President Donald Trump has been denounced by the US House of Representatives for tweets attacking four Democratic Congresswomen of colour calling on them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”. The resolution, which passed by 240 to 187 votes on July 16, condemned the “racist comments that have legitimised fear and hatred of New Americans and people of colour”.

Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hit back at the president’s tweets. Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

In response to Trump’s threat, the four Democratic Congresswomen, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, who have come to be known as “the squad”, made clear that they would not be marginalised or silenced.

Trump responded to the House vote, by tweeting: “I don’t have a racist bone in my body.” But the House clearly felt otherwise.

The vote was historic, and constitutes the first time the House has voted to rebuke a president in more than 100 years. Mindful of the message that Trump’s statements send to American citizens and the global community, House representatives made clear that the US has no room for “racism, sexism, antisemitism, xenophobia and hate”.

Since his election, Trump has tapped into the latent and overtly racist feelings of some of his supporters, and legitimised their bigotry. Fringe groups such as neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and skinheads marked Trump’s victory in 2016 with a Nazi salute. No longer on the fringe, these groups saw Trump’s election as their coming out party.

Instead of unequivocally condemning these groups, he has pandered to them, leading to dangerous consequences. A recent study reported that every extremist murder in the US in 2018 had links to far-right ideology, making it one of the deadliest years in recent history.

While Trump sees no link between his behaviour and the rise of right-wing white nationalism, Democrats disagree. US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi recently asserted that what Trump means by “making American great again” is to “make America white again”. Trump hit back by claiming that Pelosi was the racist.

Driving division

During the presidential campaign and during his time in office, Trump has thrived on making racist and xenophobic attacks against a diverse set of people, from Latinos to Muslims. But he has a longer history of racist discrimination against African Americans.

In 1973, he was sued by the Nixon administration, accused of violating the Fair Housing Act after officials alleged his real estate company was refusing to rent out properties to black tenants. The case was settled in 1975. In 1992, he had to pay a fine for removing black and female dealers of the tables in the Trump Plaza and Hotel Casino, when big rollers requested it. Trump also played an important role in spreading the “birther movement”, which accused president Barack Obama of not being born in the US.

Though the US has always been one of the more diverse countries in the world, whites have always been the majority. This will change by 2045, when whites are projected to comprise 49.7% of the population compared to 24.6% for Hispanics, 13.1% for blacks, 7.9% for Asians, and 3.8% for multiracial populations. These changes have driven fears by a subset of the white population that they will feel like foreigners in their own country.

According to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey, most Americans think that growing up in a racially and ethnically diverse US is a good thing, but this is divided along partisan lines. While 70% of Democrats believe that diversity makes the US a better place, only 47% of Republicans do. This means that Trump’s strategy of attacking immigration and diversity resonates with his supporters.

Studies show that people who exhibit high levels of racial animosity are more likely to support Trump. Other studies show that the way voters feel about sexism and the importance of tackling it also affected their probability of voting for Trump, much more so than how they felt about the economy.

Trump to the House: ‘I don’t have a racist bone in body.’ Oliver Contreras/EPA

Trump’s comfort zone

But the focus on the politics of race, ethnicity and religion distracts voters from Trump’s actual political policies, something he has had difficulty defending. In responding to Trump’s tweets, all four Democratic Congresswomen tried to bring the focus back to issues that they believe their supporters care about such as health care, gun violence and, in particular, detentions of migrants on the US border with Mexico.

Trump’s comfort zone is making personal attacks and engaging in identity politics, but he has frequently defended himself – arguing that because he has friends that are African American, Hispanic, Jewish or Muslim he is not a bigot or a racist.

As Trump sees it, he is just being politically incorrect. But such political incorrectness has become a signifier for covert or overt racist sentiments – and studies show it has led to an increase in racially charged violence and discrimination.

Trump’s racist tweets also have global ramifications. Violating human rights and dehumanising and degrading minority groups have become more acceptable in the US of 2019. In response to the controversy surrounding Trump’s tweets, world leaders have been silent and hesitant to criticise. But the House’s condemnation may be a turning point for how much bigotry the world is willing to tolerate from its leaders.

Courtesy: The Conversation

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New sanctions heading Iran’s way. Kevin Dietsch/EPA

Iran’s recent provocation came after a series of attacks in the busy Strait of Hormuz and the sabotage of four vessels travelling through the strait in May. Iran was accused of ramping up its sabotage activity – with experts pointing to Iran’s involvement due to the precision of the attacks.

