Bulgarian diplomacy is missing serious opportunities to advance its interests in the US.
Kamala Harris has put Donald Trump's staff in an awkward position and has the upper hand. The division in American society is a major factor in the US elections. Bulgaria is sleeping on its interests in Washington, while Belgrade is pursuing a proactive policy.
This is what journalist Yassen Darakov, a long-time correspondent in the United States, said in an interview with BGNES.
With him we talked about the chances of the two presidential candidates - Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Biden's withdrawal from the race, as well as the weaknesses of Bulgarian diplomacy in the US.
The division is not only between the Republican and Democratic parties. Both have subgroups that may have diametrically opposed views on various issues, which makes for interesting internal political dynamics.
"Since the emergence of Donald Trump in 2016, the divisions in society have become much more visible because he has brought to the surface, through the way he speaks and behaves, processes that have perhaps always simmered in political reality. He seemed to give them permission to come to the surface - the sense that it's okay to express racism, sexism, toxic gender attitudes. This has only increased with the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. More fuel was added to the fire of tension," Darakov said.
"The emergence of Kamala Harris on the scene, who seems to be the consolidating figure for the Democratic Party, happened very quickly. Within 24 hours, she was able to consolidate support, gather the necessary number of Democrats. Right now, the focus is on her and the Republicans can't come out in full force in the public space, it's just committed to the idea of the first Indian American woman who was able to gather support for herself so quickly. I expect the divide to continue with even greater force until Donald Trump's staff can articulate a clear line of attack against her, because so far, they have failed to do so. The biggest factor in the divide is economic inequality. There are whole groups of people who are not doing so well in the new economic and social reality of the United States," the journalist pointed out.
Yassen Darakov explained that in the book of the Republican vice-presidential candidate J.D. Vance from eight years ago, "A Peasant's Ethology", the politician explains these changes and why Donald Trump actually enjoys such support.
Interestingly, 8 years ago Vance was a staunch opponent of Trump - calling him the needle in America's collective vein, using the metaphor of the big drug addiction problem in poorer parts of the country and the decline of the working class after the withdrawal of many manufacturing facilities from those places.
Darakov stressed that there is nothing surprising about the poll predictions at this point. One of the most recent ones shows Harris leading against Trump:
"Donald Trump has been leading in them almost the entire time. But these polls say something much more important. Over two-thirds of Americans do not want either Donald Trump or Joe Biden in this election. Outside of the hard party cores, for everyone else, this duel we've already seen in 2020 is highly unacceptable. As Nikki Haley said during the intra-party primaries, the party that retires its 80-year-old candidate first will win. It is normal for the emergence of Kamala Harris to spark that imagination in people, as a new young candidate, a symbol of the future."
"Trump has spent an inordinate amount of time focusing on his opponent's age, but now the elderly candidate in the race is him, as ironic as that sounds. Today, Donald Trump is the oldest candidate ever to run for the White House, and it's backfiring on him because he already seems like a thing of the past," the journalist added.
Kamala Harris has several advantages - a relatively charismatic woman, much younger than Trump, with a smiling vision of the future. She captures the imagination of women, who are very much a factor in elections in the United States. Women of color, especially on the Democratic side, very often save Democrats from losing key battles.
"Harris is going to have a tough task in the next few weeks to articulate a very clear message about the future in terms of her policies, because she has at this point followed Joe Biden's campaign. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the US Congress. It must have its own policy on this issue, given that the war in Gaza is causing serious divisions, particularly among the ranks of the Democrats, from whom we are seeing protests in support of Palestine. Younger voters are not as convinced of Israel's righteousness as the younger brother of the United States, which can never do wrong, and all is forgiven. Harris will have to succeed in getting their attention with actions that specifically concern these voters, undecided about whom to vote for," explained Yassen Darakov. He noted that Republicans seem unprepared for a fight against Harris, which is very surprising.
Asked by BGNES what former first lady Michelle Obama's role will be in the Harris campaign, Darakov said:
"Michelle Obama has always said that the happiest day she had in her life was the day she could be alone in her kitchen after eight years in the White House and grease a slice without Secret Service peeking behind her back. She probably realizes herself that she has no experience in this job, other than being the wife of a president for so many years. But women of color are a very important voting bloc for the Democratic Party. Women generally decide elections. The abortion issue is number one for them. Michelle Obama's role is going to be huge because of her positive attitude."
Harris also faces a complicated choice for her vice president.
"Here we will be looking for a middle-aged white male who can speak to this type of voter - the working class. The two favorites at this point are former astronaut, veteran, military man Mark Kelly from the border state of Arizona, who has been quite outspoken on the White House's policies on illegal immigration. The second possible choice is Josh Shapiro, governor of the key state of Pennsylvania. Trump won it in 2016 and became president, Joe Biden won it back in 2020 and became president," Darakov added.
Asked what Donald Trump's eventual victory would mean for the Balkans and Bulgaria, given his warm ties with Belgrade and, on the other hand, Joe Biden's infamous envoys, who have been accused of collaborating with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, the journalist said:
"I don't know to what extent Bulgarian diplomacy is aware of the situation. I think there is a rather passive Bulgarian representation in Washington at the moment, there has been no proactivity in recent years. We can see how Macedonian resolutions are being "leaked", which enjoy heavy Serbian support and violate Bulgaria's interest. They are literally being slept through by our representatives in Washington. By the way, the Bulgarian ambassador to the United States (Georgi Panayotov) was not among the more than 20 ambassadors from the European Union who attended the Republican Party Congress. I doubt that he will be at the Democratic conference either. It wouldn't be logical, when you didn't attend one, to be at the other. Bulgarian diplomacy is at this point missing serious opportunities to advance its interests. Because of the lack of stable governance in Sofia, it relies mainly on the experts we have on the ground - ambassadors, consuls general and attachés."
"Trump's family, his relatives and close associates, have serious business interests, which have been covered in many reports in the US media, related to Serbia, Albania, the Western Balkans, but nothing regarding Bulgaria. This is another missed opportunity for Bulgaria. We know that Serbia is Russia's biggest and only friend in the Balkans and vice versa. In view of the friendly relations that Trump has with Russia, his affinity to support Moscow's and Vladimir Putin's policies, a next Trump administration will probably lead to a continuation of Moscow's desired destabilization of the Balkans," Yassen Darakov added.
According to him, Trump's promise to end the war in Ukraine in one day means only one thing: a decision to the detriment of Ukraine, Bulgaria and the Balkan Peninsula.
The journalist also commented on the lack of reaction from the Bulgarian side to the fate of US Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, who was presented as a fighter against corruption in Bulgaria years ago. A New York court found Menendez guilty on 16 charges, including espionage, bribery and promoting foreign interests. He faces decades in prison.
"Should we be surprised that a man with a corruption conviction would be a bastion of the fight against corruption in this country? I think Bulgarian politicians probably identify with him, but they say to themselves, 'Thank God our justice system doesn't work like the American justice system, and it will never happen to us - to be convicted of anything on corruption charges."
"To a large extent, the lack of interest in the Bulgarian media in covering foreign issues, policies and situations in Western Europe more broadly is because they do not want to see comparisons of how functioning democracies and justice systems work. While Donald Trump was in the White House, he had an attorney general appointed by the president of the United States and many federal prosecutors appointed by him. However, Trump's personal lawyer, several of his advisers and his campaign managers went to jail. Could this happen in this country? These comparisons are probably uncomfortable for the Bulgarian political class, and I think that is why we do not see them in the Bulgarian media," Darakov concluded. | BGNES
