The Tragedy of Trump

The following is an excerpt from an interview given by Egyptian political thinker Tarek Heggy to a Canadian journalist for a daily newspaper published in Vancouver. 

                                      

"The comments of many Egyptians about the tragedy of Trump says more about them than about what happened and is happening with the American presidential elections.

It is certain that democracy in the United States is excellent and distinguished and at the forefront of democracies in the world. The "peaceful transfer of power" witnessed in American political life during the last 250 years is a remarkable phenomenon, both rare and perhaps without parallel. While democracy is not perfect, it remains better and more sophisticated than totalitarian regimes. 

However, in Germany nearly 90 years ago, democracy brought to power one of the most powerful criminals in history, Adolf Hitler, and so too could it bring to power a man like Donald Trump and people worse than him in the most sophisticated democratic societies. As a student of political science, I have no doubt that there is greater opportunity for dangerous personalities to come into positions of power in "presidential regimes" (such as the United States) than in "parliamentary systems" (such as Britain).  This is due to the probabilities of individual decisions in "presidential systems" being twice as likely to occur than in "parliamentary systems".

As for the saying by some that what happened recently in the United States of America makes them like non-democratic societies, this is wrong and absurd, and sometimes is a reflection of a deep sense of inferiority."