THE FIXATION on Donald Trump’s health—whether rumours of cancer, dementia, or stroke—has become a convenient narrative for those who hope his demise will end the Trumpian nightmare. Yet this obsession obscures the larger truth. Trump is not the disease, but a symptom of a system hollowed out by corporate power. His rise was enabled by decades of economic inequality, deregulation, and bipartisan complicity in allowing big money to dominate politics. To imagine that his death or retirement would restore democracy is to mistake the symptom for the cause.
Consider healthcare. In 2025, healthcare lobbying expenditures surged 16% to $653 million in just three quarters, with pharmaceutical giants like Pfizer and Merck leading the charge. The drug industry alone poured $341 million into influencing policymaker, even as Trump’s tax law slashed $1.1 trillion from Medicaid and insurance exchanges. This is not democracy—it is corporate capture. The American Medical Association, hospitals, and insurers also spent record sums to shape Medicare and regulatory policy. The result is a healthcare system designed not for patients but for profit, where reform efforts like Medicare for All are stymied by entrenched interests.
The same dynamic plays out in energy policy. Despite rhetoric about free markets, the U.S. fossil fuel industry benefits from an estimated $760 billion annually in subsidies, tax breaks, and unpriced externalities, with direct government handouts ranging from $10 to $52 billion per year. A September 2025 report found that the federal government spends $35 billion annually on fossil fuel production subsidies. These policies distort energy markets, slow the transition to renewables, and lock the nation into climate chaos. Even as the G7 pledged to phase out “inefficient” subsidies by 2025, they missed their deadline, with subsidies hitting $282 billion in 2023. Corporate interests, not public will, continue to dictate the pace of climate action.
This corporate dominance is not hidden—it is expected. A Pew Research survey in 2025 found that 70% of Americans believe corporations have gained further influence under Trump’s administration. Citizens United v. FEC cemented this reality, allowing unlimited corporate spending in politics and undermining democratic values. The revolving door between Washington and industry ensures that policy is written not for the public but for donors and lobbyists.
Against this backdrop, the obsession with Trump’s health is a distraction. If he were to die in office, the machinery of corporate influence would continue unabated. Another figure—perhaps less flamboyant, perhaps more disciplined—would step into the vacuum, and the underlying dynamics would remain unchanged. The nightmare is not Trump himself, but the conditions that made him possible: a political system captured by wealth.
This is why leaders like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Zohran Mamdani matter. They recognise that the sickness is systemic. Their calls for Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and housing justice are not just policy proposals—they are challenges to the architecture of corporate power. They understand that Trump’s departure will not heal democracy; only structural change will.
The hope that Trump’s demise will end the nightmare is seductive but false. The real battle is against corporate capture, and the capitalist forces that suffocate reform. Until these structures are dismantled, the sickness will persist, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office. The cure lies not in waiting for one man’s health to fail, but in building movements strong enough to confront entrenched power and reclaim democracy for the people.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated.