Frankly, I am surprised that the institutions of the United States of America have remained immutable through the course of centuries. I thought their judiciary system was going to crumble at the face of the well-planned onslaught of now former president, Donald J. Trump. He himself must have been unpleasantly surprised that the judges, prosecutors, attorneys-general and justices that he had hand-picked and positioned strategically have not done his bidding. The more than fifty cases meant of overturn his defeat were thrown out of different courts for lack of evidence, of all things! Most bitter was the decision of the Supreme Court where he made sure he had at least three justices in his pocket, or so he thought. I envy the strength of their judicial institution and the men and women who comprise that seemingly unshakeable pillar of US democracy. Sad to say, ours pale and suffer in comparison.
At a recent zoom session with Foreign Service majors, my former classmates, the subject of institutional strength came up, inevitably, as many of them have made their lives in the USA since graduation. Facetiously, one of them said that Mr. Trump should have hired Solicitor-General Jose Calida instead of appointing Atty. William Bar as his Attorney-General. The latter has obviously never heard of “quo warranto” and if he had, never knew how to make expert use of it to promote the wishes of his boss. There are so many tricks that Mr. Trump’s advisers could have picked up in the only colony of the USA, which it invaded and Christianized purportedly in obedience to God’s wishes revealed to Pres. William McKinley in a dream. Too late, I think Mr. Donald Trump has definitely failed in his re-election bid.
Yet, all is not lost, Mr. Trump can run for re-election, unlike Philippine presidents who are now have a 6-year term with no re-election. That was a drastic innovation of our electoral system because we used to abide by the one we learned from the USA, 2 terms of four years each. After People Power 1 that was scrapped.
What now, Mr. Trump? Instead of ranting and raving at the White House or sulking at Mar-o-Lago, take a quick glance at the Filipino way. You can learn so much from us, just as your predecessors thought that we could learn a lot from you because we were supposed to be incapable of self-rule.
It looks like a big slice of the Grand Old Party is unhappy with what Mr. Trump has been doing. Thousand who had voted for him in 2016 no longer want to have anything to do with the Republican Party. So, Mr. Trump, now that you have lost the elections by more than 5 million, why don’t you form a third party? Is that against the US Constitution?
Tell your base that it is time for a multi-party system. Instead of shouting ‘Stop the Steal” and other inanities, the dog whistle should be “ We Want Multi-Parties!” These can be mere electoral machines, you do not bother with norms and traditions anyway, those take too much time. These electoral machines, a.k.a. parties can be dormant and put into action only during electoral campaigns. The Trump militias from the deep state can also form party lists. If you are unfamiliar with that concept, ask our congressmen, they’ll love to teach you how to do that. All you need is imagination and a bit of funding, of course, which is no problem for your patron saint who is a seasoned fund-raiser. So, what now? Forget Putin, Xi and Kim, they are too heavy-handed, come to the Philippines, it is our turn to teach the USA a few tricks.