Trump Effect:

Why Is America a Shadow of Former Self?

Several members of the US House of Representatives want to impeach President Donald Trump over his decision to shut down the federal government in order to promote his border-wall fantasy.

News ID: 442894

Date: 08 January 2019 - 13:20

RNA - They say they also want “to support and defend the Constitution of the US against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” arguing that now is the time for the House to begin the necessary work of checking and balancing the president, because no one is above the law.

And it’s not just US lawmakers who want to get rid of Trump. Millions of ordinary Americans, civil rights activists and human rights groups are experiencing this sense of urgency as well. They also want to take on Trump and his lawless presidency for isolating the US in the world:

A- The fate of millions of American Muslims and immigrants now looms over thousands of Southeast Asian refugees who could be uprooted after spending most of their lives in the US, because of Trump’s anti-immigrant policies. As Trump closes the borders and detains migrants en masse, many Asian refugees wonder if they will be next. As of September, the government reported that an estimated 1,900 Asian immigrants have pending deportation orders. The deportation drive violates humanitarian and constitutional principles and plunges already vulnerable communities into crisis.

B- While deportations are now accelerating under Trump, record numbers of Americans want to get out too. According to new Gallup polling results, "After years of remaining flat, the number of Americans - particularly young women - who desire to leave the US permanently is on the rise." Most of the recent surge in Americans' desire to migrate also include young Americans and people in lower-income groups. Gallup notes the numbers do put an emphasis on Trump’s low favorability and approval ratings.

C- Over 80,000 people are locked up in isolation cells every day in America, because the US government refuses to reform its broken criminal justice system. By pandering to public fears, spreading misinformation, and posturing with macho slogans, “tough-on-crime” politicians have long opposed reforms and blocked efforts to rehabilitate people in prison, making it more likely that they will return to crime after their release.

D- American democracy seems rigged because it is. Big money, particularly from wealthy allies like Saudi Arabia and Israeli-American lobbies, continues to erode American democracy, and corrupt domestic politics and foreign policy - creating a vicious cycle of foreign wars and internal conflicts that funnels more wealth and power to the Military-Industrial Complex and those at the top. A recent poll found that the majority of Americans say lawmakers are corrupt, out of touch with their constituents, and beholden to special interest groups and lobbies.

E- The Trump administration has "quietly and unnoticed" left unanswered at least 13 official requests from UN special rapporteurs on human rights since last May. The failure to respond began a month before Philip Alston, special rapporteur on extreme poverty, issued a scathing report detailing "devastating inequality" in the US, made worse by the policies of Trump. As Alston said, the administration's refusal to answer questions and cooperate not only leaves issues including inequality and the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers unaddressed in the US, but also sends a harmful message to other human rights abusers around the world.

F- US officials and politicians are loudly shouting about democracy and human rights in front of the whole world, but they seem to lack the ability to implement these words within their own country. Thanks to the Trump effect, they also seem to lack confidence in their own rhetoric.

G- Going against his own statements, Trump says he is in “the process of evaluating” whether to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. This is unsurprising. The White House is also confirming that there is no definite timeline for the US leaving Syria. Trump has made clear he very explicitly never set any timeline for the process, which leaves the US with an open-ended war on Syria on the pretext of fighting ISIL.

The implications of the current crisis should be evident by now. The US no longer has the power and self-defined ideological influence in the world - democracy, freedom, and human rights - that it enjoyed before the illegal Iraq War. The stability and influence of the American political system, ideology, and value concepts have indeed greatly declined in the 21st century. This is reflected and apparent in domestic politics and more importantly in other areas such as the status, reputation, and influence of the US in the world.

Source: Fars News

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