Biden & Trump Saga 4.

Trump will not be attending Joe Biden’s inauguration on 20 January 2021. He will be the first president in 150 years not attending. But Pence, his Vice President, will be attending though. 

It is speculated that Trump may attend a ceremonial farewell at Joint Base Andrews on the same day, that is “the base outside Washington where Air Force One is headquartered. The farewell could include a 21-gun salute.”

Because of Jan 6 storming at the Capitol, the mayor of Washington Muriel Bowser said: “We saw white extremists storm the Capitol building who were trained and organised. We all have to think about a new posture.”

This new posture is to transform the Capitol into a fortress, “complete with militarised red and green zones - red for maximum restrictions.”

It reports that “so far, about 21,000 armed National Guard troops - the number may grow to 25,000 - has been deployed to lock down the capital ahead of the inauguration, which has been drastically reduced in size and scale because of the coronavirus pandemic and now security concerns.”

Mind you, this is not the end of the insurrection. Trump has fanned the fire of their misguided mission, and security analyst Malcom Nance told congressional hearing last Wednesday that “massive quantities of weapons have been exchanging hands on public forums and in response to a prospective insurrection. This is only the beginning.”

Trump has effectively stirred the hornet’s nest and revived their insurrection hope, blasting wide open an insidious channel so that they may pour out their holed-up grievances onto public streets, buildings and arenas.

Another security expert Mr Ali Soufan puts it this way: “This is not only about the people who attacked (the Capitol) but also about the network that allowed them to operate so openly...that now they are actually, literally, threatening 50 capitals in the United States.”

Alas, this is as smooth a transition you can expect from a fuming sore loser, the President of United States no less. 

Personally, I never thought I would ever see this day, where a grown man who was elected to the highest office of the land turning his back on a time-honoured tradition 150 years in the making. 

If an analogy helps, imagine such transition of power as passing the sword of honour from the outgoing incumbent to the in-coming office-holder. The proper decorum is to hand the sword over with both hands outstretched, in a posture of humility, respect and support, because it is never about the person or his personality, but the office upon which the political foundation of a great nation is built. 

Instead, Trump hands over the transition sword with the sharp end of it pointed at Biden and his administration. 

It has to be said that democracy is about the people, that is, the tallied votes of the majority. And leaders are sworn servants to the people they serve, promising to uphold the highest principles of the land, and the first and foremost principle is to respect the virtue of the process involving the transfer of power. 

But for Trump, he has epitomised everything that goes against the virtue of this process. He refuses to rise above the occasion, to act like a mature adult would. Even to the very end, it is still about him, his ego, his feelings, his delusion, his alternate reality. Three facts clearly point to this.

The first fact is the impeachment. It is his second historic charge in just one term. And it is not so much the impeachment charge I am talking about as the president’s inimical intention since Nov 4. 

Yes, he is entitled to challenge the election results. That’s his right. But there must come a point of acceptance and submission, especially when even the Governors, Supreme Court and your own Vice President have all confirmed the electoral winner. 

Surely, at some point of this challenge, one has to respect the institutional processes and safeguards built by the founding fathers. For it is the same process by which one is elected, and by that same process one is expected to accept the result and move on. 

Cicero once said that courage is the virtue which champions the cause of right. For Trump, he champions only the cause of self. As such, he just can’t let go and move on. He cannot accept defeat. This is surely not what we as fathers would want to teach our child right? 

The second fact is about what he did after 6 Jan. 

Yes, he did condemn the storming of the Capitol. He said it was a “heinous attack on the United States Capitol.” And he was “outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem.” This is where he claimed he had deployed the National Guards to restore law and order. 

There are two ways of looking at this. You can read this as an act of remorse, that is, Trump is sorry for the violence he had stirred up (as he did call them to “fight like hell” by marching into the Capitol to “show strength”). 

Or you can read this as an act of desperation to save himself, to distance himself from the criminal acts he had had a firm hand in. 

Well, knowing Trump, there’s one thing he is consistent throughout - he has never accepted blame, or responsibility - not for the economy, not for his racist remarks, not for the lies he had spoken, and not for the nearly 400,000 pandemic deaths under his watch. Just to name but a few.

