TRUMP CHIMED WITH VOTERS
Not just Democrats in the USA but also so-called Liberal progressives throughout Europe are grieving the fact of a new President Trump. The Economist regards him as too risky a choice. Many who worked for him in his last presidential term consider him dictatorial, and some use the word fascist. That he is a narcissist, caring it seems really about Trump and not much else, that he cannot accept any status except winner, that perhaps he is amoral and has little regard for the truth, and lies when it suits, justifies the Economist view. Perhaps the most scary of his pronouncements is his promise to take revenge on his opponents. Perhaps the most positive view of him is that he is a dealer and sees every matter as a transaction where he must win the negotiation, which could bring some positive results and changes but might mean that real concerns are simply ignored or ridden over roughshod with an irrational extreme result.
However, the resounding nature of his victory suggests his messaging chimed with a great many people across all sectors of the American population, including many Latin and Black voters, and a perhaps surprising number of women. The world, like it or not, must manage the relationship with the USA and Donald Trump for the coming years.Autocrats like Putin will seek to use him, and Putin has already initiated the flattery with admiration for this strongman who defied assassination with bravado and greater conviction than ever. Perhaps however the most important wake-up call is not just for USA Democrats but for those elite progressives who like to think they know best, slightly sneering towards the populace whose more basic views on life jar with their own, and whose obsession with minority causes and softness distracts them from or even blinds them to critical issues. That a wake-up call is needed is well exemplified by the reaction of some University authorities to the Trump re-election: that was a nannying concern for the mental shock for students that Trump will be the new President and the creation of safe spaces and childlike activities, such as Lego building.
COMPARE THE UK AND EUROPE
There is a tendency to dismiss as populism, which progressives regard as bad, any mass opinion which they do not like, when maybe it is an opinion to be taken on board. Trump has always condemned illegal immigration and lack of control over borders, which has popular appeal, and so he promises effective measures to deal with that. In Western Europe including the UK it has become a burning and divisive issue. Trump is appointing Elon Musk to improve efficiency in Government administration and stop waste, and Musk’s measures may prove an eye opener. Trump is anti-regulation, clearly a vote winner. He does not obsess with gender issues, and it appears he is more interested in performance than the colour of skin. People mostly believe he will improve the standard of living and address the rising cost of living, liking a low tax approach. The USA encourages entrepreneurs, respects individual success and fosters hard work, not obsessing with more time off work, and Trump is consistent with that. Trump has spotted freeloading Western and Asian nations not paying for their own security and defence and deterrence of war and insists this must stop, which is consistent with his dealmaking mentality and America first ideology.
A lot of this makes sense to ordinary people in the USA. And the Democrats had little change to offer. Trump is a massive risk as observed earlier but he says things that chime with people and are simple to understand.
Looking to the UK, the political movement is towards high taxes and a growing big state, the opposite of what the USA voted for. In UK Universities “You cannot apply for a job now without swearing allegiance to the new creed” as part of your “diversity statement” according to an article by Matt Goodwin in Sunday Times of 15 September. He resigned as a professor and describes an “ideological monoculture on campus”; and “a total obsession with sexual and gender minorities as sacred, with wanting to transfer power and resources from the majority to minorities, and sacrificing anything that gets in the way of this “social justice””. Yet the Higher Education (Free Speech) Act has now been paused and may be cancelled.
Swathes of people are shying from hard work, some seeking a four-day week for 5 days’ pay such as in the Civil Service. More graduates than ever are not in work nor seeking work. Self-defined mental illness is the latest Covid. An MP, Dawn Taylor, calls Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the Conservatives, the black embodiment of white privilege, and the Prime Minister, who himself took the knee to the anti-west Black Lives Matter movement, does not suspend her. And a well-known journalist, a politically right of centre one, is visited by the police for a non-crime hate incident, where she is not even told the name of the complainant or any details of her “offence”. That police are still required to police thoughts and insults is terrifyingly indicative of big brother controlling the minds of citizens: freedoms are still at high risk. Denigration of the UK’s history remains rife, and that history should instead be celebrated while recognising its imperfections, like most nations’ histories.
Western leaders dither over adding a % point of GDP to defence spending when probably 2-3% increases are needed, potentially blaming Trump if Ukraine is crushed by Russia! UK and European productivity and growth are stagnant compared to the USA, and uncontrolled immigration is known to be a massive risk to all these regions but the speed and softness of approach to curb it are woeful .And regulation continues to stifle businesses.
WILL THE BLIND NOW SEE?
And still so-called progressives bleat about populism infecting society and politics. Can the blind not now see that the majority just want common sense fairness, a fair opportunity to make a success of themselves, freedom to live a decent existence, with the most vulnerable being given a safety blanket. Yet so many now expect the State to provide the answers, especially the money, so reducing their personal responsibility and commitment and drive to contribute and thrive. And the State is complicit.
The blind leaders need to adapt their thinking and learn from the USA’s message to the Democrats. National pride, not nationalism, needs to be restored and then perhaps personal pride and responsibility will galvanise people into action rather than hiding at home.
