The elections in America and the voters in the Arab world

Finally, Joe Biden was declared the president-elect of the United States of America, making him the 46th president in its history, since George Washington in 1789. This announcement was made after an exciting race that witnessed the highest participation rate in more than a century, in which President Donald Trump resorted to hustling, confusion and childish behaviour that is inappropriate for the president of the greatest country in the world and demeans this strong country. By questioning the transparency of the American electoral system and accusing it of fraud and being fake, he equated the US to a third world country. This is the first time such terms are used in America with regards to the elections and it seems that his friendship with the Arab leaders has affected him and prompted him to use their ugly terms. Even until this moment, he refuses to admit defeat and instead continues his rhetoric and stubbornness, and his last claim after the results were announced was that millions of ballots were sent to people who did not ask for them!

The American elections have never witnessed as much passion from the Arab world as they did this year, as if they had the right to vote. The funny thing here is that the Arab citizen who closely followed the US elections does not care at all about any local elections that are taking place in their countries. For example, in Egypt, parliamentary elections are taking place at the same time as the American elections, but the Egyptian citizen is completely removed from it and pays no attention to it. Many Egyptians don’t even know that elections are taking place in their country!

Just as the Americans were divided between Trump and Biden, the Arabs were also divided between them based on their political orientations. The loyalists and supporters of their dictatorial regimes would have preferred Trump, protector of these regimes, and they wished they had a ballot card to save him from losing. Now they are weeping over his departure, along with the Zionist Arab rulers, who had hoped and prayed for Trump’s victory. They are very sad for his loss and departure from the White House, despite all the material and moral support they provided him. It is enough that they normalised with Israel in order for him to remain in power, but he has fallen, and they fell with him into the well of treachery. They lost their money and were left with shame.

READ: Does Biden come bearing gifts for the Palestinians?

The state of sadness, panic and fear of the future among Arab rulers confirmed what is flagrantly known, i.e. the governments in the Arab region are nothing but regimes subordinate to Washington and that they take their legitimacy from it, not from their people.

As for opponents of the ruling regimes, they prefer Biden, not out of love for him personally, but out of hatred for Trump, who supported these authoritarian regimes. Therefore, they rejoiced when he fell, as if the fall of Trump will automatically mean the removal of their tyrannical leaders and Biden’s victory would bring democracy to their countries. They have forgotten, or perhaps do not know that it was the US who brought these leaders to power and that the US counters any democratic process in the region, contrary to what it claims.

It was the US that introduced military coups in the Arab world after its victory in WWII in order to govern the countries with military fascism. This is to guarantee its interests and protect Israeli security because it is not in the interest of the US that the Arab nations are independent and that they can choose their leaders with their own free will, far from the eyes of the US. The presence of any democratic government in the area is considered a danger to Israel and anyone sitting in the Oval Office, whether from the Republican or the Democratic Party, works in accordance with that policy in order to preserve the status quo. The July 2013 coup in Egypt is the best example of that, t the time, Biden was Vice President to Obama and a supporter of coup.

The official and unofficial media (social media networks) are the best witness to this sharp division in the Arab world, to the point that Egyptian political science Professor, Moataz Abdel Fattah, who presents a programme on an Egyptian satellite channel, blatantly said on his show that Biden would give them trouble and ask about the prisons, political parties and about where public opinion is because they were receiving aid, but Trump would let them do whatever they wanted.

The Emirati and Saudi media did not fail to support Trump limitlessly and demean Biden.

The supporters and opponents overlooked the fact that Trump and Biden are two sides of the same coin, and work for one goal, and that neither of them can deviate from the goals and strategies of the ruling American deep state. Trump is more blatant revealing the imperial face of America, while Biden is softer, diplomatic and sophisticated. For example, he strongly supports Israel, but he did not express support for Trump’s decision to annex East Jerusalem to West Jerusalem, and consider the united city the capital of Israel, as well as move the American embassy to it. He also did not express his support for annexing the Golan Heights to Israel and did not make any statement about the ‘deal of the century’. He is a supporter of the two-state solution.