Before Trump assumed office, tensions between Iran and the US were finally starting to thaw. This was largely due to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal, an agreement involving Iran, the US, UK, France, China, Russia and Germany, which aimed to block Iran from building nuclear weapons in exchange for sanctions relief.

Despite Trump’s former secretary of defence, James Mattis, testifying to a senate committee that Iran was adhering to the deal in April 2018, the president believed he needed to undo one of the signature policies of the Obama administration – arguing that doing so would bring Iran to its knees. He withdrew the US from the deal in early May 2018, saying it: “Didn’t bring calm, it didn’t bring peace, and it never will.”

No plan B

But rather than bringing Iran to its knees, Trump’s decision has emboldened Iran to take on more risks. Iran has absolutely nothing to lose and the approach advocated by moderates within the Iranian regime to co-operate with the West has clearly failed. By pulling out of the deal, Trump has no plan B and offers no options for Iran other than to engage in bad behaviour. If Iran believes that complying with international agreements is rewarded in this way, it could lose faith in the benefits of co-operating with the international community at all.

On June 23, Trump indicated he wants to talk to the Iranians and sent two envoys to the region, including secretary of state, Mike Pompeo. But Khamenei is adamant that no talks will take place unless sanctions against Iran are lifted. Iran’s foreign policy spokesperson, Abbas Mousavi, tweeted on June 24 that imposing sanction against Khamenei: “Is the permanent closure of the path of diplomacy.”

A general from Iran’s Revoluationary Guards points to the wreckage of US drone. Meghdad Madadi/EPA

Unlike Trump, whose foreign policy has no focus and seems to change course based on his mood, few leaders have a more singular focus than Khamenei. His 30 years in power have been guided by an implacable single vision of resisting US hegemony and imperialism at any cost. Unlike Kim Jong Un of North Korea, Khamenei has no interest in a historic photo-op with the president.

Additionally powerful are the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Originally formed after the 1979 Iranian revolution as a paramilitary organisation designed to protect the regime against coup attempts, the IRGC has grown into the most powerful organisation in Iran, dictating Iranian foreign policy and domestic politics. It is as resolute as Khamenei in its commitment to fight against what it perceives to be US arrogance.

In contrast, Trump has no clear foreign policy and no coherent process for national security decision making within his administration, as recent events demonstrate. One moment Trump threatened to destroy Iran, the next moment he made apologies for Iran, claiming the drone attack may have been made in error and that he wanted to engage in talks.

Such an erratic approach of provoking a conflict, pushing things to the brink and assuming that others will cave in may work in the world of business, but it doesn’t work in foreign policy. Iran is responding to the uncertainty by taking bigger risks and sowing more chaos in the region. The recent escalation of tensions has made Iran’s leadership more resolute than ever to fight against US aggression. The Iranian regime also understands that Trump wants to avoid a surge in oil prices, which usually happens when tensions rise in the region.

More sanctions won’t work

But the hawks within Trump’s administration, such as the national security adviser, John Bolton, believe a war with Iran is necessary. The US has far greater military capabilities than Iran, whose oil industry is vulnerable to attack. It’s also true that Iran’s economy has been struggling with 13% unemployment, growth rates at under 2% and inflation at 52%. However, Iran’s economy has struggled in similar ways before and regime change has not taken place.

Iran’s grand bazaar: sanctions are punishing ordinary Iranians. Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

The sanctions, which are designed to cripple the Iranian economy, have undermined the middle class and small businesses that are most critical to pushing for positive change, while lining the pockets of the hardliners and justifying their position. The IRGC, designated as a terrorist organisation by Trump in April, is benefiting from the sanctions because of its heavy involvement in black market activity such as petroleum smuggling. Wider studies on sanctions show that they are only effective against dictatorships built around the personality of a strong leader and have little effect in regimes where dictatorships are more insitutionalised.

The further ramping up of sanctions is highly unlikely to force Iran to back down and commit to talks – or to prevent future attacks that are difficult to directly attribute to Iran. Given the importance and single-mindedness of Iran’s ideology, its leaders will only accept some form of face-saving diplomacy, most notably that the US does a complete U-turn and recommits to the Iran nuclear deal.

Courtesy: The Conversation
 

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