#RussiaGate vs. #RickyGate: A Tale of Two Scandals
Let us envision two men. Both are born with last names linking to powerful families, as they are inheritors of businessmen and politicians respectively. They are childish, have had a history with brushes with the law, but escaped with clean slates due to vast amounts of influence and money. They are not self-made men; however, people want to be them very badly. So badly, they get elected as the heads of the executive branch of their respective nations. Both of them have evidence of wrongdoing, have said dumb things on social media, and are arguably the most incompetent executives in recent history. One of them got caught, was publicly humiliated and forced to resign from his position as a way of saving face. The other, however, has not resigned and has amped up his detrimental discourse.
It is easy to make a comparison between Donald J. Trump and Ricardo Rosselló. However, there are key differences in how these men are treated due to differences in proof, attitude, nature of their discourse, and their respective political systems and constituents. Right now, I’ve seen many non-Puerto Ricans say that people should be protesting against Trump, but I don’t believe Americans have achieved that kind of unity or disappointment. A lot of people talk a big game but won’t really do anything.
A quick run-down of both Trump and Rosselló’s failings: Trump has a record dubious business practices, involvement with individuals who are corrupt, is extremely racist, sexist and hateful when communicating just about anywhere. Robert Mueller and his team wrote an extensive document detailing both Russian involvement in shaping the outcome of the election and possible obstruction of justice, of which there was sufficient evidence. This is in addition to the numerous sexual assault claims against him that have fallen on deaf ears.
Ricky Rosselló promoted extreme austere measures of policy, has had a number of prominent officials arrested on accounts of corruption and misused billions of dollars that were supposed to be used for reconstruction after the devastation caused by Hurricane María. On July 10th, 900 pages of a Telegram chat were leaked to the public. In it, there was hateful language towards women, LGBTQ+ individuals, political opponents, public figures, and the general populace of Puerto Rico. He formally resigned on August 2, 2019. Since then, the island has been dealing with a succession problem due to shady politics.
This is just an abridged version of an abridged version of two debacles. These goons, who pass themselves as politicians, can be argued to be made of the same hateful genes. But the effect of their controversies couldn’t be more different. Trump’s policies and discourse have caused a giant rift between the American populace. It is hard to gauge whether or not a significant portion truly approves of Trump and his antics because of the various systemic issues that the United States faces, as well as the lunatic fervor of his supporters. One might think that Trump’s Twitter was grounds to impeach him, or that his scandal with Stormy Daniels would be a PR nightmare, or that the Mueller Report would be enough to get America angry at him. None of it is working. But then, why did Puerto Rico get angry?
Puerto Rico has many faults. There are too many churches per square mile. Politics is extremely divisive due to the ideological status battleground that is colonialism through the Free-Associated State. But Puerto Rico suffered through a tragedy in late 2016 that has been unable to make a full recovery from it, 3 years after it occurred. The Telegram Chat was not just evidence of a corrupt political system, it was a blow to Puerto Rican pride. My family has been pro-statehood since around my great grandparent’s time. My Great Grandmother was a founding member of the Republican Party in Ponce. However, none of my family members trust their politicians any more. There was an iconic line in the chat that translates as follows: “We did it, people! We fooled ’em, even our own!” Not even my grandparents could stomach Ricardo Rosselló any longer after that was shown.
Pride. Ricky Rosselló attacked a nation’s pride. Rosselló and his aides joked about the aftermath of a tragedy as public officials and it cost them their political careers. This is what is so different about Ricky Gate vs Russia Gate. Nothing Trump has done has been able to make a dent in American Pride. While the detainment of immigrant children in cages should be a human rights violation, it isn’t publicly laughing about something like the 9/11 terror attacks, or the aftermath of a hurricane. Trump hasn’t laughed at steelworkers for being fools for voting for him, or how he doesn’t care that the electoral base that supported him the most, this being white rural workers, will be taking the brunt of his disastrous trade war with China. Until he says something like: “My voters are idiots!” and it is proven to be true without a doubt, Americans won’t mobilize.
This also begs the question: “What are we proud of?”. If Ricky Gate wasn’t leaked, the intensity of the protests would be minimal at best, basically non-existent in the most likely scenario. Why hasn’t The Mueller Report been more effective, aside from the political misinformation from certain media venues? When we solve this question, we will be able to handle politics much better, and hopefully, avoid these debacles in the first place.
