I don’t know much about the details of US politics but then
neither does Donald Trump. The idea that such a character is now to be the next
President may have filled some people with horror but we should not be too
surprised. It’s nothing to do with 2016 being some sort of hexed year more to
do with a worldwide distrust of professional politicians and what a certain
tranche of people see as failed ideas. The white fifty plus male seems to have
seen Trump as the last great hope to enable them to reclaim their pre-eminence,
a position of strength they enjoyed in the States until the voices of
minorities became louder and those minorities became larger. In every
respect dinosaurs appear to have reclaimed the landscape like some Jurassic Park.
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Like with Brexit, they blame it on anyone but themselves,
any group that is not them. They are tough but helpless, skilled but useless. And
there are a lot of them, not necessarily all white middle aged working class
males either. To my mind, this sort of result has been on the cards ever since
the public reaction to President Obama’s attempts to create what looked to us
over here like a very watered down version of the NHS. To a large vocal section
of Americans the very idea of contributing to someone else’s healthcare was
anathema and the barely hidden ugly face of that nation was seen. As it is
every time there’s a gun related massacre and a wringing of collective hands as
to why. Why do they think? As it is each time a race related incident flares up
in the national news.
I don’t know that much about Donald Trump either. He seems like the quintessential bully who’s astute though not clever, arrogant because he can be, always ready to have the last word whether or not he knows what he’s talking about. I have no idea if he’ll be a half decent President though I suspect his business background will mean he appoints people who will do his job while he struts around in that stupid cap taking the credit and dishing the blame. There’ll be strained lawsuits about something he might have said or did distracting the media agenda from what he’s actually supposed to be doing and whether he is doing it (i.e. being a President).
Oddly his presidency could make the world both safer and less safe at the same time. Safer in that we’re not likely to see US interference in far off places which incidentally has helped create the terrorism he now seeks to stem with his immigration policies. On the other hand he will be the man who can launch nuclear weapons anywhere he chooses and out of every public figure I’m aware of I can think of few less qualified to have that access.
The post victory rhetoric of supporters is actually remarkably similar to that which followed Obama’s first win eight years ago. “Yes we can” was the slogan as people looked forward to change. Now Trump will “make America great again” which means more great expectations. I suppose if he doesn’t (and who can actually measure such a nebulous aspiration?) he will just blame someone else even though for at least two years he can do as he pleases.
If you look at it from the point of view of those who voted for him then they may well argue that we’ve tried every other sort of government and recent political history is packed with the flushed reputations of leaders who promised change and great things from Tony Blair to Barack Obama. Maybe, the Trump supporters -please can we call them Trumptons? - believe a self -made man with no professional political experience can sort it all out. Battered by nearly a decade of austerity, depression, a changing world leaving the working class behind, everyone else being heard above them, they see Trump as the bearer of the golden light of promise. Hilary Clinton probably did better than anyone else would opposing him but it seems the writing was on the wall. I’m not saying this is right but this appears to be why the result is as it was. Not just in the US but all around the world people are looking for answers beyond the traditional cloaks of politics or faith.
If the Fairy Godmother had been on the ballot she’d have won by a landslide.
I don’t know that much about Donald Trump either. He seems like the quintessential bully who’s astute though not clever, arrogant because he can be, always ready to have the last word whether or not he knows what he’s talking about. I have no idea if he’ll be a half decent President though I suspect his business background will mean he appoints people who will do his job while he struts around in that stupid cap taking the credit and dishing the blame. There’ll be strained lawsuits about something he might have said or did distracting the media agenda from what he’s actually supposed to be doing and whether he is doing it (i.e. being a President).
Oddly his presidency could make the world both safer and less safe at the same time. Safer in that we’re not likely to see US interference in far off places which incidentally has helped create the terrorism he now seeks to stem with his immigration policies. On the other hand he will be the man who can launch nuclear weapons anywhere he chooses and out of every public figure I’m aware of I can think of few less qualified to have that access.
The post victory rhetoric of supporters is actually remarkably similar to that which followed Obama’s first win eight years ago. “Yes we can” was the slogan as people looked forward to change. Now Trump will “make America great again” which means more great expectations. I suppose if he doesn’t (and who can actually measure such a nebulous aspiration?) he will just blame someone else even though for at least two years he can do as he pleases.
If you look at it from the point of view of those who voted for him then they may well argue that we’ve tried every other sort of government and recent political history is packed with the flushed reputations of leaders who promised change and great things from Tony Blair to Barack Obama. Maybe, the Trump supporters -please can we call them Trumptons? - believe a self -made man with no professional political experience can sort it all out. Battered by nearly a decade of austerity, depression, a changing world leaving the working class behind, everyone else being heard above them, they see Trump as the bearer of the golden light of promise. Hilary Clinton probably did better than anyone else would opposing him but it seems the writing was on the wall. I’m not saying this is right but this appears to be why the result is as it was. Not just in the US but all around the world people are looking for answers beyond the traditional cloaks of politics or faith.
If the Fairy Godmother had been on the ballot she’d have won by a landslide.
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