Who does not admire self-made men and women who work hard for decades to build a substantial business empire? However, the sobering reality is that often these same people raise children with a sense of entitlement to the power that wealth brings with it.
The culture of entitlement is not just a weakness of those who exploit state social benefits. It also afflicts politicians and business people who join the nouveau-riche and often harbour illusions of grandeur. One of the more bizarre consequences of such illusions is that some people plan a future for themselves, their children and their cronies in terms of dynastic successions.
US President Donald Trump made it to the highest post in the country against his own and many political observers’ expectations. He unashamedly surrounded himself in the White House with family members as advisers. They had no qualifications except that they were related to the president. Admittedly, to become a politician, one does not need any qualifications as is the case with most other professions.
Trump’s sons Eric and Donald Jnr as well as daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner soon became protagonists in their father’s administration. Many rightly equate this with third world banana republic corruption. However, this is one of the unsavoury aspects of a democratic political system. After an election, some politicians believe they are entitled to wield almost unfettered power to feather their nests, plan their next career move and project their children and cronies as future leaders.
The enduring image from the last G20 meeting in Osaka is that of Ivanka Trump, inserting herself into an awkward circle of world leaders. According to the Financial Times, a video released by the French government showed varying expressions of tortured politeness as Ms Trump intrudes between France’s Emmanuel Macron, Britain’s Theresa May, Canada’s Justin Trudeau and Christine Lagarde, now head of the ECB. Lagarde could not hide her irritation.
That Donald Trump may be suffering from illusions of grandeur can easily be determined by following his irritating tweets. He even claims that he is the best president that the US has ever had, possibly only second to George Washington. However, is his daughter suffering from the same behaviour disorder?
Ms Trump was not at all humbled by the scorn and ridicule that followed her G20 performance
Both Ms Trump and her husband Kushner are projecting themselves as future political leaders. Kushner is in charge of the stillborn Arab-Israeli peace plan that shows little respect for the dignity of Palestinians. Ms Trump was not at all humbled by the scorn and ridicule that followed her G20 performance. She continues with her diplomatic initiatives even if she has no diplomacy qualifications or experience.
Her father never stops singing her praises. When Ms Trump launched a women’s entrepreneurship fund which is run out of the World Bank and funded mostly by the Gulf States her father said she was uniquely qualified to lead the US skills drive because she had “created millions of jobs”. The crude reality is that Ms Trump’s accessory companies created hundreds rather than millions of jobs mainly in China.
President Trump revealed the real motivation of his daughter’s meddling with politics. Earlier this year he said that if his daughter “ever wanted to run for president, I think she would be very, very hard to beat”. Of course, other politicians, even in Europe, harbour similar illusions of grandeur and promote a dynastic succession culture. They plan their and their relatives’ or cronies’ careers ahead of time and build alliances that they hope will make their dreams come true.
Populist politicians of the right and the left try to sell themselves as anti-establishment. However, the vices that afflict some traditional politicians have the habit of infecting the new breed of politicians. The glamour of power and money is often too difficult to resist. They preach the common good but practise self-preservation often at the cost of those who trust them to make their lives better.
Enoch Powell was probably right when he said that “All political careers end in failure”. The inebriating effect of chasing power and money will sooner or later end up with a massive hangover. At least in a democratic system people can quash the dreams of those who deceive them with mellifluous promises while embracing little or no values. Few politicians are long-term strategists. Many are just shrewd tacticians focused on bettering their lives and those of their relatives and cronies.
We must be grateful for those who really go into politics to make people’s lives better.
johncassarwhite@yahoo.com