TREVOR SUDAMA

MANY comments, both partisan and independent, have expressed consternation at the inappropriateness, disconnect and irrelevance of the statement made by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar purporting to give the reasons for the defeat in the recent US presidential elections of the Democratic Party's candidate.

I, too, am of the view that the statement was gratuitous, ill-informed, hyperbolic, and slavishly repetitive of the Trumpian message and propaganda.

I am not sure on whose ill-conceived advice the statement was made or whether it had its origins in the overwrought thought processes of Persad-Bissessar herself. However, if it was motivated by the belief that Trump's divisive and inflammatory rhetoric and his insidious populist appeal could be replicated in TT to revive the political fortunes of Persad-Bissessar and propel her to the prime ministership, it is the stuff of delusion.

Her 20-point elaboration of the so-called disaster of the Biden administration (despite a robust economy, very low unemployment levels, huge investment in the physical and climate adaptability infrastructure, expansion of health facilities, and lowering of health costs, etc) included a number of falsehoods and distortions, such as forced health mandate, the defunding of the police, removal of religion from schools and public institutions, persecution for holding religious beliefs, virtue signalling (whatever that means), social media shadow banning, censorship of free speech, two-tiered justice system, and weaponising of the justice system against those with opposing views.

She conveniently did not mention the elephants in the room - misogyny, anti-black and brown racism, scapegoating of immigrants, and white supremacist sentiment.

There are many questions to Persad-Bissessar arising from the above list, such as:

Was the Biden administration wrong to:

1. Mandate that the covid19 vaccine should be taken as a precaution against infection and for the containment of the epidemic?

2. Follow the dictates of the Constitution to separate church from state?

3. Expose the criminal and lawless character of Trump (convicted of sexual harassment and assault, election fraud, conveniently lying about the value of his business assets to avoid taxes and deceive credit providers, etc) and to compare him with the unblemished character of the Democratic nominee?

4. Seek to restrict the rampant misinformation, disinformation, outright falsehoods, hate speech and pornographic content promoted on social media platform?

5. Investigate and prosecute Trump for infractions of the Official Secrets Act, his attempt to overturn the legitimate results of a free election, incitement of his supporters to invade the Capitol building and stop the lawful transfer of power?

6. Bring the perpetrators of criminal activity to face justice?

In the first seven of the 20 points mentioned above, Persad-Bissessar seems to be obsessed with the question of sexual definition and orientation. Given the Trumpian