I previously wrote an opinion which used as example the US elections. I said that it was ‘supposed’ to have been a civilized competition between the Clinton dynasty and the Bush clan. That plan fell apart big time. Mr. Trump is now the 45th president of the United States. Bush and Clinton are history.
A shock? Only to those who were, or still are, lost in the ozone of hubris. To working families trying to get by, military veterans who have lived war and active soldiers who are sick of it, white Christians who are the last identifiable group allowed to be derided, legal immigrants who see others get a free pass over red tape they struggled hard to comply with, inner city residents who want safer streets; to these folk Mr. Trump’s victory is not a shock. They live in a world of reality with little need and no time for hubris.
Mahatma Ghandi, who struggled hard to become leader of India, understood the forces which last week took Mr. Trump to President. When asked of how he overcame the opposition he said. “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Could anything better describe Mr. Trump, and those he represents, rise to the top?
It is more than just one man who shook the world. It is the combined voices of the “deplorables”, the “hopelessly lost”, and “standard rednecks”. Those words struck hard and like a light turning on, people got a view into the depths of political hubris and rejected it.
That is the “swamp” which Mr. Trump made legendary. Once it became known that major news sources, almost every billionaire, virtually all world leaders, Hollywood, and the pollsters were colluding, Mr. Trump rode the uprising. The New York Times has since apologised to its readers for blatantly and deliberately attempting to mislead. Polling companies are stuck in a quandary: How could Trump have won when nobody they know voted for him? Movie stars are in mass depression and French president Hollande, among others, is eating roast crow.
The “swamp” will not want to be drained, and already protests are showing up. The TPP is probably dead, as is the TTIP. Existing trade deals will be revisited. The ending of many wars is on the agenda, including the war on climate. If Mr. Trump follows up on his contract with the American people, #3 item is to overturn two existing federal rules for every new one put in place. The water level will drop quickly if that idea holds.
Mr. Trump’s victory should be a wake-up call to politicians who believe their citizens’ opinions are that of deplorable, hopelessly lost individuals who require ever-increasing government guidance to make it from cradle to grave.
The “deplorables” comment, which started as an insult, is now reverberating around the world. Was that the straw which broke the camel’s back?
Gordon Fraser
Grenville sur la Rouge, QC
