যদিও আমেৰিকাৰ গণতন্ত্ৰক ট্ৰাম্পৰ পৰা উদ্ধাৰ কৰিব পৰা যায়, তথাপি ইউৰোপ আগবাঢ়ি গৈ আছে

It will take decades to rebuild trust in a country that removed a tyrant once – and then reinstated him four years later

W hen Joe Biden entered the White House in 2021 it was possible to believe that Donald Trump’s reign had been an aberration. “America is back. The transatlantic alliance is back,” the new president declared to relieved European leaders shortly after winning the 2020 race. It was true, but not for long.

ট্ৰাম্পৰ পৰাজয়ে প্ৰমাণ কৰিলে যে আমেৰিকাৰ গণতন্ত্ৰ যান্ত্ৰিকভাৱে কাৰ্যক্ষম আছিল, সাংস্কৃতিকভাৱে সুদৃঢ় নাছিল। তেওঁৰ সমৰ্থকসকলে উত্তৰসূৰীৰ অভিষেক ৰোধ কৰিবলৈ হিংসাত্মক ভাঙনৰ চেষ্টা কৰিছিল। দ্বিতীয় কাৰ্যকাল চিন্তাৰ অগোচৰ হ'ব লাগিছিল। ৬ জানুৱাৰীৰ বিদ্ৰোহৰ নিন্দা কৰিবলৈ ব্যৰ্থ হোৱা ৰিপাব্লিকানসকল নিৰ্বাচনৰ অযোগ্য হ'ব লাগিছিল। ইয়াৰ পৰিৱৰ্তে, চাৰি বছৰৰ ভিতৰতে, আমেৰিকাৰ ভোটাৰসকলে তেওঁলোকৰ চহকী সংবিধানৰ বিৰুদ্ধে এক ব্যৰ্থ অভ্যুত্থানৰ পুৰোধাক সেনাপ্ৰধান হিচাপে পুনৰ নিযুক্তি দিলে।

That is worth remembering in any analysis of midterm congressional elections. Voting was under way at the time of writing. Opinion polls in the run-up favoured Democrats. But it is a measure of how grievously Trump has imperilled democracy that peaceful completion of that process, followed by a fair count, cannot be anticipated with confidence.

The most that can be said is that the elections were not aborted, nor did they look blatantly rigged on the eve of polling, which gives hope that the balloting process can still function in theory. That is no protection against a president with a record of denying results that displease him and a party that cravenly endorses every lie and coercion he deploys to consolidate his power.

With two years left in his second term, Trump has ample scope to punish disloyalty and reward sycophants. Facing a choice between election integrity and partisan venality, precedent suggests few Republicans prefer the path of constitutional virtue. That moral collapse in the ruling party is salient for some voters, but that group – the anti-tyranny constituency – were always going to vote Democrat. In the swing-voting middle, Trump is a drag on the Republicans because people feel let down on the economy and disrespected by a president who is more interested in the construction of a White House ballroom for himself than the affordability of everyday goods for everyone else.

A disciplined and sophisticated fascist would have focused on suffocating domestic opposition and dismantling institutional checks on the presidency, instead of launching a strategically inept and economically self-sabotaging war against Iran. That miscalculation has damaged Trump. It upset “America first” ideologues who thought he stood against forever wars in the Middle East. By precipitating closure of the strait of Hormuz, it landed higher bills on voters whose motive for voting Republican in 2024 had been the spike in inflation preceding that poll.

Democrats can’t afford to be fussy about different flavours of anti-Trump vote. If the economy is what people care about, that is the campaign to run. If a quixotic, megalomaniac foreign policy choice made in February leads indirectly to the election of a Congress better equipped to hold a rogue president to account, that would obviously be better than the scenario where the same failure passes with impunity.

কিন্তু ই যুক্তিটো ঠিক সেইদৰেই অসম্পূৰ্ণ কৰি ৰাখে যিদৰে বাইডেনৰ ২০২০ চনৰ জয় যথেষ্ট পৰিমাণে নিৰ্ণায়ক নাছিল। মাৰ্কিন গণতন্ত্ৰৰ ৰক্ষকসকলে এতিয়ালৈকে যি যুক্তিটো প্ৰতিষ্ঠা কৰিব পৰা নাই সেয়া হৈছে এনে এটা যিয়ে ট্ৰাম্পৰ বেয়া সিদ্ধান্তসমূহক তেওঁৰ বিশ্বাসৰ এক অনিবাৰ্য পৰিণাম হিচাপে ব্যাখ্যা কৰে, কেৱল প্ৰকৃত পথৰ পৰা সৰি পৰা হতাশাজনক বিচ্যুতি হিচাপে নহয়।

If US society were truly and passionately wedded to the principles enshrined in its constitution, a campaign exposing Trump as a persistent aggressor against that foundational ethos would be unbeatable. But it has been tried and beaten.

