What mythical or divine attributes do any of the Presidents of the United States possess, not only for managing their country—which encapsulates the world by containing all ethnicities, races, and cultures—but also for managing the world amidst its historical and ideological landscapes, and even its metaphysical terrains? Regis Debray, companion of Che Guevara in the jungles of Latin America, made a brilliant comparison between the fire gods of Greek mythology and the fire gods of American mythology, asking, "Did Harry Truman not surpass all the gods of destruction in ancient mythologies by dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima?" The events in Texas have ignited all American voices noticing that an empire with those superhuman capabilities has no vision to prevent the Earth from becoming a hellish replica. Conflicts and wars are everywhere; we must ask what the United States has politically done for others since the end of World War II, except for amassing skulls from Indochina to the Korean Peninsula, from Central America to the Middle East? Surely, it could have crafted a future less grim by using technology to activate human brilliance, rather than pursuing blind policies that cement a more terrifying form of slavery. This condition has even been applied to Europe, prompting Hollywood director David Fincher to question, "Did we have to use the Normandy landing and the Marshall Plan to violate the continent like Oedipus did his mother, ending up with our eyes gouged out?"
There is a comment in "The Atlantic" that observes the decline in political performance. Congressional elders are no longer like the Senate elders of ancient Rome. "Here, discussions about any legislation turn from discussions about vision into marginal squabbles, even if the issues raised are essential, which increases the severity of internal fractures on the one hand and diminishes our political and strategic credibility in the world on the other."
Now, two men face each other. One comes from the streets of Las Vegas and engages in politics like a thug or a drunken person after midnight. The other comes from the corridors of Capitol Hill, without us knowing if he suffers from memory lapses or brain confusion when mixing up Emmanuel Macron with François Mitterrand, and China with Canada, while insisting on not spreading fires in the Middle East, all while sending the deadliest bombs to "Israel," executing that series of targeted assassinations via drones and bombers.
Anyone following the daily exchanges between Donald Trump and Joe Biden is surprised that neither has presented a work plan or program for the four years following the presidential elections. They throw insults and trivialities at each other, prompting one to ask how America has become Lebanese. Clearly, what is happening on screens or platforms in America is no different, except for the language, from what is occurring in Lebanon. Both are a danger to the Middle East. Trump has not mentioned any settlement and has never uttered the phrase "the Palestinian state." He is a man of the "Abraham Accords" (we consider it the "Isaac Accord"), who has long been said to have his beautiful daughter Ivanka, who embraced the religion and ideas of her Jewish husband Jared Kushner, strutting around in high heels in his head.
Biden, who has not ceased proclaiming the "Palestinian state," perhaps has never asked himself how a lame duck can confront a Merkava tank. This is the real picture, after his failure to impose a ceasefire that would follow up with stopping the massacres; we fear he might confuse the West Bank in Palestine with the West Bank of the Pacific. The Arabs, with their fragile romanticism, tend to lean towards one candidate over another, imagining that one sees them as human beings, even though neither candidate, even since the days of George Washington, sees Arabs as anything but "those tribes trying to cross the road to the century with camel caravans," as John Bolton once proclaimed.
In Joe Biden, there are aspects that relate to Donald Trump, and in Donald Trump, there are aspects that relate to Joe Biden regarding the Israeli state. From Jeffrey Feltman to Dorothy Shea, there are attempts and attempts to Americanize Lebanon (as if we are not Americans). What has happened is the "Lebanonization of America." We need your laughter, even if it is... dark laughter!