Journalist Bob Woodward once recounted what Trump said to him regarding allegations of inappropriate behaviour with women. Trump said: “You’ve got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women. If you admit to anything, and any culpability, then you’re dead...You’ve got to be strong. You’ve got to be aggressive. You’ve got to push back hard. You’ve got to deny anything that’s said about you. Never admit.” 

Bottomline, he never admits, he’s never wrong. And he’s in fact obsessed with being right, thinking that being right means to never admit wrong. 

But, isn’t that the pubescent mind of child, bereft of self-awareness and self-introspection? In fact, let me just say that being right is not about never admitting wrong. It is on the contrary about embracing our humanity, our brokenness and fallibility, accepting our flaws, and then doing something about it, that is, doing something to change. 

So, to me, his post-Jan-6 speech for law and order was one made to save his own skin. And if he had his way, Trump would rather let dead dog lies because he has and will never accept responsibility for the incitement on Jan 6, which has led to his impeachment. 

And the last third fact is the most obvious of them all, that is, his petulant refusal to attend the inauguration. That effectively sealed the position of this president’s heart. It also confirms where he stands, even when all’s already said and done by deputy pence on 6 Jan. 

Trump shuns the inauguration because he cannot accept legitimate defeat. Like he said: “You’ve got to push back hard. You’ve got to deny anything that’s said about you. Never admit.” 

Let me end by quoting Obama when he gave his farewell speech 4 years ago. He said: “Each of us leaders, each nation, can choose to reject those who appeal to our worst impulses and embrace those who appeal to our best."

The same can be said of Trump’s supporters. You have to put religion aside, and think about it clearly, critically. 

You have a choice to “reject those who appeal to (your) worst impulses and embrace those who appeal to (your) best.” Abraham Lincoln echoed the same sentiment when he said: -

“We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

That is indeed our nature, the better angels in us that need our intentional nurture. 

Sadly, Trump in general appeals to the worst impulses in us. He has divided the country, and I am not saying it was not already divided during Obama and Bush administrations. But, Trump did nothing to bridge the gap. He in fact widened it, blew it wide open. He in fact nearly brought the system to breaking point. He thus pants after the populist storm and cherished/relished being in the eye of it, fanning the storm out of proportion.

(He had the sacred opportunity to close the gap, heal the wounds, but he was too self-obsessed to do that. He had missed a golden opportunity to unite America, even if one would to accuse Obama and Bush of having a part to play in it. The point of leadership is always about what you would do with what you are given, and not about how others have screwed it up before you. For no leader worth his weight in gold pushes away responsibility when they fall on his lap. He ought to have dealt with it, confronted it. For the buck stops with him. He thus ought to have resolved it, closed the gap, healed the wounds. That is the gold standard of leadership). 

For that reason, his supporters have to wake up to the reality of Trump. Look at the mirror and see how you have changed in supporting him over the years. If he had lost to Hillary in 2016, I bet you would not even have bothered about this crooked businessman who treats women as if they were nothing more than an object of physical desire and exploitation. 

And your unthinking affection for him has unfortunately broken the bonds of affection for humanity as a whole and has deadened the “mystic chords of memory” that only desire to be touched again by the better angels of our nature.

 

Biden & Trump Saga 3.

Trump is being impeached. He has made history, American history. No sitting president has ever been impeached twice. This is archived history.

 

And this time, there is more consensus between the two parties than before (that is, as compared to the 1st impeachment in Jan 2019 over a Ukrainian phone call). 

The bipartisan vote count was 232-197, which saw 10 Republicans vote with the Democrats to charge Trump with “inciting an insurrection”. The insurrection was led by pro-Trump mob at the Capitol, with 5 dead. 

The Democrats needs 17 Republican senators to vote against Trump, and Mitch McConnell seems to be on the knife edge here. 

At the last impeachment, it was a firm NO for him. This time, he said: “While the press has been full of speculation, I have not made a final decision on how I will vote, and I intend to listen to the legal arguments when they are presented to the Senate.” 

