US political landscape changing every day: Republican Senator

Chennai: With the Indiana primaries resulting in Donald Trump being the ‘presumptive Republican nominee’ for November 2016 Presidential elections in U.S., ironically many Republicans are in a state of ‘profound disquiet’, very unusual for a world superpower.

With barely six months to go for the big vote for the office in Washington, the Democrats are not very happy either with what is happening in their camp, in the backdrop of Bernie Sanders, the principal rival to the front-runner Democratic party Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, also throwing up a ‘succession of surprises’.  

Things are changing so rapidly that “to be current” one needs to check out what is happening every hour, chuckles Curtis S Bramble, a Republican senator from the State of Utah, with wry humour, discussing about ‘The race for the US Presidency’.

In a concerned tone, the Republican Senator, in an interaction here on Friday, organised by Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, said the rapid changes being seen in their country’s political landscape, “threatening to throw us into an ‘anarchy”, was something his wife and he had not witnessed in the last 62 years.
“I have not seen anything like this,” said Bramble. Though a hardcore Republican himself, he is unable to come to terms with Trump’s rhetoric during the primaries, a process in the U.S., which is far more complex than many would believe, he said.

“Donald Trump has been offending every section, with his harsh rhetoric, bombastic and arrogant language,” regretted Bramble. Though political parties in the U.S. have the right to select candidates of their choice, the prospect of a Donald Trump in White House is giving a shudder to many Republicans themselves, he indicated. “We don’t endorse Trump” on everything that he says, emphasised Bramble, pointing out how Paul Rayan, Speaker of U.S. House of Representatives, was himself not ready to back Trump.

Curtis Bramble in particular referred to the offensive comments Trump has been making about immigrants, women and Muslims in the U.S. To a question from the audience whether Trump could implement all that he says should he become the next President, Bramble said things like “banning all Muslims” in  U.S. was just not possible for any President to do.

The checks and balances between the three branches of the government – Executive, Judiciary and the Legislature- were so fine and effective that the political system in U.S. will not permit it, he assured.  

That is “American exceptionalism”, an idea crafted as early as 1787, not its military might, but the hope of freedom for all US citizens, which itself is a country made by immigrants, he said.

There was also the concern about the FBI’s investigations into Ms Clinton’s alleged violation of security laws in U.S. and whether she would be indicted or not in the days ahead of the Presidential election, said Bramble.

He summed up the political uncertainty facing his country with the cryptic words: “there is plenty to discuss on both the candidates (Republican and Democratic nominees),” Once somebody is declared the ‘presumptive nominee’, in the Republican party tradition, “the party usually rallies around and supports the candidate, except this year,” he added.   

Giving the Democrats’ perspective,  Jay R. Kaufman, who represents Massachusetts in the House of Representatives, candidly broke into a
confession saying, “Both Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, we simply did not see that happening.” What they reflect are “serious fault lines in the U.S.’ polity, related to race and gender issues, Kaufman pointed out, adding, this time, the anti-establishment candidates have got more attention.

With both Donald Trump, “who is a master in playing to our fears which is very dangerous and very undemocratic”, and with Bernie Sanders “more communitarian appeal”, the U.S. seems to be missing out on both its dominant narratives of people working together and narrative of the “self- made man” which produces the best society, argued Kaufman.

However, both senior legislators from U.S. agreed, to queries from the audience, that transparency and better disclosures was the best way to fight money power in elections, an insight relevant universally.