The ongoing brouhaha over the latest clash between US Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his Democrat rival Hillary Clinton emanating from the criticism by the former of the mother of an -American war hero who, along with her husband, was the centre of attraction at the recently concluded Democratic convention, isn’t helping either side. Because, in the end, there is an over-reliance on symbolism, even stereotype, from both sides of the political divide at the cost of substance ~
which, one may argue, is symptomatic of US presidential races in general and the current one in particular. Trump picked up on the fact that the mother of the Muslim
soldier who sacrificed his life for America in Afghanistan did not utter a word while her husband spoke eloquently and emotionally at the convention, hinting that this was typical of
the submissive and suppressed woman from Islamic communities
who presumably needed to be liberated. That she was
seen standing by her husband’s
side and half a pace behind him
with her head covered, seemed to
have added an edge to the easily
excitable Trump and his innuendos,
smarting as he obviously was
from the direct hits the father of the
war hero scored on Donald’s own
extremely dodgy record of sacrifice
for the country.
While the attack on the parent of
a war hero struggling with her grief was in itself extremely misconceived
and condemnable, Trump was left even more redfaced
by the mother responding to his insinuations of a lack
of her personal freedom by explaining in detail that she did
not speak publicly because she was not sure of being able to
keep her emotions in check at the loss of her son and she did
not want to break down in public. That, as any normal human
being would agree, has nothing to do with religion but with
rawness of human, especially parental, emotion in such a situation.
But what is also gnawing the conscience of liberal, secular
Americans and indeed citizens of the world watching the presidential
race in the world’s most powerful country unfold, is
the fact that the Democrats thought it fit to not only cynically
use a personal tragedy but to link it to the faith of the protagonists,
all in an effort to win power. The parents of the slain
soldier may not realize it, but while they have been abused by
Trump, they have also been used by Clinton.
