If you’re happy Trump won, you should be ashamed
Trump supporter? Keep it to yourself
In the midst of all the anger and despair at Trump’s unlikely election success have been a minority of voices calling bullshit on all our worries.
Having read a recent article from a Bristol student who said he was happy with Trump’s victory, I decided to take a stand against this kind of argument to exhibit how we are in fact in the shit.
We are talking about a man who boasts of having Myron Ebell as his environmental advisor, a middle-aged man who has written extensively about the myth of climate change. One need only look at Trump’s plans to dismantle the Paris Agreement and the crash in stock of energy companies to see the anxiety around the subject. With this in mind, how can anyone with a shred of respect for humanity be behind him?
Furthermore, I found it ironic that the main premise of many pro-Trump article are underlined by political revolution. The underdog has won even though claiming the vote was rigged. Well, he has won, so he merely lied and created a semblance of anti-establishment whilst actually manipulating a disillusioned electorate. Only someone who has meticulously formed his public veneer can turn things like allegations of sexual assault to his favour.
He isn’t a politician, he’s a human, and we all talk about abusing women down the pub, right? At least he doesn’t lie about it.
If you can’t look beyond the president to understand that the government will not be revolutionary, then you should not be writing about politics. Trump, who creates a façade of being anti-establishment, has appointed some top politicians. To name one, Reince Priebus (as chief of staff), who is chair of the RNC – a Republican big dog, well versed in traditional proceedings.
To really gain an insight into what Trump’s America will look like, we must only cast our eyes upon his spin-doctor and campaign runner, Stephen Bannon, ex-head of Breitbart news. From the start he seemed unable to shake off his far-right shackles, stating he wants to ‘bolster the business-like approach of Mr. Trump’s campaign.’ A statement oozing with fascist undertones.
To argue Trump is the embodiment of the disenchanted electorate is wrong. He is a politician if ever I’ve seen one; fastidiously warping his public image to play into the hands of the people, a true demagogue. Immigration policy resonates here – a man who has ostracised minorities from the beginning of his campaign: of course all Mexicans are rapists and of course all Muslims terrorists. May I once more refer to this article, where he vehemently protects women’s rights but so abnormally attacks immigrants as a strain on the system.
The two concepts aren’t disparate, creating an environment of hate against immigrants will only serve to further undermine gender inequality discourse. Hate takes no hostages, a culture of ignorance will attack all. It seems as if the article was written to offend, but not offend the white, middle-class women to which it was targeted (perhaps some vested interest there, no one wants to be blanked by your female compatriots in a lecture).
To see silver linings with anything is natural, however I feel now cynicism must prevail. I have always said that Trump would be less aggressive in the middle-east and this seems great, but his plans for NATO will affect us all – that’s right, the middle-class Brits. Trump becomes less of a farce when he retracts NATO support and leaves a fractured Europe to contend with an ex-KGB, megalomaniac’s plans for eastern expansion. Despite the bitterness between the US and Russia, seeing them be friends is far more frightening than enemies.
We could go on forever, a list of negatives could create an archive of which the British Library would be envious, but, supporting Trump because he represents anti-establishment sentiment is specious. I would rather have a career politician lie to us, than an abnormally uneducated, fantastically bigoted man tell us that his abhorrent views are those of the people.
If you are a Trump supporter, keep it to yourself, in the name of self-respect.