US democracy doesn’t ‘Trump’ all others

It’s considered poor manners to taint a cosy conversation at home with talk of politics or religion. Americans, however, are finding that politics and religion are unavoidable at their dinner tables. And the “Donald Trump effect” is assuredly spreading beyond US borders. If he wins the Republican presidential nomination, his views on Muslims will invoke an even more heated debate. If he becomes president, alarm bells will be ringing all over the world.

The man who has just hit his highest level of national support in the polls wants to impose a comprehensive ban on Muslims entering American territory. Such a blatantly prejudiced policy has sparked outcries elsewhere, but reaction has been intriguing in his own country. According to CNN, only a modest majority of American adults opposes Trump’s Muslim idea, while Republican primary voters are evenly split.

To be exact, Trump’s proposal is opposed by 57 per cent of American adults and supported by 25 per cent, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey shows. But Trump finds more support for his proposal among the Republicans who are “likely to vote” in the 2016 presidential primary. Those voters are divided almost evenly, with 38 per cent supporting Trump’s proposal and 39 per cent opposing it.

America’s brand of democracy can appear odd to the outside world. It’s strange because what seems to be a completely undemocratic idea can be laid down as a potential platform of the national agenda and debated in a democratic setting. Most worryingly, Trump’s proposed Muslim ban could become perfectly “democratic” if he becomes president.

His idea is undemocratic for obvious reasons. It’s contemptuous toward another religion and can virtually turn millions of American Muslims into second-class citizens. When American Muslim employees go to work or when American Muslim children go to school, the special label hanging over their heads would be even more discriminative. “My foreign counterparts are banned from entering this country,” that label will say. Americans of other faiths will look at them and think, “If you are good people and if your religion is noble, why is my president banning people who share your beliefs?”

In other words, Trump is declaring war on Islam by stereotyping all of its believers. He is making American Muslims an untrustworthy group of citizens. In so doing, he will be putting a big question mark over the “Land of the Free” image, no matter how legitimate and democratic his election victory might appear.

The bottom line, nevertheless, is that America has the right to debate what is best for it. Yet the problem with America is that it affords other countries no such right. Imagine a Thai political leader mooting the idea of banning all non-Buddhist immigrants. Imagine Myanmar adopting a charter outlawing certain religions. Imagine Russia or China shutting its door on Christians.

Trump has highlighted the strangeness, if not the hypocrisy, of American democracy. It’s a democracy where, when politicians do anything undemocratic, they can readily invoke “national security”. But when other countries cite the same rationale, Washington is quick to say it’s undemocratic.

Trump can be criticised for concocting his insulting proposal, but he can also garner considerable support in the process because the American system allows it. It would be unfair to demonise him. It’s not fair, either, for American politicians to go after the Donald Trumps in other countries.