Earlier this week I had to take a moment because something Donald Trump said really hit home.
“So many self-righteous hypocrites”, he said on Twitter.
My heart sunk because intuitively I knew - to some degree - he was right.
I refer to myself as an example: I know I have bullied and judged others. I have also victimised, I have exploited and I have fought hard to win - often using tactics I’m not very proud of. My friends would also point out that I’m also guilty of being self righteous - quite often, as it turns out.
The difference is, I’m not in the public eye, so it appears I get away with it.
All this made me think for a moment: perhaps this is the reason why Trump is QUITE so excruciating.
After all, he is the worst kind of human, right? Impulsive, out of control, judgmental, ignorant, abusive. No wonder everyone is distancing themselves from him: “inexcusable”, they say - “despicable” - even “insecure”, according to Barack Obama.
To be honest, this was when I really saw my own humanity reflected in all this: I know I’ve “put people down to pump myself up”…. I think many people have, in their time.
So it turns out Donald is not alone in being human - quite the opposite, in fact. Scarily for me, I can really relate to him.
So maybe, just maybe - Donald Trump’s performance on the world stage offers us an opportunity to learn something about ourselves.
Look how quickly we point the finger, and absolve ourselves of any guilt.
No, I don’t want him to become President – for one thing, I think he lacks self control. No, I am not a fan of his policies or his character either. To be honest, given the alternative, I’m just pleased I don’t get a vote.
However, I am keen to hear a different narrative, which is more grounded, more responsible and self reflective.
What can we learn from all this?
Is it too much to suggest we could even feel gratitude for freshening things up so spectacularly?
At the end of the day, this isn’t about one man - it’s about all of us.
Latest posts by Guest Contributor (see all)
- The problem with Trump is…ourselves - October 11, 2016
From the soapbox …
The problem in every Western election is that you have option A and B, but you want C and there isn’t one. If there is a C, you want D. Trump isn’t wrong about everything. He’s no statesman, which is probably his mass appeal. People have had a gut full of the measured soundbites that they get from politicians through the press. Clinton is an absolute nightmare. She and her staff get pardoned for national security breaches. Her foundation takes money (billions) from countries that kill their own people, who’s women have almost zero rights and want to buy influence. No problem and no legal consequences. The mainstream media is all but silent. I’ve spoken to well educated Americans who’ll vote for Clinton and say ‘she’s strong’ or ‘she’s got foreign policy experience’. They obviously believe the ‘news on TV’. They are quite prepared to overlook the fact that she may be guilty of criminal activity and does not represent them in any way. They don’t care, they just hate trump and think her stated warm fuzzy social policies are more palatable.
My personal belief is that the elephant in the room is economic speculation, which drives the lack of equity and shifting wealth leading to further concentration. If I said, you should not be able to be paid more for producing nothing than producing something, it seems reasonable. Reality is and has been for at least 100 years that you can get paid more for not producing anything than for producing something. Eg: farmers / manufacturers Vs hedge fund managers / bankers / stock brokers / day traders. The economic speculation in the economy adds nothing in terms of production to the economy. It’s argued it adds liquidity but it’s not worth the cost. It makes everything inherently unstable from pricing through to exchange rates where somewhere between 90% and 99% (depending on who you believe) of foreign currency transactions have nothing to do with trade.
Will Clinton stop speculation … funded by Wall Street, and has failed to do anything about it thus far, I don’t think so. Will Trump change the underlying issues with the banking system, tax the begeesus out of speculators, etc … ? I don’t think so because his money has been made on property speculation but more likely to make some changes the financial establishment don’t like. These issues take huge balls and a bullet proof vest to sort out. The people in power with the money don’t want change. They want the trend of wealth concentration to continue. The ‘Goldman Rule’ applies to everything. That is, if Goldman Sachs are in favour of it, it’s bad for me. No current candidate is like to fix anything major. Trump is more likely to but still not likely. In Australia, our current Prime Minister is the former managing director and chairman of Goldman Sachs Australia, and a former partner of the firm. It’s fair to say, we are f_cked.