Before Biden stepped down mid-race in 2024, he sought to frame his bid for re-election as an existential contest for the soul of the US political system. Trump was a despot, he said, whose embrace of the 6 January insurrection was a clear disqualification from ever being allowed near the Oval Office again. “Whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause is the most urgent question of our time,” he told a rally in Pennsylvania . When Kamala Harris took over as the Democratic nominee, she made the same point. Trump was “unhinged and unstable”, seeking “unchecked power”, she said weeks before polling day. America decided the price of eggs was a more pressing concern.

Perhaps Trump’s second term can achieve what the first one didn’t. Maybe the extra exposure to a more virulent strain of the virus is generating antibodies in the US body politic that the initial four-year dose couldn’t produce. If so, we won’t have proof of it any time soon. A nation that swerves dictatorship by luck, because the aspiring dictator lacked the strategic acumen to complete his mission, doesn’t look immune for the long term.

যুক্তৰাষ্ট্ৰৰ মিত্ৰসকলে সেই মিছা সান্ত্বনাৰ পৰা শিকা এটা শিক্ষা, যিটো বাইডেনে পুৰণি আমেৰিকা ঘূৰি আহিছে বুলি কোৱাৰ সময়ত তেওঁলোকে লাভ কৰিছিল। লাহে লাহে, ইউৰোপীয় গণতন্ত্ৰসমূহে এনে এখন পৃথিৱীৰ সৈতে খাপ খাই লৈছে য'ত তেওঁলোকে যুক্তৰাষ্ট্ৰৰ বন্ধুত্ব ধৰি লব নোৱাৰে। যুক্তৰাষ্ট্ৰৰ প্ৰতিৰক্ষা ছত্ৰ আৰু উন্নত প্ৰযুক্তিৰ ওপৰত নিৰ্ভৰশীলতাক এতিয়া এক কৌশলগত দুৰ্বলতা হিচাপে স্বীকাৰ কৰা হৈছে, যিটো জৰুৰীভাৱে সমাধান কৰিব লাগিব।

অভিভাৱকবৃন্দৰ স্তম্ভলেখক আৰু লেখকসকলে কি লৈ বিতৰ্ক কৰিছে, চিন্তা কৰিছে, পঢ়িছে, আৰু আৰু অনেক কথাৰ বিষয়ে

For Britain, Trump is an engine driving closer integration with Europe. His trade policy, combining innumerate protectionism and territorial rapacity, has destroyed the flimsy case for Brexit that posited nonexistent transatlantic deals as alternatives to the EU single market. White House indulgence of Vladimir Putin and scorn for Nato makes it hard to credibly sustain the idea of UK leverage through a “special relationship” with Washington.

ট্ৰাম্প-পৰৱৰ্তী আমেৰিকাত বিশ্বাস কিছু পৰিমাণে পুনৰ স্থাপন কৰাটো সম্ভৱপৰ। কিন্তু ইউৰোপৰ মাজেৰে ট্ৰাম্পীয় ৰাষ্ট্ৰবাদৰ বিস্তাৰো সমানেই সম্ভৱপৰ। অতি-দক্ষিণপন্থী চৰকাৰৰ নিৰ্বাচনে যুদ্ধ-পৰৱৰ্তী ২০শ শতিকাৰ সেই প্ৰতিষ্ঠানসমূহত চাপ সৃষ্টি কৰিব পাৰে আৰু অৱশেষত ভাঙিও পেলাব পাৰে, যিবোৰ এই দৃঢ় শপতেৰে প্ৰতিষ্ঠা কৰা হৈছিল যে উদাৰ গণতন্ত্ৰৰ শত্ৰুসকলক কেতিয়াও আৰু এবাৰ এই মহাদেশক ঘৃণা আৰু যুদ্ধৰ ঘূৰ্ণিত নিমজ্জিত হ'বলৈ দিয়া নহ'ব।

That history was meant to be an inoculation on both sides of the Atlantic. But when it mattered, the 20th-century parables didn’t sway US voters. The warnings went unheeded when familiar authoritarian intent appeared, lightly camouflaged in modern celebrity style, speaking in all-American idiom. The challenge now for European democrats is to study that lesson – the cautionary tale of America’s fragile defences against tyranny in the 21st century – and turn it into campaigns that prevent the same thing happening here.

এই প্ৰবন্ধত উত্থাপিত বিষয়বোৰৰ ওপৰত আপোনাৰ কোনো মতামত আছেনে? যদি আপুনি আমাৰ পত্ৰ শাখাত প্ৰকাশৰ বাবে বিবেচনা কৰিবলৈ ই-মেইলযোগে ৩০০ শব্দলৈকে এক প্ৰতিক্ৰিয়া দাখিল কৰিব বিচাৰে, অনুগ্ৰহ কৰি ইয়াত ক্লিক কৰক।