When Nelson Mandela turned 80 in July 1998, the world celebrated with him. There was an outpouring of congratulations, ranging from formal toasts and political tributes to mass public messages and music concerts. There was even a commemorative stamp, this being the days when South Africa actually had a reasonably functional postal service.
He received these plaudits with his usual humility. “If I were to speak of one thing in particular which brings me joy on my 80th birthday, it is the way in which the people of South Africa are uniting around shared goals,” he said.
“When I see how people of every community and background are working together, then I sometimes feel that until now I did not really know my country. This is what gives me hope for the future, even though we face many difficulties and some serious problems.”
Mandela urged South Africans “to recommit ourselves to the task of eradicating poverty and the burdens that afflict especially the most vulnerable sectors of our society ... If I were to be granted one wish on this occasion, it would be that all South Africans should rededicate ourselves to turning this into the land of our dreams: a place that is free of hatred and discrimination.”
Donald Trump has just celebrated his 80th birthday, and you couldn’t ask for a greater contrast. Forget about wishing for a country free of discrimination, this is a president who has dismantled diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives across the federal government and has applied heavy pressure on private entities to do the same.
He does attempt to cosplay a peace-loving statesman, but in a hypocritical and self-serving way that makes it clear why his peace prize came from the Fifa president who football pundit Gary Lineker mockingly refers to as Gianni Sycophant-ino.
Trump has told several news outlets that his birthday wish is peace for the world. On that same day, though, the US military said strikes had begun on “multiple targets in Iran” at the “commander-in-chief’s direction”, The Independent reported. Also on Wednesday, Fox News claimed on X that Trump had vowed to “bomb the shit” out of Iran if it failed to sign a ceasefire.
As The Independent drily puts it, “during the same meeting in which he lifted the lid on his wish for ‘peace’, the president warned that the US could soon resume attacking them”.
On the surface, with this wish for world peace, you might find a similarity in sentiment to Mandela’s birthday wishes. Except for the hypocrisy, of course. MAGA is all about division, rather than Mandela’s appeal for unity. The scale of Trump’s attack on peace and democracy is difficult to comprehend, sometimes; a useful way to pick out some of the salient details is to look at the birthday wishes other people have for Trump.
The Guardian carries a long list of these wishes.
“Enshittification of the internet” author and blogger Cory Doctorow wrote: “After decades of deadlock, you have inspired the world to action! You have done more to dedollarise the world than any American leader in history. Without you, there would be no way that Ethiopia would be revaluing its national debt in yuan. You have done more to end the global dependence on oil than any leader (except, perhaps, for Comrade Putin). Comrade Trump, you are, at long last, ushering in the post-American world, and a grateful planet salutes you!”
Author Jennifer Egan: “By any measure, you have racked up a staggering number of accomplishments in your 80 years. You’ve managed to nullify the bulwark against fascism that our three branches of government were meant to provide. You’ve transformed the presidency into an orgy of corruption and self-dealing that would make last century’s robber barons blush. You’ve erased whatever goodwill and respect America commanded internationally, and ceded our relevance in the realms of science, medicine and climate technology for the foreseeable future.”
There was much more of this sort of ironic congratulating, emphasising how destructive the Trump presidency has been, not only to the US’s standing around the world, but to the world itself. Greta Thunberg implied that Trump should be in court, writing: “My initial thought was to give you a one-way ticket to The Hague as a birthday gift.”
Jon Sopel, an ex-editor at BBC News: “Happy birthday, big man! I wanted to get you something really big — and hugely extravagant — for your special day. I thought about a gold bar, but the Swiss have already given you one. Or a jumbo jet, but the Qataris beat me to it. Then I thought about a gold peace medal, but your mate Gianni from Fifa has done that.”
The New York Times took a slightly different tack. Instead of just setting up people for their punch lines, it asked some “older Americans to share the best and worst things about being 80. They described the sadness of loss and the freedom age brings — and some offered Mr Trump advice.” These notable older Americans included Bob Dylan, Liza Minelli, Robert De Niro and Dionne Warwick, and their advice was perhaps tempered by the fact that they aren’t going to have to suffer the long-term damages of Trump’s destructive reign.
As befits the elder statesman of inscrutable, Dylan had no advice specifically directed at Trump. His meditations on turning 80 were predicated on being someone who has created beauty in the world and who has provided millions of people with the intellectual capital to create lives of meaning.
There is no plausible scenario where we can imagine Trump agreeing with Dylan’s idea of the best thing about turning 80. “It’s freedom from that lie that anything was ever under control. You don’t chase the parade anymore. You’re an old king from some vanished country. You’re harder to programme. You’re not rushing to become anything and you’re not haunted by things that you did. You’re haunted by how little of it really mattered in the way you thought it would.”
Minelli’s advice renders Trump’s intellectual paucity even more stark. “Turning 80 gives you perspective. Surround yourself with people who tell you the truth ... Act with fairness. Remember every decision reaches someone’s real life. Lead with empathy.” One can only wince at the idea that Trump is ever confronted with the truth.
In her birthday wishes for Trump, Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi reminded us that growing old is a privilege. “There can’t be too many 80-year-olds trying to eke out an existence in the ruins of Gaza, where life expectancy has been cut in half since October 2023. For men, it’s dropped from 73.6 to 35.6 years. Your government’s enablement of Israel’s genocide is to thank for that. On your 80th birthday, it looks like your legacy will be mass immiseration and death.”
Trump’s birthday celebrations included the Ultimate Fighting Championship fights that took place on the White House lawn. According to one survey, only 16% of Americans believed this was an appropriate venue, and 46% thought it inappropriate. It’s a sad reflection of the damage that Trump has done that 100% of non-Americans probably think that the White House is now a perfectly appropriate venue for a primitive and cartoonish orgy of violence staged for profit.