Obviously, there are social issues that Trump touches on also which are complex. The Mexican issue is not straightforward but it is nonetheless something that needs a solution. However, for example, I personally think the issue with Islam is a lot more straightforward for every Western nation. If you are in favour of personal freedom, you cannot believe that Islam is compatible. Even second generation Islam is proving to be disinterested in integration. It’s not a new phenomena and goes back hundreds of years. Your logic is flawed if you think Islam can co-exist. And no, it’s not your fault for not trying hard enough. It’s also not about the people; it’s about the ideology. Look at France, Sweden, Belgium, etc etc etc … tell me it’s working. How about Turkey? How’s that going? Malaysia … maybe, but don’t wear your bathers in public (budgie nine). Reality is, if you want Islam friendly, it has to be western unfriendly.
There are if fact no multi-cultural societies working. Note, do not mix up multi-racial with multi-cultural. Culture binds people in countries and it has to be common. Language is part of it. In Australia, often pointed to as ‘working’, we have many issues and growing. Recently a public beheading was narrowly avoided. We have our radical preachers which use our laws for cover. This is still unfolding … we have the potential to have big problems in the future.
One of my parents was a western European migrant in the 1950s. There were very few issues with integration. My grandparents had a house full of white Australians eating and drinking wine and playing cards and doing what they did before the Internet. This was the case the whole time I was growing up. They worked hard, learned the language, made lots of local friends, loved the country, left their troubles there and never went back. Unwinding the migration of the past 40 years for those not prepared to commit to our so called ‘way of life’ is a huge challenge. It means some uncomfortable issues need to be addressed. You can’t hug your way out of it. Gun beats hug.
Social issues come down to individual ethics. Should abortion be illegal at any point for example. Why 24 weeks? Why not as birth control? Why not because the foetus is the wrong sex? The ‘what sort of world do you want to live in’ is the bigger question and more complex. Building on the best of the past seems a lot more sensible than some new thing that’s untested in every way. Mark Earls general tenet resonates. Constantly making change in the name of being ‘progressive’ … nice to call yourself that, but what evidence do you actually have that you are? Spending time on definitions of, for example, people’s genders would fit into this category.
We’ve moved away from what’s genuinely best for the majority (over 90%) of people, to spending huge amounts of time and public money on the wishes and whims of minuscule %s of the population. This is the ‘no war currently rule’. If there was a war right now, which issues would be off the table? There’s a lesson in that somewhere.
Again, is Trump ‘populist’? Yes. Is he right about everything? No. Is he wrong about everything? No. What does populist mean, and why is it negative? Maybe it’s negative because the minority driven media don’t like the majority of the people having anything to do with decision making. Perhaps those that rant about populism believe they know what’s good for everyone else … which sounds a hell of a lot of the current system with new leaders. A level of hypocrisy equaled only by the level of self-belief.
“No, I don’t want him to become President – for one thing, I think he lacks self control. No, I am not a fan of his policies or his character either. ”
He obviously doesn’t lack self-control in a private setting or he’d be broke. He lacks ‘meaningless media reported measured sound-bites’ … for sure.
His character… I’d say you don’t know him. By the way, he speaks highly of you.
His policies. So, 100% of them you aren’t in favour of? Like recreating an industrial base (by leveling the playing field against countries that have child labour for example) so people have jobs … you don’t like that one?
This paragraph sounds like an each way bet to appease the left leaning readers so they don’t flog you … nothing personal.
… end rant.
By the way, I’m also pleased I don’t have to vote in the US election … still looking for Option C.
Cheers.
Trump is a political renegade. Those that stand for the rule of law now are the renegades, as our entire political process (both Dems and Repubs) have failed in regards to the structure of this nation, our Constitution. The founding fathers were renegades. I am one too.
Trump is the kind of character decadent societies (and the UK and USA a re very much in that category) vomit up as they thrash about in their death throes.
Clinton is just a typical contemporary politico, her objective isn’t to serve with humility and wisdom, it is merely to gain power and influence. To be ‘historical’ and adored.
Sadly it seems that in voting for her merely because she’s a woman (the dogma being that that in itself will mean that everything is magically sorted out), the female population of the USA has in fact ruined any prospect of real change which lay with Bernie Sanders, and opted merely for more of the same (eg. very well paid speeches to investment bankers, more thumping of the tub for war etc.).
Shame.
Spot on. The problem is us, not him. Whoever wins, there are a lot of angry people in the world now. They can’t see that their anger is with themselves so they’ll continue to take it out on any external targets either they can find or be directed towards.