Brace yourself for the Trump 2.0 reality

It’s still slowly sinking in. The re-election of Donald Trump to a second term as US president has been a sobering pill for many like myself – on the Left in the UK– to swallow.

The tens of millions who voted on November 4 probably did not give a single thought to the ramifications of this vote on the global community. Yet here in the UK, the results are second only to those of the UK general election, in terms of having the most direct consequence to our lives. In many other nations it will be a similar picture.

On this side of the pond, millions of us were so heavily invested in the results for a number of reasons. In my case, the prospect of having America’s first woman of colour (of Jamaican heritage, at that) be the new leader of the ‘Free World’ was quite a mouth-watering prospect. I’m no fan of America’s troubling two-party system but ‘in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king’ and Kamala Harris was very much the best of a terrible Democrat offering. It is as if the party was blind to the fact that their semi-senile leader was simply not up for the rigours of a second term.

Refusing to stare that reality in the face and deal with it accordingly has perhaps landed America – and the rest of the world – in a particular quandary we thought ended when Trump left office under a violent cloud in January 2020.

Yet it has to be something more nuanced than that. It wasn’t simply a case of American voters rejecting Harris and the Democrats, it was tens of millions actively choosing Trump and his particular brand of Republicanism.

Approximately 77 million Americans, with the full knowledge of Trump’s record as president, alongside his many criminal and political missteps, a matter of public record, STILL voted for him. It’s one thing to feign surprise at his 2016 victory by saying you didn’t know he was this inept and lacking policy teeth. But it’s quite another to see the evidence of his political and personal record, compare it to Kamala’s and find her’s wanting.

POLICY CORNERSTONES

The risk of any democracy of course is that your preferred candidate loses out. And accepting the will of the people (however confusing) is part of the process of facing reality. Something is perhaps broken in a system that looks at the options on the table and votes overwhelmingly for this particular tanned brand of white supremacy and misogyny. It’s hard shaking off accusations of being a sore loser but ANOTHER term of Donald Trump!? C’mon!

This new reality means coming to terms with what Trump 2.0 actually looks like. One of the major issues that will have the most detrimental impact on people, especially those from the Caribbean diaspora, will be how Trump’s team handles the matter of immigration in the United States.

He has already boasted that his administration will undertake the largest deportation programme in the country’s history.

With nearly 4,000,000 immigration cases already awaiting a ruling, turbo-charging this system without the necessary legal and jurisdictional safeguards is a recipe for an unprecedented level of community and familial disruption, pain and miscarriages of justice the states had ever known. The US’s creaking immigration system already has a backlog that won’t be cleared at its current rate until close to 2028. With the millions more added, analysts see this backlog stretching all the way to 2040.

Trump‘s team has made tackling immigration one of its policy cornerstones and will be doing everything for the optics to reflect this. Whether this means swiftly building new detention facilities to house those swept up in this dragnet or revisiting the 2018 policy of forced separation where we had to witness US-born children being ripped from the arms of their migrant parent at the border, it matters not.

There is even a threat of forcing through deportations under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. That was not a typo… 1798! The definition of who gets swept up in this centuries-old law is so wide, a case can be made for practically anyone officials want to target with ‘criminal links.’

NEW POLITICAL CLIMATE

With some 11 million undocumented immigrants currently inside the US, the atmosphere must now be one of fear and uncertainty. The idea of deportation officers roaming the streets looking to sweep up anyone who appears to be a foreigner is a terrifying prospect. Even for those who fit the ‘profile’ but whose papers are perfectly in order, the idea of being stopped and misidentified while going about your lawful business has suddenly made America an extremely unattractive prospect for at least the next few years.

There is very little chance of those from Africa or the Caribbean not getting caught up at some stage in some aspect of this maniacal new plan. Clearly attempting to address the causes of why people choose to migrate, especially for economic and political reason would be a better use of resources but the Trump administration is not interested in a deeper probe of global sociopolitical issues.

They are intending to send a message and that message is clear: ‘brown and black people, you are low-hanging fruits and can be dealt with as we see fit. No one will care. You have been warned.’ As I’ve said about any robust border policy, a country has the right to defend its own interests but not at the expense of the rule of law. For surely the laws become meaningless and that way Facism lies.

If the past Trump term is a marker for the second the ‘America first, but not alone’ maxim is one that will dominate. The style of leadership will be closely followed by the ‘peace through strength’ doctrine which essentially translates to ‘as long as we are the biggest and baddest, everything will be fine.’ It remains to be seen if there will be any pushback from countries whose citizens will be unduly or disproportionately impacted by Trump’s new policies regarding immigration but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

So brace yourself for a new reality when Season Two of the Trump Show kicks off in January 2025. It will be interesting to see how our very own Labour administration reacts to the new political climate. No sector will be left unaffected. From the state of climate change, peace and security in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine and every issue in between – buckle up – with Trump at the wheel, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Amina Taylor is a journalist and broadcaster. She is the former editor of Pride magazine and works as producer, presenter and correspondent with Press TV in London.