So much to think about these days, don’t you agree? More than ever, some say. For me, there’s too much that boggles the mind, especially regarding the political goings-on both on the home front and abroad. In particular, the parallels between the enigmatic USA and our own Sainte Lisi have surely not escaped us. And, for that, we have both the all-encompassing backdrop of the pandemic, in conjunction with the atmosphere of elections to thank for coughing up and highlighting many of those.
Well, let’s start at the top with the Prime Minister and the LOO (Leader of the Opposition). Two more different personalities you could not find anywhere, just as Biden and Trump. But let’s see if the parallels pan out as one might expect them to. Our PM: calm, collected, clear, pleasant, confident, focused, reassuring. The LOO: het-up, confused, aggressive, unpleasant, not credible, uninspiring. Who, one asks, is more Trump-like? That’s easy. Clearly not the one whom the LOO’s party refers to as Tropical Trump. Rather, the incumbent/opposition comparison is without doubt turned on its head there—bigly!
Before moving on, we really must refer to one of the LOO’s more recent foot-in-mouth, Trump-like statements. At a press conference a couple of weeks ago, it was incredible to hear our LOO proudly trumpeting to the nation that he never goes to the supermarket uhn; we’d never find him in a supermarket tee-hee-hee-hee-hee! All I can say is that his followers must have been really elated to hear that unfortunate example of underling distancing from their emperor, for which, by the way, the pandemic is totally innocent. Naiveté at its most naïve, I do declare, and à la Trump’s countless offerings of similar ilk.
Now one would have thought that a party in opposition would find common cause and demonstrate certain common traits with other opposition parties most everywhere. But no, once again the parallelism is turned on its head and we find that our LOO and his band of messy men seem to have actually been taking lessons from Tutor Trump and studying from his playbook. The illustrations abound and are uncanny, so let’s list just a few as you put the meat on the bones.
I must commence with that unwise, inopportune rally which no one can tell me was not the source of the first instance of community spread locally, which has today passed the hundred mark. Trump to a T: selfish, must and will have that rally, never mind the advice of those who know better. What about the disrespect shown for the virus itself and the shameful takedown of official government experts trying so hard to educate the people as to the seriousness of the pandemic? Who shamefully excoriated the exemplary CMO and her team, accusing her of playing politics and being the PM’s puppet? Who resented so deeply the innocuous “best CMO ever?” (Actually, I say, she’s “simply the best!”) The answer is, once again, as the LOO and his party regarding Dr Belmar-George, so Trump and his cronies regarding the much-maligned Dr Fauci, counterpart to our own CMO.
The pattern continues: the wholesale mistruths and ‘distruths’ (my word, no need to look it up!); the poor johnny-one-note response to everything (“you want to make us cry; we have to cry; we must cry”); the absolute baseness of the othering and the level of coarseness emanating from their “surrogates” (like “vindictive,” another of the LOO’s favourite words); the sheer mass of hypocrisy exhibited by party officials in every step they take, every move they make. Again, Trump and his minions to a T. Don’t get me wrong. Exaggerations, us and them-ing and calling out exist in all parties and no doubt go on to some extent with Biden’s people, as with the UWP. But the unbelievably shameless, common-as-muck brand that emanates from the likes of Trump, as well as the SLP and its apostles, is just plain shameful.
By contrast, witness the classiness of “Keeping it Real,” a joy to tune in to. The worst, however, is when their vileness is done against country, designed to hurt the interests of us all, even our very existence, that is for me the pits. It tears me up every time. Really, are they so shortsighted that they cannot see that that kind of gutter-level conduct and its consequences will come back to bite them in the butt too? Can they not see they put all of Saint Lucia in serious jeopardy? Don’t they care?
There are so many parallels one could continue to cite but I leave them to you to discover for yourselves if you haven’t already. Oh, I’ve one more that I should not let go by the board. It’s that, as I write days after Biden’s election, Trump still cannot bring himself to do what all decent, and even some lousy loser-leaders do—just because it’s the done thing. Have you guessed what it is? It is, of course, the fundamental, the releasing, the accepted act of making that call of concession and congratulation to the one who, through the will of the people, has replaced you at the top. Trump can’t bring himself to do it, and well, I leave the second half of the equation for you to complete. Local history has recorded it for all time.
And what about the current LOO? What do you think? Believe it or not, when his time comes, I actually think he would, or should I say will, differ from Trump and his own predecessor in such an instance. How about that! For sure, we can all say that our current PM Allen Chastanet would never bring himself to stoop so low. Nor, of course, would President-Elect Joe Biden.
Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m with the decent folk—from all rungs of the society. It’s a no-brainer, and it is for the good of our nation. The signals, little and big, are there in our faces, warning us, beckoning us to be on the right side of history for our sakes and the sake of our dear Saint Lucia. As in the USA, this COVID-19 pandemic is bringing a lot to light and opening our eyes even more than usual. Continue to look for the parallels, uncanny, ironic, and expected though they may be. You’ll find them!
Oh, one last thought: I bristle when I hear lots of otherwise smart people say there is no ideological difference among political parties of the Caribbean. (I would suppose they are referring always to the English-speaking Caribbean). I do believe even you, Mr Rick Wayne, have voiced such an opinion. I do not subscribe to this notion. Not one little bit. But as they say, “that’s for another show!”
This article first appeared in the November 2020 edition of the STAR Monthly review, available here: https://issuu.com/starbusinessweek/docs/star-monthly-review-01
