By Malta Today Online Editor

Copyright maltatoday

To say you want to win, is one thing. To be able to win is another. And to actually win is yet a completely different game.

Alex Borg is in honeymoon mode and a well-deserved one after having won a photo-finish election to become Nationalist Party leader.

There is something that endears him to young voters and more importantly to those who do not feel particularly associated with the PN. His handsome looks, the way he dresses, and his partner’s charm inject a fresh look that was seriously lacking in the PN. He also talks softly and moderately and does not like to patronise people when talking about his beliefs.

This is all great stuff and there is little doubt in my mind that his presence will boost the PN’s numbers. But when the real political race starts, Borg will be expected to show ability when talking about finances and the economy, while having to rebut criticism for his lack of experience. That is when Borg will start to either rise or fall in public esteem.

If you talked to Borg some months ago, you could sense that the young man had ambition but he was not in a great hurry. Like so many others, he thought that when the time came, it would be Roberta Metsola to take the party’s reins in her hands. Despite all her bravado, Metsola who went on to back Adrian Delia in the leadership race, let everyone down and refused to take on the challenge. She preferred the corridors of power in Brussels than those of Valletta.

Borg is surrounded by a team full of enthusiasm and adrenaline. They are relatively new faces; well-meaning individuals. His closest advisers are not shackled by some virulent dislike for Labour because they know that their best bet for winning is to lure Labour voters into Borg’s arms.

But charm and charisma are not going to be enough when faced with the well-greased machine of the Labour Party. When it comes to real politics, the PL has one important trump card, which it flies repeatedly. It reads like this: ‘With all our faults and sins, we have a vibrant economy, we know how to make business click and people are over the moon with our fiscal approach.’

This one is going to be a hard nut to crack since despite all his freshness and adrenaline, Borg is surrounded with very few capable parliamentarians, who can offer a decent argument to counter Labour’s economic policies.

So, in the coming days and weeks, if there is one thing that I am curious about, is Borg’s ability to present the image of a man who can tackle a political presentation about the economy and convince onlookers that here is a man who can take the ship in his hands and steer it on the right economic course. Let us see where this will take us.

Not all is lost!

Like most people who watch the news, I cannot ignore what is happening in the United States. For those with short memories or very little knowledge of American political history, it is important to appreciate that the US has never been the land of the free and a beacon for democracy.

There are many instances where the US passed through phases where it acted in morally correct ways but over the last 60 years, American presidents have also acted in a manner that has led to suffering for hundreds of thousands of people and communities on this planet.

From El Salvador to Cuba, from Panama to Chile, from Vietnam to Cambodia, from Iraq to Afghanistan, the US has either made a veritable mess or stood out against what was right. It continues today to unquestionably stand by Israel as it perpetrates genocide in Gaza.

US presidents have acted in a way that international law does not apply for America. They have embraced the belief of unquestioned US supremacy.

Trump is probably the worst US president so far, but there were many miniature Trumps before he came along. There are few words to describe a man who is so self-centred, autocratic and unwilling to empathise with the suffering in so many countries. Trump is so ruthless and fascist in his approach to adversaries.

The Jimmy Kimmel episode—I had never heard of Kimmel or Charlie Kirk before their names captured the news headlines—is a very small consideration when you see the far bigger impact of American politics on the world.

There is one iota of appreciation in my system for the US; the natural beauty of the country. But that is as far as my admiration goes. I find American comedians very unfunny, and I detest American TV series. Yet many in Malta and the world adopt American culture and emulate the American way of life. I guess I am different.

But there is a safety valve. Not all is lost. European values as enshrined in the treaties that set up the EU are more deeply rooted in democracy and tolerance. Europe has more checks and balances, has more humanity and is more caring. Europe is also more concerned about those who are sinking in our society. Europe is also more social and environmental. The US is not.

Which is why the ideals of the EU, with all its defects, and the Council of Europe and all the institutions that bring this very complicated continent together, including our high regard for human rights and free speech should make us proud to be Europeans.

There is a better understanding in Europe of what democracy entails; certainly, much more than what a 79-year-old narcissist, who after hijacking the Republican Party wants the world to genuflect to his whims and a political set of ideals tailor-made for a country that thinks capital punishment is great, free healthcare is a sin, vaccines are a ploy of big pharma and that all children should know how to load a sub-machine gun with lethal bullets.