McConnell’s decision may be the swinging-vote signalling for other Republiciam leaders to follow suit. I guess the incident leading to the second impeachment waa too close to home for McConnell not take a considered stand. We’ll see then. 

As it stands, five Republican congressmen have publicly declared that they will vote against Trump. Liz Cheney, the most senior of them, the Wyoming lawmaker, reserved the harshest rebuke: -

“The President of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. Everything that followed was his doing. The President could have immediately and forcefully intervened to stop the violence. He did not. There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.”

Well, Trump has always wanted to enter and exit with a bang, a grandstanding show of just one star fronting the stage, and ironically, he will have it just before he leaves next week. 

And the trial will be him “arraigned” as the former President under the leadership of US’s 46th President, Joe Biden. 

Lesson? One.

We have come to an end of a chapter. Trump the man has come and will be going. That’s already sealed by his second-in-command, Mike Pence, on 6 Jan, the day that will go down in infamy. 

Whatever Trump has done, he has done in his signature, unchanging style. The people had voted for him and it was a political outcome Hilary accepted gracefully, making her exit 4 years ago out of respect for the voters, democracy and the US Constitution. 

This was not so for Trump. He did not and could not accept defeat. He fought on to the highest Court (twice), engaged in private mafia-like talks with governors to pressure them to add more votes in his favour, and when all else failed, he kickstarted a violent charge up the Capitol, threatening even the lives of his own party men, and ignoring their calls for him to dissuade the MAGA mob. 

Trust me, he was the last voice they heard when they chanted, “Stop the Steal! F*#k Antifa! Save America!”

If this is a case where the end justifies the means (or the man as he is), then we ought to (by now) know (with some bankable certainty) what kind of person Trump is. Personally, I can safety say that he came with the same traits he is going to leave the White House with, rather sadly intact. 

What Trump treasures above all else is his own survival, his own prosperity, his own skin. 

Every thing, event and person (no matter how close or faithful to him) are but a means to that end. Yet, what draws them to him nevertheless, and to stick like glue to him - similar to Stockholm syndrome - is the swirling mirage that a man like him, with power, wealth and status, exudes, in particular, that he would really make America (and the religion of Christianity) Great again. 

Many forget that to Trump, he is basically a brand, a commercial brand; one that operates and transacts only in money, fame and real estate. Wishing naively to possess the Midas’ touch, he always hopes that whatever he touches turns to gold, that is, bankable, earthly gold to over-compensate for his need to boast about his smarts, popularity and net worth to all and sundry. 

Throughout his term, over the podium, he never misses a chance to let the world know that his knowledge surpasses all, even experts (“alas, the empty boast of a bully at the playground”). 

So, I say, let history take its course then. But ending here, I end with a note for the believers, especially the Christian believers. I think you have been taken for a ride by this so-called Messiah for the last four years. The Monday morning hangover will take a long time to get over.

Trump is not God’s anointed (by specific design), and if anything, in my view, he is a glitch in the history of democracy. His birth and his presidency came at the most opportune time (go figure) - that is, born into wealth, and elected at a time when trust is at its lowest, disillusionment the highest, and hope most foregone (but, mind you, what fortune creates, misfortune reaps - food for thought?)

We have indeed put our hopes on the wind, and it thus blows wherever it desires, mostly recklessly, in hurricanes and storms. 

So for believers, let me leave you with Proverbs 14:12-15: -

“There is a way that appears to be right,

but in the end it leads to death.

Even in laughter the heart may ache,

and rejoicing may end in grief.

The faithless will be fully repaid for their ways,

and the good rewarded for theirs.

The simple believe anything,

but the prudent give thought to their steps.”



Let’s start the year by giving more thought to our steps.

 

Biden & Trump Saga 2.

“Calling a spade a spade” - an appeal to Trump’s supporters...(if it is ever possible). 

I thought I could appeal to you with reason, especially those who are believers. If we share the same faith and hope, I hope we too can distinguish right from wrong, good from bad, and reformation from destruction. 

Let me start by saying this: You need to see Trump for who he is. 