Biden supported the invasion of Iraq in 2003, during the rule of George W Bush (a Republican), and even demanded that Iraq be divided into three regions based on a sectarian reference. He also voted in favour of the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 and supported the idea of establishing a separation wall between America and Mexico.

Despite what I have said before about the two men’s common goals, which are the same goals of the deep state in the US, America has not witnessed a president as strange and moody as Trump. He manages politics like a businessman, not as a politician, and in fact, it is unfair when we compare him to politicians. He has never worked in politics and does not know its language. He knowns the language of money and enjoys the taste of a dollar. The man was clear with his voters since his nomination in 2016 and he did not hide anything. He even described Saudi Arabia as a cash cow, saying that when it dries up and no longer gives dollars and gold, it is time to send it to the slaughter. He demanded that Saudi Arabia pay three quarters of its wealth in exchange for the American forces’ protection of the Al-Saud family at home and abroad. Throughout his presidency he treated Riyadh with contempt, arrogance, extortion and thuggery, and strangely, Saudi Arabia was happy being milked and wanted it to continue.

President Trump, who swore to respect the constitution and preserve America’s security and stability, destroyed the American democratic model in less than four years. During his presidency, he dealt with his constitutional authority like a wrestler. He used his power in a way that was defiant and violent, and turned it into a dictatorial system, to neutralise Congress and misuse it in presidential decisions. In the name of these powers, he appointed whoever he wanted to the Supreme Court, which goes against democratic traditions, and he appointed relatives to decision-making positions in the White House, such as his daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, among others. The greatest country in the world was being ruled by a family during his presidency, and there was no longer a separation between public affairs and the president’s individual interests, which goes against American tradition. Therefore, the US was no longer itself, and did not adhere to its own morals and values. Moreover, so many White House advisers and those who worked with him left, and many ministers resigned or were dismissed.

READ: Former Saudi intelligence chief says Biden to disappoint Palestinians

Many books were published criticising him during his presidency. This includes the book The Room Where it Happened, written by his former National Security Adviser, John Bolton, in which he describes Trump as a president with inadequate knowledge of the simplest geographical facts.

Even his lawyer, Michael Cohen, wrote a scathing memoir about his relationship with Trump titled Disloyal.

Moreover, the book Fear: Trump in the White House by Bob Woodward describes the Trump administration and how it deals with institutions and decision-making.

His niece, Mary L Trump wrote a bold book titled Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.

Trump began his presidency by declaring war on Islam and Muslims, by enacting racist laws against Muslims and imposing a ban on their entry into America.

Trump was not a president for all Americans, but he was a racist president for half of Americans, a white supremacist and biased towards the extreme right. He could not hide his hostility towards blacks and minorities. We haven’t forgotten when he insulted his predecessor Barack Obama because of his African roots, taking America back to racial discrimination and the consequent increase in the populist situation in America and the increased tension felt by Americans. This in turn led to the emergence and spread of fanatical armed groups, which are hostile towards ethnic and religious minorities, and therefore the rates of violence and the rates of racist crimes doubled during his presidency.

He dealt with the media harshly and aggressively and was bothered by the press’ criticism of his policies, as if he was the president of a marginal country, not America, the leader of the free world, the flagbearer for freedom and democracy. His presidency witnessed the biggest wave of hostility against the press through his constant attacks on it.

He failed miserably in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, making the US the country with the highest number of cases and deaths from the disease. Journalist Bob Woodward exposed him in his book Rage revealing that Trump hid the truth about the pandemic from the Americans for political and electoral reasons.

This is just a quick summary of Trump’s infamous time as president. While his departure will save the world from his madness and impudence and will allow them to breathe a sigh of relief at this dark era in human history, Biden will not be the cure to the many wounds caused by Trump in this world, and especially in our Arab region.

Biden is not an angel, but Trump is a great demon who supports the demons of the region and strengthens them against their people.

READ: Israel’s Netanyahu congratulates Biden on US election win, thanks Trump

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.