As the result of the 2016 US presidential election became known, an official of Barack Obama’s administration exclaimed: “We blew it!” He was referring to the decision by Obama’s administration not to disclose information that Donald Trump’s election team was colluding with the Russians to influence the result.

Obama was faced with a difficult choice: either put the national interest first and disclose the evidence available to the public or withhold the information to avoid being criticised for weighing in on Hillary Clinton’s side and influencing the outcome of the election in her favour. The political considerations outweighed the national interest and the information was never disclosed.

Obama’s administration gambled that it was not worth taking the risk of facing the wrath of the Republicans and their Brietbart supporters. They did not want to be accused of favouring Clinton and be blamed for Trump’s defeat. And, in any case, they were convinced that Trump would never win the Republican nomination. Even if he did, the American people would never vote him into office. How could they?

This was a complete outsider with no experience in politics and never having held public office. Even worse, his business dealings were often suspect and often mired in allegations of mismanagement and worse. He failed to publish his tax returns with the excuse that an audit was still ongoing. He incited his supporters to violence. He was caught out lying repeatedly.

Much worse was the publication of a video showing Trump bragging of assaulting women – the infamous “grab them by the ...” video – and several women came forward accusing him of sexual assault. This was clearly a misogynistic, dangerous, incompetent and inexperienced upstart. The only thing going for him was that he was different.  And different he was.

Only a few months into his term, his administration is a shambles, having had to fire several of his close associates. He has tried to implement a reviled ban on entry to the US of individuals coming from seven mainly Muslim countries. He has tried to repeal and replace Obamacare, thus withholding healthcare from over 23 million Americans. He is trying to deny the protection previously offered to child migrants who have entered the US – a move that has caused outrage. His bellicose rhetoric risks sparking a war with North Korea. For all his support he has the lowest approval rankings of any US president at this stage of his term.

Closer to home, the PN is experiencing its own “we blew it” moment. A complete outsider presented himself as a contender for the leadership. This was somebody with no experience in politics and who has never held public office. Revelations about his business dealings and his considerable personal debts failed to dent the enthusiasm of his supporters. When allegations about his involvement in indirect gains from prostitution in the United Kingdom and processing of such funds through an account in his name in Jersey surfaced, the PN appointed an ethics committee to assess the evidence.

It seems that the PN has just voted in its very own Donald Trump to lead it

The committee was given little time to analyse the facts but concluded that Delia did not give adequate explanations relating to the Barclays account in Jersey, its purpose and its use. In short, it expressed its doubts about the honesty of Delia’s answers.

Delia simply did not confirm and did not deny the existence of this account. The administrative council recommended that he should consider withdrawing his nomination. The council was faced with the same dilemma as Obama’s administration. Should it stop Delia’s candidature completely for the good of the party and the nation and risk being castigated by Delia’s supporters as wading in against him or trust Delia to retire from the race?

If they were banking on Delia to get them out of jail they failed abysmally. Delia refused to back off. But the party still had another two bites at the cherry – they could depend on the party councillors to take note of the ethics committee’s and administrative council’s recommendations and if that failed to stop him surely the party members would not vote for him.

Surely the party members would recognise Delia for what he is: an ambitious, unscrupulous newcomer with far too much baggage. That gamble failed too and, like Obama’s administration, the PN blew it.

And that leaves the PN and the whole country laden with a problem called Adrian Delia. Like Trump, Delia failed to publish his tax returns – despite promising that he would. He published his declaration of affairs on the eve of the election – leaving barely enough time for many of those who voted for him to read it, let alone digest it.

Delia has close to €1 million in personal debts, has taken over €100,000 in overdrafts  and owes over €85,000 in taxes, over €30,000 of which in penalties or ‘charges’. What does this say about him?

Firstly, that management of his own finances is so poor that The Malta Independent described his position as “highly stretched”. The man has no cash at all to his name. If he cannot manage his own finances how can he manage the party’s or the country’s finances? Secondly, and more importantly, he has failed to fulfil his duty as a citizen and pay all his dues in taxes.

What message does this send to his supporters and to the rest of the population? That this is somebody who fails in his duty as a citizen to contribute to the common good. Those €85,000 due to the State could fund three nurses or three teachers for over a year. How can somebody unable or unwilling to pay all his taxes speak about social justice and be taken seriously? How can he ask others to pay all their dues when he has not?

But that is not all. Several other revelations raise concerns about his judgement, including allegations about possession of the Barclays account in Jersey, which he claims he cannot remember and which was linked to possible money-laundering and proceeds from prostitution.

Allegations were made about mismanagement of the Birkirkara football club resulting in the loss of the Uefa licence, leading to the exclusion of the club from European competitions while Delia was its president, about his treatment of Birkirkara goalkeeper Miroslav Kopric who claims Delia intimidated him into giving a confession using illegal means and who intends to pursue legal action and on an ongoing civil case about €86,210 Delia allegedly awarded himself unlawfully out of Arcidiacono’s funds, a case that is still ongoing.

When Hillary Clinton was asked what she thought of Trump she replied that he is immature and impulsive and therefore constituted a real and present danger to democracy. It seems that the PN has just voted in its very own Trump to lead it.

Kevin Cassar is a consultant vascular surgeon and a 2017 Nationalist Party candidate.

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