Yes, he was elected by the electoral college system. He is, well, the 45th President for the next 14 days. He is also a Christian and claims to lead under God’s hand. Yet, by one’s fruit, you shall know a person right? 

Now, no one is perfect. What’s more a leader managing very complex situations. But that‘s not the point. It never was to start with. And we all know that. 

If perfection was your measuring rod, and anything that falls short of that automatically invites rebuke, then we may as well get ourselves all arraigned with the usual charges of hypocrisy read to us, take the plea of guilt without the pretentious denial, and just accept the sentence meted out to us. No point hiring defence lawyers for that right? They only waste time and money that are better spent elsewhere. 

We must also accept that bearing fruit is seasonal. And the harvest takes a lifetime. Some seasons, we will fail miserably. Other seasons, we take a stand for what is right courageously. So, we indeed contain multitude. We contradict ourselves. But when it truly counts, when the rubber meets the road, we stand out to be counted. That is what fruit-bearing means, right? 

Mind you, that is not beyond our capacity to do. And if we reap what we sow, I admit that we do sow bad seeds at times. But, we also sow good ones too. 

Seasonal bad harvest doesn’t need to be for a lifetime, unchanged. No life is ever condemned. And no one is exempt from making u-turns.

That is also why Christ, in trembling fear and pain, took up the Cross and finished the call, never looking back. He made his choice, and made it all the way. He should be our marker of faith and hope, not man, no matter how rich and/or powerful. 

Another meaning of a fruit-bearing life is when we turn from our wrong ways or thoughts. This is the hardest to do. It’s in fact herculean in effort and consistency. It takes more than just courage or bravery. It takes self-confrontation. Because if you do not see in the mirror the errors of your ways, then you will never be convicted to change. 

And to use former mayor Rudy’s own words, but with a total change of its intent and meaning, it is no less a “trial by combat,” that is, a battle with oneself, putting no one else but ourselves through the furnace of self-examination and change. 

So, to summarise, it is not about perfection but a fruit-bearing life, over a lifetime. The fruit we bear is about the courage to call a spade a spade and to confront ourselves first before we persuade others to make that change. 

Bear this in mind, your greatest enemy is often not out there, but inside you. I know this doesn’t surprise you, but be aware with heightened sensitivity that such knowledge can be a conspiracy of selves to deny the truth or a conviction of self to abide with and by the truth. And yes, such discernment would require no less than a ruthless self-confrontation, or well, a trial by combat. 

So, going back to Trump, we have to call a spade a spade. He is no doubt redeemable, as everybody is. And he is of course not perfect, as everybody is not. But, putting aside what he had done in the past, the good and the bad, we must put before us what he had done on Wednesday, or is directly responsible for. 

He can’t wash his hands from what had happened at the Capitol on Wednesday, which he called it the “save democracy” march. If anything, it was a desperate march to save his presidency, which had sadly resulted in deaths, injuries, damage to property and a historic scar to the constitution and democracy. 

For more than 200 years (since 1814), there has never been such a mindless siege on Congress and democracy, and what America stands for, like the one the world had witnessed on Wednesday. 

By now, we must all accept, even McConnell and Pence did, that the election win for Biden is sealed. The inauguration will therefore be for a new President of America, her 46th. And even Trump himself finally conceded that yesterday. 

But here’s what is most devious about Trump, the man who would do anything to win, or not lose, and to do anything at the expense of the people he had used to do the dirty work for him. If you are his supporters, and still are, you can’t possibly with a straight face deny this - he is the direct cause of the insurrection at the Capitol. 

Now, you are at liberty to blame antifa or the radical left wing or the mercenary democrats all you want, but, if you are looking for the last straw that broke the camel’s back, it is Trump’s rally call to “never concede”. He is the one who said, “our country has had enough. We won’t take it anymore. We will stop the steal. We will not let them silence your voices. It will never happened.”

If that is not clear enough for you, he also hollered this: “We want to go back and we want to get it right...We have to fight much harder. You have to get your people to fight.” 

