As the US marks the 20th anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Centre, a theory, that can only be classified as unadulterated BS, has been advanced: the event led to the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq which in turn led to the emergence of Donald Trump.
Such a narrative sits nicely with Democrats: the election of the worst US president, a Republican, was caused by the actions of another Republican president, George W. Bush.
Part of this logic — if you can call it that — is that Trump’s opposition to the wars launched by Bush put paid to the chances of his brother, Jeb, gaining the Republican nomination.
There is, however, no evidence to show that if Jeb Bush had been the Republican nominee that he would have beaten Hillary Clinton – as Trump did. But that does not matter; had Jeb made the grade, then Trump would have not been in the picture.
This theory could not be more flawed. The emergence of Trump was due to just one thing: after decades of being cheated by both parties, Americans were willing to give anyone who did not represent the establishment a chance. And Trump painted himself as a maverick right from the start.
Both Democrats and Republicans are in thrall to big corporations from whom they get money to contest elections. The interests of the average American come a poor second.
Under both establishment Republicans and Democrat presidents, the average American has grown poorer and seen more and more of his/her rights taken away.
One example is the minimum wage which has not been changed since 2009 when it was US$7.25 an hour. Meanwhile, the wealth of the top 1% has grown by many orders of magnitude.
Again, the reason why Joe Biden defeated Trump in 2020 was because he promised to fix up some basics in the country: the lack of proper medical care, the minimum wage and the massive student loans.
Biden was helped by the fact that Trump showed all his talk of helping the common man was so much bulldust, giving the wealthiest Americans a massive tax cut during his four years in the White House.
But after coming to office, Biden has done nothing, breaking all these promises. Trump has said he will run again, but even if he does not, any candidate who has his blessings will win the presidency in 2024.
In the meantime, Democrat supporters can keep spinning any narrative they want. We all need our little delusions to live in this world.