Dear Editor,
It is worth saying again: the U.S. presidential election is not over. I refuse to wade through the various battlefield states options; or place myself in the delusional state of the president by trying to figure out what he is going to do and where he is going to go; the mere thought is frightening to my sense of stability.
What is troubling and damning is how McConnell and Cruz and Graham (to name a few) hedge and hold their cards close. It is a case of protect the party at all costs, defend the institution of the presidency, as represented by their megalomaniac leader, with every manner of flimsy and specious reasoning and positioning. I recall what United States Army General Welch said to the demagogic bully boy, Senator Joe McCarthy, during his witch hunt for reds. It was something that was along these lines: do you have no sense of decency, sir? They could learn a little from George W. Bush.
That same question about decency is what I ask of my former mayor Rudy Giuliani. Right here, I must ask this also: what does Her Excellency, the United States Ambassador to Guyana think about what is emanating from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue since last Tuesday? As a courtesy, not necessarily due, I name no names, as I recognize that it is, indeed, a wretched state in which any envoy, not matter how extraordinary, could find self.
For here are the very things for which Guyanese leaders (quite rightly) were lectured over, pushed about, cajoled and wheedled, invited and exhorted – and when all those failed – then mashed and smashed into pulp with a big stick. I would like to see the Ambassador come out a little to say what is going on in U.S. democracy according to that political don, her ultimate boss. That would not be in contravention of any standing protocols.
Here our legal eagles were feasting on Guyana’s putrid elections carcass (and presenting huge bills), which the PPP must pick up. The silver lining was that our Courts rose to the occasion repeatedly, though there were missteps along the way. In the United States, I believe that the putridity and vulgarity of elections and politics, just like Guyana’s, could be poised to tilt the scales of reason and justice. As said before, I am not persuaded that the once sacrosanct precincts of the United States Supreme Court have not been violated, which is why I expect the less than ennobling from it. The president and his henchman, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, both saw to that with the last charade in the person of Amy Coney Barrett. Given where things are now, I am asking myself whether that last-minute steamrolling was to give them some judicial insurance. We will know soon enough. But the present view here is that this is nowhere over.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