Then he ended with this Jericho shout: -

“We will not be intimidated in accepting the hoaxes and the lies...we have come to demand that congress do the right thing, to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. You gonna walk down and I will be there for you (no, he was not; he stood by in a tent to watch with gleeful pride).”

“And I am gonna be watching because history is going to be made...We going to get rid of the weak congress people, the ones that aren’t any good...let the weak ones get out. This is the time for strength. Make no mistake this election was stolen from you, from me, and from the country (which he conceded a day after). As this enormous crowd shows, we have truth and justice on our side. We have overwhelming pride in this great country. We have deep in our souls and we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” 

At this juncture, you can’t help but notice that, Instead of calling it a “saving democracy” march, it would be more apt to just call it a “fight like hell” storm into the Capitol. And fought like hell his supporters did, as they rushed in to make a global mockery of a nation that claims to lead the world in what enduring democracy stands for. 

In any event, Trump even called the insurrectors “special” and reminded them that he loved them. 

But, in about a day later, he unsurprisingly turned his back on them. That is the true Trump that unravelled when his interest, name and skin are all at stake. He blatantly threw those he had encouraged to do his bidding under the self-campaign bus. This is what the President has to say to save himself: -

“I'd like to begin by addressing the heinous attack on the United States Capitol. Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem.”

Bewildering right? More so, deeply scary. And here’s where he released the Cavalry on his own people, his most fervent supporters. 

“I immediately deployed the National Guard and the federal law enforcement to secure the building and expel the intruders. America is and must always be a nation of law and order.”

“The demonstrators (mind you, his sworned supporters) who infiltrated the capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country (but they do represent who Trump is). 

“And to those who broke the law, you will pay (but not her instigator?). We have just been through an intense election, and the emotions are high. But now tempers must be cooled and calm restored...”

And here comes the 360-degree change overnight...

“And a new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power (this glaringly contradicted what he had called for a day before to “fight like hell”). This moment calls for healing and reconciliation. 2020 has been a challenging time for our people.”

And here comes the most confounding denial made by a president who has led a country ravaged by the pandemic...

“A menacing pandemic has upended the lives of our citizens, isolated millions in their homes, damaged our economy and claimed countless lives. Defeating this pandemic and rebuilding the greatest economy on earth will require all of us working together.”

And all this just makes his call for unity rings empty and hollow with this statement...

“It will require a renewed emphasis on the civic values of patriotism, faith, charity, community and family. We must revitalize the sacred bonds of love and loyalty that bind us together as one national family.”

“To the citizens of our country, serving as your president has been the honor of my lifetime. And to all of my wonderful supporters, I know you are disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.”

“Thank you. God bless you. And God bless America.”

Let me thus bring this appeal to a close.

In this post, I am not here to judge what Trump has done in the past. And please, as his ardent supporters, do not mention about how he is the protector of Conservative and Christian values, about how he is an anti-abortionist, he’s against same-sex marriages and so on. That’s wholly irrelevant here, and that’s for another day of discussion anyway. 

But, in this post, my focus is strictly on the deplorable event on Wednesday, where even the people’s representatives in Congress had to seek refuge for fear of their lives. 

This is the problem with Trump and Trumpism, or the cult of personality. He is the match, and all it takes is a rushing river of kerosene-like religiosity and naivety to set the country on fire. 

And what happened after the insurrection on Wednesday is an about-turn by a leader who is supposed to take full responsibility, bear the first bullet, and stay in the foxhole with his people, instead of hiding in the comfort of a warm tent, away from the frontline battle. 

For sure he’s no Uriah the Hittite who stood by his men at the battle front and lost his life at the battle front. When the time calls for him to stand up to be counted, Trump pushed his people to the front to be slaughtered, while he escaped from it.

That is no leader. That’s a coward. That is an impenitent coward. That’s one leader who riled up the crowd to serve his own ends and then send the dogs to hunt them down to serve his own ends. When the tide turns, Trump unsurprisingly turns too. 

So, let me appeal to you, Trump supporters, to call it as it is, because it is indeed what it is. Let’s put aside the 350,000 deaths from covid-19 under his watch, and let’s judge him (yes, judge him) for what he had created by design and intent on Wednesday. And let’s stand up to be counted and do the right thing as believers - that is, let’s call a spade a spade.

