A FEW days ago, the US government issued a Level Three advisory against Trinidad and Tobago advising US citizens to reconsider coming here due to the high levels of crime and possible acts of terrorism.

That a few days after issuing this defamatory terrorism advisory against T&T, a US citizen should have attempted to assassinate US presidential candidate Donald Trump was a 21st century example of what Jesus described in the book of Matthew 7:3-5: ‘Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.’

Make no mistake, this is no celebration of the attempted assassination of Trump. As I told a colleague of mine, I’m agnostic, but I am thanking the heavens that assassination attempt of Trump failed! The US is extremely politically polarised right now. The last thing we need is for a US presidential candidate to be assassinated in this politically charged environment, because that could possibly lead to severe things like civil war. The last thing the Caribbean, and by extension, the world, needs right now is for a nuclear superpower like the US to become engulfed in a civil war.

The situation, however, should serve as a lesson to the US consulate to T&T. No one is saying the consulate does not have a duty to protect its citizens and warn them of dangers in foreign countries. All we are saying is the US should use its colossal political influence much more responsibly and fairly when applying it to small, vulnerable island states like T&T.

The reality is, in T&T’s 60 years of independence, we have never had an assassination of a prime minister or a prime ministerial candidate, whereas the US-having been founded 248 years ago and being the super-sized country presently unfairly washing its mouth on T&T, and casting terrorism aspersions against us-has seen four presidents and one presidential candidate assassinated, and at least 19 assassination attempts against sitting US presidents. Assassination of T&T prime ministers and prime ministerial candidates = 0!

Even the 1990 coup was not an assassination attempt but a hostage situation, because at no time during that incident did the Jamaat try to wilfully assassinate any of our then cabinet members.

The FBI is now investigating the assassination attempt against Trump as a possible ‘domestic terrorist act’. The irony of the timing of this possible US domestic terrorist act is compounded by the following emerging facts about the shooter:

• He wasn’t a Democrat.

• He wasn’t an illegal immigrant.

• He wasn’t African American.

• He wasn’t an LGBTQ person.

He was a white, young, registered Republican. CNN published photos of him, his siblings and parents, holding assault rifles in front of a Christmas tree.

After issuing that harsh terrorism alert for T&T, the US is now in a period of political violence, and this assassination attempt against Trump is not an isolated incident:

• A plot to assassinate conservative Supreme Court justices was foiled in 2022.

• In 2022, the husband of then house speaker Nancy Pelosi was attacked by a hammerwielding intruder.

• A violent mob stormed the US Capitol in January 2021.

• Would-be kidnappers hatched a plot to snatch Michigan’s Democratic Gov Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 and were sentenced on terrorism charges.

So, as I said in my letter ‘Retract that blasphemous terrorist alert’ to the Express last week, the US is in no position to cast terrorism aspersions against T&T.

As for Dr Rowley, I’m not that naïve to not know that diplomatically he was mandated to condemn the attack on Donald Trump. But on the same weekend an attempt was made on the life of Trump, the Sunday Express noted that nine people were murdered across T&T, pushing the murder toll for the year to 315.

One would have thought that being the experienced politician that he was, Dr Rowley would have known that although he had to do the diplomatic dance of condemning the attacks on Trump, there was no way he could have done that without speaking about the bloody carnage which occurred in his own country and under his watch as head of the National Security Council.

But Dr Rowley shockingly did exactly this-condemned the attacks on Trump, but remained completely silent on the carnage which occurred in T&T.

The condemnation on social media was swift, with citizens calling out the Prime Minister for showing more concern for American affairs than T&T’s.

In my letter last week, I suggested that our leaders lobby the US for a retraction of that terrorist advisory against T&T. However, given the recent assassination attempt against Trump, I am now insisting that Dr Rowley, as Prime Minister of T&T, should not only drink his water and mind T&T’s business, but he should also demand a retraction of that terrorist advisory from the US, because the US does not have the reputational collateral to be issuing such harsh advisories against small nation states. I also eagerly look forward to the US’s advisory against itself!

Oke Zachary