By Takura Zhangazha*
For a second time former president of the United States of America (USA) Donald Trump is currently facing charges that could lead to his impeachment in the US Congress.
These charges relate to the 06 January 2021 storming/breaching of the Capitol hill by his supporters. In this, USA Democratic party legislators are arguing that the former president failed to fulfill his constitutionally given role as commander in chief. They argue that Trump failed to not only protect another branch of government (Congress) but also actively incited the attack not only on the day but over a prolonged period of time after the November 2020 elections.
The impeachment trial has been relatively fascinating to
watch as it is shown live on US media channels.
Especially the case of the prosecution which has featured video footage
that had previously no been seen. While
the defence may not have as either dramatic footage or more elaborate arguments
beyond referring to Trump’s right to free expression and issues of due process.
Or even making the argument which however appears to be lost by the fact of the
impeachment trial itself that Congress cannot impeach a person who is no longer
a sitting president.
Either way, the impact of the fact of his impeachment has
had a far reaching impact of how the USA handles its politics at the highest levels
internally. Or how it presents itself to
world as of old as a ‘beacon’ of democracy.
This side of the world, particularly in Zimbabwe, we are
wont to view this almost as though it were a movie or dramatic documentary of
sorts. Because that’s how Trump tended to present himself anyway in the late
90s through to reality shows in the
2000s. Even to us here in the global south to the extent that he surprisingly
has many admirers in the most unlikely of places within Zimbabwean civil society. Those
that would claim to be more enlightened among us may have an opinion or two but
largely based on historical and cultural admiration of what we have been sold
as the ‘American dream’.
Fewer among us would want to examine this impeachment trial
with the comparative criticality to our own context it deserves.
I would propose that we do the latter in at least three
ways.
Firstly we need to understand that as with a lot of our own
elections here in Zimbabwe and in some of our sister African countries, the
current impeachment trial of Trump has its root cause in an electoral
dispute. While it has been previously unimaginable
that this would happen in the USA, the reality of the violent march on the
Capitol hill that we saw on 06 January cannot be wished away. Losing candidates can whip up the emotions of
their supporters, fail to provide legally required evidence of electoral
rigging but still insist that they won. Now the most obvious argument is that
the electoral system of the USA is more credible and historically tested than
for example Zimbabwe’s. Fair
enough. But that does not make their
politics or politicians always cognizant of this fact. Hence we can easily compare political celebrity
and populist cultures in the contemporary between for example these two countries.
In the second instance what can be inferred from the
ongoing impeachment trial is an attempt at a return to democratic
normalcy. Almost as though to present
Trump as an aberration and restore dignity and gravitas to not only the US
Congress but try to ensure that there is never again another president or
presidential candidate like Trump. In
this, there has been direct reference on both sides of the trial to not only
the constitution but also legal reference points such as the ‘Federalist Papers’. All in an attempt to show the depth of
American democracy that requires that where it is violated as it was on 06
January, the perpetrators, including Trump, cannot go unpunished. Or else they
become the norm and the constitutional values became the aberration.
A quick comparison with our own Zimbabwean context would
quickly identify this as a key difference with electoral disputations. While we
did not have a sitting president dispute an election, the discourse around the
2018 election results was rarely about values, history or the intentions of our
own country’s founding fathers/mothers. Let alone the significant expected role
of mainstream media to be credible announcers of same said electoral results. Our constitution is therefore more technical
than it would be historical where and when it comes to the meaning of not only
elections but also the finality of the electoral process. And our media does
not have a similar credibility from the public. While we cannot mimic the history of American
constitutionalism and its values, we can still critically compare given the
fact that both of our countries are republics.
In the third instance where we continue to watch the ongoing
second impeachment trial of Trump there is the troubling issue of assumptions
of elections and electoral processes as almost evangelical ruptures. The clear mixture of God and politics and the
charismatic candidate is partly what got not only Trump to where he now finds himself. But also his supporters who now face multiple
criminal charges. This absolutist
perspective and angle where elections come to mean more than what they actually
are. That is periodic competitions for
the levers of state power, is a troubling development across the globe. Indeed they can be transformative depending on
the elected leaders intentions. But only after the fact of the election. Not because of it. Trumps supporters held
placards extolling Jesus and assuming they had come back with finality to take
back their country as they stormed the Capitol. Their absolutist understanding
of their mission in part eventually failed them. They have to wait for next
time, as even Trump himself now appears intent on. A possibility which the
prosecutors in his trial are hoping to prevent.
We also have been mixing religion, celebrity approaches and
materialism with our own politics either side of the political divide. A political
culture which is not only unsustainable but does not help foster a long duree organic
democratic culture that transcend the elections as periodic events.
In conclusion, it is important that as Zimbabweans observing
political developments in the USA over
the Trump impeachment we also learn key lessons that apply to our own
context. Lessons that may also allow us
to not seek a shallow mimicry of a politics that may have trends that we may
need to avoid as opposed to accept. And that we must seek solidarities that remain
more organic than populist.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity
(takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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