THE gloves are off.
To be called “the enemy of the people” is not something normally given to those that those in power dislike. It’s too extreme a description that invites potential retribution, so that it is not to be used lightly, not least by those in power.
And yet, in recent past, the president of the United States himself has appropriated the term normally reserved for the FBI’s most wanted criminals, and applied it to his favorite whipping boy – the mainstream US media. Apparently tired of getting no breaks from the press, he has routinely called them out whenever he gets the opportunity, as the enemy of the American people.
The problem with the president, of course, is that he is prone to siege mentality. His default filter is – if you are not for me, then you are not only my enemy, but you are the enemy of the American people. Never mind that he lost the popular vote, which means most Americans did not actually vote for him. In his mind -- a mind that knows of no other greater than himself -- he is America, and those who criticize him are not simply enemies of Trump, but enemies of the people.
To this of course, members of the media were quickly up in arms. Never before has the platform of the US presidency been used as a bully pulpit as brazenly and blatantly as it is being used now. No president previous to this has dared appropriate the label “enemies of the people” to those he personally disliked. Not even (gasp) the late president Richard Nixon – the only president to have resigned under threat of imminent impeachment from office.
The problem is that this president relishes being maverick, even when such behavior places innocent people in danger. Some of his followers are not exactly what one would call “normal.” One only has to look back at the events in Charlottesville, to recall that there are those out there who support the president, and would do pretty unspeakable things in his behalf, or what they think is his behalf. Much as he may not condone extreme behavior, he is also very reticent to call out the transgressions of those who support him, quite possibly because he is fearful of losing their support and votes. Which makes it very dangerous indeed for those who are the target of his ire.
Not to be outdone, our very own leader routinely assumes that he too speaks for “the Filipino people,” and those who are not with him are therefore enemies of said people. How conveniently he forgets that he is merely a plurality rather than a majority president, and had it not been for the blind ambitions of an unnamed female senator, he would probably be now still patrolling the streets of his southern city, shooting anyone and everyone considered to be outcasts of his version of society.
The problem with “populist” leaders, wherever they may govern, is that they automatically and mistakenly assume themselves to be the people. After all, their choices are governed by what their perceived publics like, rather than what is good for all. So you end up with the surreal and the tragic, the laughable if only it were not so tragic state of things, that you can only hold your hands up in frustration over. In the US, it is the mainstream media. But others like the legislative, and especially his opposite party leaders, are also fair game.
In the Philippines, every other sector that does not overtly adore him is immediately subjected to his vulgar rantings and ravings. At certain times it was Obama, the EU, the UN, and many others who have not agreed with his methods of governance.
Indeed, times are tough for the enemies of the people.
(http://asbbforeignexchange.blogspot.com & http://twitter.com/asbbatuhan)