Trumped: A Reaction

Well, it happened.  America elected Donald Trump.  Wow.  Just wow.  

I honestly didn’t think it was possible.  I’ll say that up front.  Not because of any overriding belief in Hillary Clinton and not because what the polls said.  I didn’t think he was electable on the simple premise of who he is and what he represents.  

To the poor he’s as rich as Wall Street gets and he’s not sharing.  To the rural he’s a New York billionaire - a big city elite. To the anti-establishment, he is the establishment - he made his money in the current financial, social, political and legal systems.  To the diverse he’s a bigot, a xenophobe - a racist.  To women he’s a sexist and harasser.  To the honest he’s a liar.  To the informed he’s unprepared.  To the educated he’s a fool.  To the uneducated he’s pandering and paternalistic.  To the hopeful he’s pessimistic - a fear monger.  To the patriotic he’s dismissive.

By Christian standards he’s amoral and conducts himself in ways no

self-respecting believer should.  He does not know the scriptures, takes prides in his greed and has shown himself willing to forgo fair dealings with his brethren.  

To other religions he’s simply closed and suspicious.  

When I put all that together, I didn’t think there’d be enough people left over to win him the election.  Not after removing everyone I expected to reject him.  Except they didn’t.

Almost 59 million people in the US voted for this man.   59 million.  And every one of them condones his behaviour - past, present and future.  Everything he’s said and done - everything he says and does while President of the United States - those 59 million people own their own share of each and every moral position he takes, social policy he enacts, law he passes, fight he starts.  

Now, in case you haven’t already guessed, I’m not exactly a fan of Donald Trump.  Not because of some misplaced ideal or ‘liberal agenda’ or what have you, although I will state emphatically that I am staunchly progressive.

I don’t think he brings anything interesting to the table.  Because everything he’s said, I’ve heard before.  I’ve heard it from pundits and analysts looking to make money and political parties looking for power.  I’ve heard it from everyday people and wealthier men and women who just want more for themselves and their children.

I’ve seen it in past and present administrations all around the world.  And I’ve read it in history books more times than I’d like to admit.  Because whenever the divide between the haves and the have nots - or between ‘us’ and ‘them’ - becomes too wide, there is always someone willing to step into that void and exploit it.   

I get that people don’t like Hillary Clinton.  She’s a politician’s politician.  By that I mean she understands the game - the horse trading that goes on behind the scenes - and excels at it.  She’s moulded herself into a policy driven, hard nosed, experienced legislator who’s survived in a very hostile environment. She’s been touched by scandal - both her own and her husband’s.  

And the Republican party has been waging a systematic information war against her for more than two years.  Endless investigations, hearings, public statements from rival politicians and their mouthpieces denouncing her - the list goes on and on.  

Then there’s how she appears to people.  She’s stiff in public - her sense of humour is more bigwig boardroom than relaxed or natural.  She comes off as rehearsed and polished - some might say fake - and she’s as much a ‘normal person’ as Trump is.  

The Donald, on the other hand, is in many ways her polar opposite.  He has no political history beyond what he’s said in the campaign.  But his tactics speak loudly.  He doesn’t negotiate so much as he attacks and blames.  He doesn’t take responsibility so much as he dodges and denies.  For all his talk of middle-America and social conservatism, his religiousness and moral fibre, he’s provided very little proof of his respect for or belief in those values.  

He is literally the most dishonest presidential candidate - president now - the US has ever seen.  He doesn’t often answer direct questions and changes positions according to his audience.  He has scapegoated anyone who opposes him and reaped the rewards of his inflammatory speech.  It’s no surprise he is endorsed and supported by white supremacists whose goal is to ostracise, diminish and eventually exterminate  anyone they define as ‘other’.   

Logic and emotion, awkwardness and charisma, progression and regression - there’s always an ebb and flow between our binary extremes.  Sometimes the former wins out, sometimes the latter.

So, to everyone who voted for Trump, I’m not saying your intentions are bad.  I’m simply reminding you that by voting for him, you have taken ownership of everything he has said and done, and everything he will say and do while he’s the president of the United States.  You elected a man with a history of sexist and racist actions and speech.  You have chosen a man who has enriched himself at the expense of others - both investors and employees.  You have given the world a leader who behaves as if he’s never been accountable to anyone for anything.  

Who knows, maybe he’ll turn out to be a decent president.  Maybe he’ll draw back from the rhetoric and threats he is so happy to throw around.  Maybe we’ll all find out he’s much smarter and adept at handling domestic and foreign affairs than he lets on.  And who knows, maybe he really will be a president for all Americans.  

Then again, maybe he is the man we’ve seen.  Maybe he has no interest in unity and equity - maybe his plans for the US are largely for the benefit of himself and others like him.  So when he passes a law that disenfranchises a whole host of people because of their race or religion, or criminalises otherwise legal behaviour, you own that - you support that.  When he takes away the rights of women or the LGBT community, or affordable health care, causing pain and death for lack of services - you own that too.  When he appoints judges to the Supreme Court who claw back hard fought rights, rights most first world nations take for granted, or when he deregulates industries that have histories of illegality and abuse in the name of profits - you own it all.  

This is the responsibility that comes with voting.  You don't just vote for a leader or a team or even a party - you aren't just on the winning or losing side.  Your vote conveys power.  It provides your chosen representative with permission.

Remember that.   

Post Script:  One common criticism to any position piece on any particular individual or group is that of fairness or balance.  I take no issue with anyone's personal beliefs - you are entitled to your own thoughts. What I take issue with is when those beliefs become harmful to others - not theoretically harmful, but actually harmful.  To people and to our natural environment.  When it comes to public policies - the cords that hold our respective societies together - the primary consideration (in my view) must be the greatest good.  I define that by celebrating diversity, being responsible with our resources and environment, respecting our differences and our rights to personal autonomy, choosing acceptance and trust over prejudice and anxiety, and taking advice from the majority of experts who not only understand the sociological and scientific systems behind their assessments of risk, reward, cost and effectiveness, but also seek to balance the needs of many discordant peoples in order to ensure the greatest chance of survival and the highest quality of life for all of us.   

Policies that promote inequality, inequity, prejudice, hate, fear and ignorance, or permit the victimisation of others simply because they are different or do not have sufficient resources - those are the policies (again, in my view) we must remove.

I tell you sincerely that if Hillary Clinton did the same, I would apply the same lens to her actions as I do to anyone else.  Including, as I believe I have shown above, the 45th President of the United States.