Antonio Navalón
When time passes and we can look back on these times we are living in, it will be difficult to explain what lunar influence, what galactic constellation, what reason, or what caused the two most important countries in North America to suddenly and seemingly without agreement begin to suffer a disease with the same symptoms: democracy. But not only that, they also began to apply drastic treatments in such a synchronized manner that it is impossible not to see a kind of reflection between them.
Donald Trump and Andrés Manuel López Obrador are two figures who can be considered ruptures or accidents of history. Neither of them, however ambitious they may have been—one in the form of billions of dollars and the other in the form of power, a lot of power, all the power for power’s sake—seemed destined not only to become president, but to become the most authoritarian and influential leader in the recent history of their respective countries.
If one carefully examines the path that led them to the palaces of power, one can identify the moments when history cheated and placed them in the same position. Even today, in Santa Fe, one can still feel the tremors left by López Obrador after the impeachment, that huge miscalculation by former President Fox that could have taken him out of the political game and, according to his own logic of justice, even sent him to prison and destroyed him.
In Manhattan, among the real estate skyscrapers, banks, and clubs for the wealthy, one can still feel Trump’s tremor at the possibility that, in one way or another, his scam would be exposed and he would end up wearing that orange jumpsuit that the system dresses those who must rest at the expense of the treasury.
Neither of them set foot in prison except to inaugurate them or to rejoice that others would do so in their place. Both felt fear, an allergy, and rejection toward judges. Both managed to undermine the legal system.
In the United States, where there is a robust institutional tradition, the crisis did not mean starting from scratch, as it did in Mexico. But it is inevitable to wonder whether any other US president would have dared to even dream of a structure in which, through executive orders, he could eliminate the legislative branch and have a Supreme Court that would tell federal judges that they could no longer question the president’s policies and that, in the event of a disagreement, it would be the Supreme Court itself that would rule.
It is incredible to think that a plan made in 2014 could coincide so closely with what is happening in reality. Let there be no doubt: while one seems to miraculously escape everything—accusations, suspicions, deals with cartels—the other exercises power with a brazenness that would make any dictator pale. Neither Bokassa, Gaddafi, nor Idi Amin dared to rule with the brazenness of Donald Trump.
Trump not only imposes a tariff on you; once he does so and gauges the popular reaction, he pulls out the sting and sticks you with the economic penalty. If you want to continue trading with the empire, you will have to pay. Europe is the example. A 15% tariff is already difficult to swallow on its own. But that is not enough. For the honor, privilege, and supposed benefit of dealing with the empire, now comes the second part: demanding $600 billion as part of this absolute and pure commercial manipulation.
From infinity, from beyond the grave, dictators—regardless of the color of their skin—will look on with envy at this moment. Two men signed a power as absolute as they dreamed of, and exercised it with devastating consequences: Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on the one hand, and his chronic Siamese twin, Donald Trump, on the other.
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