Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1306522
8 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 4 NOVEMBER 2020 ANALYSIS AS in the rest of Europe, most Maltese people never liked Don- ald Trump. Back in 2017 just months after his election, a Mal- taToday survey showed that 68% of the Maltese had a negative impression of the newly elected US president. It also showed that a strong majority in both parties had a negative impression of the President – 74% among PN voters and 58% among PL voters. But over the past four years, he also had a loyal Maltese fan base among immigrant-bashers and militant anti-abortionists who hail Trump's appointment of con- servative judges to the Supreme Court in the hope of overturning Roe v Wade. Some admirers are religious zealots like envangelical pastor Gordon Borg Manche and supporters of the Moviment Par- trijotti Maltin. But there influence is limited, though Trump's ascent emboldens the right wing. So how has Trump's election impacted on the big boys and girls of Maltese politics? How Labour played the anti-es- tablishment card While both major Maltese par- ties are ideologically closer to the US Democrats, their discourse and antics do sometimes carry a Trumpian imprint. This was clearly the case in the run-up to the 2017 general election. In his first reaction to Trump's victory former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat declared that it strengthens his "resolve never to become part of the establishment, but rather work to change it from within…" Sure enough, Labour in Malta has evolved as a socially-liberal party promoting LGBTIQ rights and lately opening a debate on abortion. This puts Labour on the opposite side of the spectrum as Trump, but this is only part of the story. Under both Muscat and Robert Abela, lashing at an abstract estab- lishment associated with the Na- tionalist Party and the church has become a staple of Labour prop- aganda, more so in the absence of any antagonism to identifiable business elites like the Malta De- velopers Association, with which Labour has worked hand in hand. Yet Abela repeatedly lashes out against Bernard Grech as a rep- resentative of the establishment while attacking him for not adher- ing to his mantra that Malta is "full up" on immigration, a slogan he coined, weaponised and repeat- edly deployed in typical Trumpian fashion. Labour's readiness to jump on a Trumpian bandwagon betrays a creeping perception that the gov- ernment's pro-business policies are only self-serving policies ben- efitting a number of construction groups, some of which, like the Gasan and Tumas groups, also have a direct interest in the gov- ernment's energy policies. Panamagate and the incestuous web linking Yorgen Fenech to La- bour politicians and state officials exposed the existence of a parallel state in which former chief of staff Keith Schembri played a pivotal role. Possibly unable to rely on the networks of power shaping 25 years of PN governments, Muscat created an alternative in his bid to guarantee growth and stabili- ty without rocking the establish- ment's boat, hence the departure from socialism. To counter this perception, both Muscat and his successor presented themselves as strong- men in synch with popular as- pirations, and as intermediaries between government and "fami- lies and business (who) want de- cision-makers to hear their real, unfiltered concerns". This has weakened the role of party, the bureaucracy and parliament in holding the PM's power in check. Both relished in comparing the slow modus operandi of past Na- tionalist governments with their faster way of doing things. But just as had happened in the US under Trump, checks and balances were alien to Muscat, whose popularity was based on unmediated trust of fired-up supporters. For Muscat, one lesson from Trump's victory was that "prior- ities are decided in homes and workplaces, not in palaces or newsrooms". His reference to pal- aces and media in the same breath betrays increased nervousness to- wards media scrutiny. And while Abela can be credit- ed for breaking with the culture of impunity by removing officials and politicians implicated in the Daphne murder probe and of- ten exposed in media reports, his party was quick to remind us that Eurobarometer surveys show that the government is more trusted than the media and that the Mal- tese media enjoys the lowest levels of trust in Europe. Like Trump, Muscat and to a lesser extent Abela have pushed a narrative that prioritises eco- nomic growth over checks and balances. Even in his reaction to COVID-19, Abela was quick to prioritise a return to economic growth, dismissing the risks of a second wave. Unliek Trump, he adhered to scientific orthodoxy and expressed pride in Malta's high swabbing rates rather than blaming swabbing for inflating COVID-19 figures. The PN's shift from establish- ment to insurgency Former PN leader Simon Busut- til's first dignified reaction to Trump's victory in 2016 was a so- ber tweet expressing concern on the global uncertainty created by Trump's ascent to power. But re- acting to Muscat's anti-establish- ment tirades a few days later, the PN leader insisted that the prime minister was, together with Kon- From calls to drain the swamp of corruption and locking up adversaries, to anti-establishment drivel pushed by aspiring elites, Trump's election did have an impact on Maltese politics even if his fan base remains limited to an emboldened hard right. JAMES DEBONO takes a look at how the Trump phenomenon has impacted on Maltese politics, now that US electors have sealed its fate The Trump effect: From draining the swamp