In November 2016
American voters set course
On a journey of change
By electing Donald J. Trump
As the 45th president.
Marking the end of one era
And the start of another
In American history.
Where the dreams
Begin and end
At the U.S. border
As the nightmare starts
For many others.
Xenophobia and bigotry
Spreading like twitchgrass
Sending its choking runner shoots
In all directions
Through the rich and fertile
American soil.
Praising ignorance
Latest level of intellectualism
To storm across the nation
In labelling mainstream media
Liberal “fake news”
By President Trump.
For a press
Just doing its job
On questioning
And raising concerns
About his administration.
As the world moves
Several steps backwards
Into the vile darkness of the 1930s
That heralded World War II.
Implementing border restrictions
Not seen since 1939
When the SS St Louis left
The port of Hamburg, Germany
With 700 Jewish passengers.
Seeking a safe refuge
From the growing deadly fury
Of right wing governments
And extreme nationalistic policies
That deliberately targetted
Religious and ethnic minorities
As societal scapegoats.
A voyage of the damned
No one wanted
Inside their borders
As the world rejected them.
It's historical echoes
Resonates globally
Of a declining white Christian
Heterosexual and cisgendered
Nation.
Fighting to hold on
To this national myth
By a hardcore bigoted minority.
As stirring echoes
Of Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act
From President Trump's abrupt
Shotgun approach
To international trade
Management.
Viewing any bilateral trade
With the United States
As a zero sum game
Net benefiting the U.S.
At the bottom line.
A direct rejection
Past 70 years
Of U.S. trade policy
That encouraged
Global economies of scale
Between countries
For all economic goods.
Like the transfer
Of expensive labour intensive jobs
From developed countries
Of Canada and the United States
To the developing countries
Of Mexico and the Philippines.
Sadly
Trump doesn't read history.
Otherwise
He would’ve known
There's no real winners
In tariff trade wars.
Only people
Who have lost their jobs
Perhaps permanently.
Therisa © 2018
Author's note: In the week or so, I have spent writing this, President Trump has shown his ignorance on a variety of topics. Especially, last Sunday, when he sent a series of tweets demanding the removals of all legal rights of due process for the Latin American immigrants, in U.S. custody. A direct violation of the guaranteed rights, under the United States constitution. In ordering speedy trails to adjudicate the charges of illegal entry into the United States, without legal representation.
The origins of due process is traced back to the Magna Carta. A 1215 peace treaty between the English King John, rebelling barons and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Stephen Langdon, signed at Runnymede, a meadow between Windsor and Staines.
No comments:
Post a Comment