the cards were held by the Chinese and the US administration obsession with Russia led to their glossing over the threat of China. The Chinese exploited this with gusto and stole a march over the US economy by currency manipulation.

Perhaps Donald will cage the Chinese dragon, something that should have been done a decade back. Earlier the USA lost when the Chinese occupied Tibet and now again similar occupation has taken place in the South China sea. By accepting the call of the Taiwan president, Donald broke the wall of fear surrounding relations with China. Going forward from here one can be sure that Donald will face up to China and he seems on the right track.

Much more can be expected like greater support for Israel, cornering Pakistan in Afghanistan. re-appraisal of the threat from Iran and identifying the source of terror. The US economy needs shoring up and in case Donald can cut a trillion dollars of expenditure it could straighten up. One will have to wait and see how Donald acts. There is, however, no doubt that the US for once after Roosevelt has a man with matter who wants to think afresh and not get bound down by age-old policies and taboos. It could be like Samson destroying the temple of the heathens.