Katherine Zappone: America’s choice — a diverse nation or a divided country?

On the back of the conventions, Katherine Zappone looks ahead to two months campaigning ahead before November's US presidential election.

President Donald Trump speaks from the South Lawn of the White House at the Republican National Convention. File picture: AP Photo/Evan Vucci

With just a few short months of campaigning left, the choice facing America is clear — embrace diversity or continue the politics of division.

Attempts to soften President Donald Trump's image have cut no ice with people living with the consequences of his misguided, ill-judged and dangerous policies.

During last week's Republican convention, strategists and party lackies highlighted speaking slots given to people of colour, which stands in contrast to the near absence of minorities at every other Trump rally.

Despite the best efforts of speakers such as a frontline nurse, bereaved parents from a school shooting, and others who endorse and lie about Trump’s economic policies, the mask keeps slipping and revealing the truth.

The president himself could not resist, encouraging chanting supporters to replace "four more years" with "twelve more years". Anyone else and you might excuse this as over-excitement. From a man who heaps praise on despots, dictators and authoritarian rulers, this is actually dangerous.

Opening night set a tone. The venue was the opulent government-owned Mellon Auditorium in Washington DC. Built with the help of Freemasons, this is no ordinary convention centre or hall. It is normally used for big state occasions. The extended first family are rich and they don’t mind flaunting it.

Why would they? It is the super-rich who benefit most from their policies. Boasts by several convention speakers of the biggest tax cut in history do not ring true for most Americans. The reality is these tax policies favour the wealthy and big business.

Rewriting the economic record was a strong theme. They falsely claim employment is at its highest level ever, ignoring Covid-19 and its impact, which has seen more jobless now than in the great depression.

Covid-19 does not fit the narrative. The needless deaths of 180,000 citizens was heartlessly either wiped away or falsely blamed on China.

That is not to say that social issues were completely ignored.

Only the coldest of hearts would not feel sympathy for Andrew Pollack and his family. His daughter Meadow was among the 17-people who died in the Parkland school shooting. Unlike others impacted by such devastation, Mr Pollack does not believe in gun control. He was at the convention to argue for teachers to have weapons.

Picture: (R-L) Barron Trump, US First Lady Melania Trump, US President Donald Trump, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump Jr, and Kimberly Guilfoyle stand onstage at the conclusion of the final day of the Republican National Convention. File picture: Saul Loeb / AFP.

Gun ownership was doubled down with Mark and Patricia McCloskey; infamous for gun toting at Black Lives Matter protestors in front of their St Louis mansion. Rather than face criminal charges, at the Republic convention, they are heroes.

All this happening as America was reeling from another cop shooting. In Wisconsin, Jacob Blake was shot in the back in front of his screaming children. He is black, and according to doctors will need a miracle to walk again. Once again, there were no words of comfort or leadership from the President, a man who labels Black Lives Matter as a "symbol of hate". Instead, Trump falls back on his usual tirade of blaming Democratic mayors and governors for violence and unrest.

This gathering played on fear. Aimed mostly at white people, the message is: communists are coming, law and order is breaking down, and Democrats will not allow you to reach for your gun.

While the Biden-Harris ticket was able to call on the Obamas, the Clintons, and a formidable list of speakers to celebrate diversity, equality, and leadership, the Republicans' was more like a soap opera. It was left to the Trump siblings and their spouses to fill key slots. 

Despite this, the danger remains. Joe Biden knows this. An email to supporters this week warning "Trump’s ads may be full of lies, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t effective".

The buoyancy of Kamala Harris joining the ticket, and the rallying call sparked by the Democratic convention is fresh. The virtual gatherings and town halls are gathering momentum.

However, there are reasons to be alarmed. A huge voter purge has seen an estimated 48m people taken off the electoral register in their States, many will not know this until it is too late. We have also had the postal ballot scandal and defiance coming from the oval office that an election loss will be legally challenged.

Trump's allies are conspiring to ensure voting is inconvenient, involves queuing, and red tape.

This cannot go unchallenged. Voter purges must be stopped, all votes cast must be counted, and we must ready ourselves for the legal equivalent of a street fight with a State by State effort to challenge scurrilous recounts and efforts to overturn the will of the people.

In the spirit of Martin Luther King, Democrats, human rights campaigners and charities are standing up and restoring people’s right to vote — we saw this most recently in Indiana.

Like King himself, when challenged we must overcome. If they shut local polling stations we will provide Ubers to transfer voters. If they make us queue we will provide chairs. We will defend the choice of the people.

For many watching from Ireland that choice may seem clear but here in America the election outcome is still far from certain.

Katherine Zappone is a member of the Democratic Party, and a former Independent Minister for Children and Youth Affairs in Ireland.