 

Trump vs. Biden - Divided States.

Who needs Russia, when you have Trump. Who needs fascism, when you have Trump. And who needs covid-19 to throw a nation into chaos, when you have Trump. Trump, alas, the salvation of our salvation? 

But, Trump or no Trump, he is not the problem. Make no mistake about that. He is but a means to the expression of the problem, and it is getting out of hand, or it has already gotten out of hand. 

They say over time the medium becomes the message, and the American people, in their plunge into the darkest depth of the divide in the mad-max fury road to the White House, is waking up to a monster they have created in the trumpish form of an empty-vessel demogague. 

Trump has thus become the embodiment of everything that the founders of the American Constitution have sought to avoid or prevent. And I can’t say that Plato was wrong about democracy as evidenced in the American election 2020.

“For Plato, democracy - the rule of the masses - and oligarchy - the rule of the rich - were dangerous because these were forms of government motivated by self-interest, lacking a higher purpose. They were also unstable, almost always degrading into the worst kind of regime, tyranny.” (p.39, “Ten Lessons For A Post-Pandemic World” by Fareed Zakaria).

What do you then call a political system made up of the adulterous union between democracy and oligarchy when you have a billionaire leader calling his millions of supporters to rubbish (or halt) the vote counting process in the name of electoral fraud, or was it puerile insecurity? 

And if democracy is the voice of the people, then we often forget that this voice, especially at such time, is no less than a deafening cacophony that is so loud, piercing and shrilling that it threatens to drown out the voice of reason, virtue, and hope. 

In governing a nation, the common good must win, or eventually win. But in order to win, it must be commonly shared by the critically-reflective majority. Yet, at this moment of American history, we are indeed living in uncommon times where the common good is anything but common. 

America needs to heal. And getting Trump out, with all his holy-moly pretentiousness and obnoxiousness, is just a part of the solution; not even a big part (and this, Trump will insist otherwise to placate his tremendous ego). 

Unfortunately, Joe Biden (I am assuming he will finally win in a knife-edge election) has inherited not the White House, one that is united, but a White-and-Black House that is so divided he may possibly spend a major part of his first term closing the gap, instead of doing what a president is expected to do. 

And when he does, that is, close the gap, he must never forget that he and his ex-boss, Obama, and their predecessors, were the main part of the problem. Mind you, Obama may be black, and Joe white, but the problem transcends the colour of one’s skin. It is essentially the problem of inclusivity, human dignity, and common humanity. 

In the book “The Tyranny of Merit”, Professor Michael Sandel identified one of the root causes of the problem. An extract of his observation by Thomas L. Friedman in the latter’s article “There was a loser in election night. It was America” is as follows: -

“Even though Joe Biden emphasised his working-class roots and sympathies, the Democratic Party continues to be more identified with professional elites and college-educated voters than with the blue-collar voters who once constituted its base.” 

“Even so epochal an event as a pandemic, bungled by Trump, did not change this. Democrats need to ask themselves: Why do many working people embrace a plutocrat-populist whose policies do little to help them? Democrats need to address the sense of humiliation felt by working people who feel the economy has left them behind and that credentialed elites look down on them”. 

So, put it in another way, you can say that Trump (as a symbolic-head) is the people’s middle finger, and it is stuck right up the rear end of the pretentious elitists in society. 

As Rich Lowry (editor of National Review) wrote: “Trump is, for better or for worse, the foremost symbol of resistance to the overwhelming work cultural tide that has swept along the media, academia, corporate America, Hollywood, professional sports, the big foundation, and almost everything in between.”

So, have no illusion or delusion about it. Trump is not the real problem, not even close. At best, he is a mascot, playing or performing to the crowd, devouring their attention to feed his fragile ego, not because he is on to something, but because the crowd sees no other way to point their middle finger at the exclusive and extractive world the snobbish establishment has built for themselves. 

