Oh it's a hoot, isn't it? what an hilarious attempt at "politics" the whole Donald Trump farrago is. Hawhaw, couldn't happen here. So on, so forth. Ah, the colonials, we chuckle, shaking our heads wisely and sadly over our breakfast kedgeree, sat as we are in the sceptred glory of misty blighty, with its politicians capable of talking in complete sentences. Fwawfwawfwaw, more pheasant please, Vicar. Thus proving the old adage that there's no bell-end like a smug bell-end, which I think is one of Alexander Pope's.
Possibly the only thing less edifying than the Donald's rise to actual honest to godness contender has been the laughing at it. Yes, he's a horror. Yes, he's a racist. Yes, he's a grade-a moron who re-tweeted Mussolini. All these things are true. It is also true that if he'd simply put his fortune in a savings account he'd be a lot richer than he is now, so yes, he' s a failure as a businessman. Also true. But the reponse to his toxic brand of populism has been symptomatic of a political class who have entirely failed to grasp the reality of the world post 2008. It's an angry world. It's a world which doesn't believe a single thing any elected representative says. It is, increasingly, a world which has realised that it's being royally shafted by a moneyed elite.
However, it's a still a bit dim, so hasn't observed that Trump IS the moneyed elite.
Thing is, though, he's said a lot of stuff which resonates with an awful lot of inchoately angry people (and yes, a lot of it is repugnant, but bear with me). He talks about saving social security, he says Iraq was a mistake. For a large swathe of working class america this stuff hits home.
Yep, the racist stuff does too. No point ignoring that. But the point here is that in focussing on the cartoonish, outlandish proclamations on Muslims and Mexcians a large quantity of the electorate is damned as racist idiots, when in point of fact they may well have been attracted by some of the other stuff he said, the stuff about vested interests and Wall St, the stuff that people believe, deep down, about the system being out to get them. Also, the focus on the stupid stuff implies he's beng taken lightly. And he shouldn't be. Not because he's a serious politician, but because he's a serious threat to a sane and ordered world, and I do rather wish that he hadn't been treated as a joke, because really, it's not funny.
Possibly the only thing less edifying than the Donald's rise to actual honest to godness contender has been the laughing at it. Yes, he's a horror. Yes, he's a racist. Yes, he's a grade-a moron who re-tweeted Mussolini. All these things are true. It is also true that if he'd simply put his fortune in a savings account he'd be a lot richer than he is now, so yes, he' s a failure as a businessman. Also true. But the reponse to his toxic brand of populism has been symptomatic of a political class who have entirely failed to grasp the reality of the world post 2008. It's an angry world. It's a world which doesn't believe a single thing any elected representative says. It is, increasingly, a world which has realised that it's being royally shafted by a moneyed elite.
However, it's a still a bit dim, so hasn't observed that Trump IS the moneyed elite.
Thing is, though, he's said a lot of stuff which resonates with an awful lot of inchoately angry people (and yes, a lot of it is repugnant, but bear with me). He talks about saving social security, he says Iraq was a mistake. For a large swathe of working class america this stuff hits home.
Yep, the racist stuff does too. No point ignoring that. But the point here is that in focussing on the cartoonish, outlandish proclamations on Muslims and Mexcians a large quantity of the electorate is damned as racist idiots, when in point of fact they may well have been attracted by some of the other stuff he said, the stuff about vested interests and Wall St, the stuff that people believe, deep down, about the system being out to get them. Also, the focus on the stupid stuff implies he's beng taken lightly. And he shouldn't be. Not because he's a serious politician, but because he's a serious threat to a sane and ordered world, and I do rather wish that he hadn't been treated as a joke, because really, it's not funny.
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