Dancing with Trump

With whatever distractions we may be spending our time, it is Donald Trump who lingers in the background. He is constantly there, driving political debate all across the world. And in Pakistan, he seems to be a point of reference in some particular ways. For more than a week, Trump’s sinister plans for Gaza have agitated our minds.

Talking of distractions, there are many. As for domestic politics and its various manifestations, I would desist from entering that territory because I feel a bit distraught by how it has dominated the media. There is little else that the talk shows and the print analysts want to talk about. Besides, one is not really enlightened by the thoughts they recycle every day.

Actually, I repeatedly skirt around this subject for the reason that I do not find people taking any serious interest in politics in their normal social interactions. There is always so much else to talk about. I generally ask friends to monitor their casual conversations in the course of their daily activities and find out if politics is a major concern of the people in their circle.

But why is the media so obsessed with politics? Yes, you do find an exception now and then. Perhaps it is a measure of the intellectual capacity of our host and panelists. This mention of hosts and panelists of talk shows reminds me of this potentially comical and rather disgusting situation that we only have a small number of them walking in and out of this or that discussion, their views being as familiar as their faces.

When I say that people are not that interested in politics, I must also admit that I have no idea what would keep them awake at night beyond their own personal matters. I may be overstating it but I get the impression that even our educated people are not inclined to look deeper into issues that influence and affect our lives and also the affairs of nations and of the world at large.

For that matter, one important distraction this week was the sinking of another boat loaded with illegal immigrants. Not surprisingly, many of the victims as well as the survivors were Pakistanis. This time, the tragedy happened off the coast of Libya.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Monday that the boat was carrying around 65 persons. One report said that the identities of 13 Pakistanis who died in the incident were confirmed, while 22 survived the tragedy. Last month, over 40 Pakistanis were murdered by African human traffickers in a boat off the coast of Morocco.

Illegal immigration has become a global problem and it is one of the urgent issues that US President Donald Trump is set to resolve, with specific reference to his own country. In fact, he is consistently demonising immigrants. European countries are also taking stringent measures to deal with this problem. Anti-migrant rhetoric is the main feature of far right parties that are gaining popular support in many countries.

At this point, we may return to how Donald Trump is dominating the political debate prompted by the frenzied steps he has taken to, in a sense, create a new world order. Or disorder? At one level, he has declared a war on international justice. How can the leader of the world’s foremost democracy act in such an authoritarian manner is one of the many questions that Trump’s belligerent exploits have raised.

But let us try and look at Trump from Pakistan’s perspective. I am not in a position to examine the nature and the prospects of Pakistan’s relationship with the US. There, of course, were times when our two countries were very close allies, though there were obvious issues of trust and intentions. Still, we do not yet have any clarifications about how our bilateral relationship is to develop.

It is significant for us that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met President Trump at the White House in Washington DC on Thursday. The meeting was mainly about tariffs and trade. They also talked about illegal immigration. India may be critical in Trump’s strategy against China, seen as America’s top rival.

Irrespective of how Trump is building his presidency and setting his goals, it is interesting to recall that some political elements in Pakistan had passionately supported his campaign and were excitedly forecasting that a Trump victory would readily have an impact on our domestic politics. Trump had an almost formal endorsement of the Pakistani diaspora in the US. From their point of view, Pakistan was very much in Trump’s thoughts.

Or, one might think, it was Imran Khan and not Pakistan. As prime minister of Pakistan in July 2019, Imran had met Trump at the White House during Trump’s first term. The meeting had apparently gone well. Comedian Trevor Noah had then done his feature to project Trump and Imran as twins because of what was common between them in their political career.

Though Trevor Noah had done what you expect of a comedian, Imran’s supporters have believed that the two leaders had become good friends. And what would a leader with, seemingly, all the power in the world would do for a friend who is in prison? So, it was believed that Trump would immediately intervene in Imran’s favour.

Anyhow, I remember the suspense there was for November 5, 2024 when the presidential election was held in the US. The next deadline was the inauguration of the president on January 20, 2025. And now, the waiting game continues.

Let me conclude with Trump’s plan to occupy Gaza and expel the Palestinians from the Strip. Gaza, of course, is the moral compass for the world. Frustrated with President Biden’s Gaza policy, America’s largest Arab enclave in Michigan had helped Trump win back the state because Trump promised to end the war quickly. We can imagine how many of those Arab Americans feel now.

The writer is a senior journalist. He can be reached at: ghazi_salahuddin@hotmail.com