Trump is therefore their loud hailer, the national megaphone to vent their deep-rooted frustration heaped up over the decades of being ignored, dismissed, discarded, disowned and disembodied. For all that, they have found a body-puppet to make their voices heard, and that body-puppet comes in the form of a clueless billionaire who will say anything, do anything, and represent anything, just to bathe in naked shame in the global stage, where he will get all the attention he desperately craves after. It is a mutual blood-sucking symbiotic relationship. 

PS: Alas, I am so tempted to end here. But when I look at Trump’s spiritual advisor, Paula White, cussing and swearing in the name of God on national television, for the sole benefit of Trump, with an unknown sloppy teenager walking up and down the stage, as if mugging for a term paper, I lament for the religious in America; once a God-fearing nation (now a god-images making nation). 

And that reminded me of what Jesus once said: "My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it 'a den of robbers." At times like this, we need a voice of spiritual renewal and resurrected hope, not in any man, however loud and rich, but in the one who has never changed, and the same one who has promised us that in this world, there will be trouble, but “behold, I have overcome the world”. 

Where is then that voice in the desert? Where is the sober voice on the hill in a city divided and drunk with power? Where then is the voice that cries out for the bitter cup to be taken away, yet not his will but thy be done? And where is that same voice that screams out, “"Eloi Eloi lama sabachthani?" ("My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?") and then goes on to reign in the hearts of men? 

Alas, we went to do just the opposite by downing out that voice to embrace the world and became her trouble personified. As a result, we are hopelessly divided, even willing to use God’s name in vain, siding with men, whoring with vain religious ideals, calling for death or treason to those who disagree with us or for not standing by Trump, and playing god at every desperate turns and twists of events. 

And if this world is not our home, why is it then that we are living our life as if it is by embracing unquestionably a man who represents everything that Christ is not? 

Our faith and hope should never be born out of desperation, or the need to hide behind worldly power and fame, living vicariously off it. It should instead be born out of a furnace that makes us more like Christ. Mind you, Jesus did not take the presidential road filled with idolising crowd to the Cross. He took the road of grief, a road many avoided, because salvation is not in men, but it belongs to God.

 

GE2020 - PAP-lite.

Is PAP-lite what the people in general want?

This is quite ironic because just last week, PM Lee remarked that the WP’s Manifesto was “PAP-lite”. He was repeating what one of his ministers said in a recent televised debate, when Jamus’ “blank cheque” statement became the recursive back-masking message on the ground. 

“As Vivian said in the TV debate a few days ago, this is PAP-lite. But I tell you - why do you want to settle for PAP-lite? The real thing is much better.”

PM Lee added: “They take the PAP’s plan, they say very good, here are a few holes, please patch the holes, here are a few places where you can add more money, make it cheaper, work harder. I also can!”

Mm....has he thought about it? Maybe that is what the people want. Maybe, people want the few holes patched up. However, it is not about throwing more money, but allowing more diversity and debate in Parliament. And against the talk about “the real thing is much better”, the voters and PM Lee may just have different definitions of what the real thing really is. 

For me, the writing is on the wall about this. For that is why WP won another GRC and kept their SMC ward with a better margin. That is also why West Coast nearly lost to a political party set up only I.5 years ago against a party that has dominated politics for the last 55 years. That is why HSK won only narrowly with his East Coast plan. That is why SDP’s two doctors got a better showing of popular votes as compared to the last election 2015. And that is why overall, it was a drop of vote count across the board for PAP from 69.9% in the last election, they managed to garner 61.24%. 

Han Fook Kwang in today’s ST wrote: “The PAP has not changed its fundamental approach, which is top down and technocratic.”

“Over the last few years, it has made several unpopular decisions that reinforce this perception, including the reserved presidency, the impending increase in the goods and services tax, new laws in fake news, and its uncompromising stance on critics and dissenters.” 

On its uncompromising stance and the intolerance of Pofma, maybe the PAP can consider patching this hole up by following what her own party member had done. This may not be publicised much, but amid the CB quasi-shutdown, Josephine Teo waived the $1000 donation she demanded from one of two men who accused her and her husband of corruption. 

At that time, Donald Liew pleaded with Josephine to waive the sum due to “his personal circumstances.” Liew’s lawyer, Eugene, said: “The minister had considered his circumstances and kindly agreed to his request for which he is grateful.”

Josephine in fact went further. She even offered to assist Liew with his personal circumstances. I believe by that act, she broke rank and did what the “real thing” that is PAP is not known for or perceived to be. She forgave, forgo and had shown forbearance. 

In the article, Fook Kwang mentioned that the people “want a PAP-lite, minus the hard edges that are part of the party’s DNA.” And Sengkang voters last Friday have somehow made that quite clear. In general, this particular demographic is in the new estates, they are mainly middle income, and well educated. And what is going for them is that they are young, just starting their family. 

Opinion editor Chua Mui Hoong had foreseen how the electoral landscape will change as early as 2013 when she made this observation just at the time WP’s Lee Li Lian won the seat: -

“Is Punggol East an aberration or the harbinger of things to come?” I think it is the latter. Punggol East has a demographic profile of the future: Voters are younger and better off than the national average. It is solidly middle class. Future elections will be full of people who think and vote like those at Pungel East.” (Over the years, Punggol East was absorded into the new Sengkang GRC). 

And you want to know something ironic. The headline of PM Lee’s statement - “Why settle for PAP-lite? Real thing is much better” - was taken with the PAP Sengkang team, helmed by NTUC chief Ng Chee Meng. 

Alas, the one thing about democracy is that you can’t expect all voters to give as much thought as they should to the vote they cast. My mother recently told me that in her West Coast market, she met one of the old folks who reminded her to vote for PAP because they give money. 

Well, intention notwithstanding, I guess we all fall into the cognitive trap known as heuristic availability. It is a “mental shortfall that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person’s mind when evaluating a specific topic or decision.” 

So, in an election, for some voters, one of the immediate examples that comes to mind is the financial handout, and that may very well determine the direction of their vote (For Trump’s America, it may just be the affliction of parousiamania (the second coming) - just saying). 

But for a functioning and mature democracy like ours, there is more to it than jobs and economic security. The drop to 61.24% invariably registers a cognitive dissonance amongst a rising influential segment of the electorate, that is, the swinging votes of the more left-leaning, educated younger voters. 

They are definitely looking for more than just bread and butter issues. They are in fact looking for more credible hands to butter the bread that PAP hands out. 

And on top of that, they are looking for a different kind of bread, not plain white, but multigrain made up of oats, barley and flax, which also represents more diversity and creativity in the home kitchen where policies that impact society in the long run are kneaded, baked and rolled out.

Professor Alan Chong (of S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies) said: “They might have thought, “The Government has promised a whole load of things to take us out of the Covid-19 storm, why not vote in the WP to ensure that they deliver?””

In any event, let me end by saying that the PAP may have entered the GE2020 fray riding on the high horse of what is PAP-concentrated. But, they are nevertheless disembarking from the same horse with what is PAP-humbled. 

First thing first, PM Lee’s gesture to offer Pritam the appointment of the Official Opposition Leader in Parliament is a historical first. And on WP’s good showing, he said: “I look forward to them participating in and contributing to the debate in Parliament, and to the national debate, as we deal with the urgent issues before us...I will use this mandate responsibly to deal with Covid-19 and the economic downturn, and to take us safely through the crisis, and beyond.”

ESM Goh said that the outcome is as “good for Singapore and our parliamentary democracy.”

Even our stoicLaw Minister Shanmugam said this: “In all these things are clearly messages that voters are sending us. It will be wrong if we don’t understand the messages. And I think it requires a lot of soul-searching and reflection.”

Well, that about sums it up. For “PAP-lite” is not about copycats, counterfeits or fakes. From the results of this GE2020, PAP-lite is less of what the voters do not want and more of what they want. It is less of paternalism as in “we know better” and more of humility as in “we know better, together”. It is also less of a flight to safety in familiarity and more of building strength and resilience in diversity. 

And it is less of rooting our security in the tangibles, the readily identifiable, and more of a future that is fair, more open and inclusive, led by leaders who not just work the ground, but also inspire confidence and hope, even if they are not from a certain stratified tier of society.