Got your breath back yet? Yeah – me too, just about. A year ago The Simpsons did a spoof of Donald Trump running for President. The show featured DT ( he doesn’t get the DTs, he gives them) standing haranguing at a podium, with underneath the slogan “America – you can be my ex-wife!”
The truth is, nobody knows how Trump will be as president. Running for election and then not doing stuff you said you’d do – come on, we’ve been through that a few times already. So as the dust settles, let’s see if there are any thoughts we can gather about this blond bombshell and all his (promised) works and pomps.
- Trump promised that his victory would be super-Brexit, and so it is. The people who voted for Trump are very similar to the people who voted for Brexit: those who feel disenfranchised, who fear foreigners, who’ve come through or are enduring austerity, who are working-class except they haven’t got the jobs to go with the title. They were fed up with the 1% getting all the goodies while they struggled to survive. Now they’ve voted for a new system. Will that system be better? Pass.
- Trump looks and sounds like an isolationist. His speeches were the opposite of JFK’s, who promised that no burden would be too heavy for America in protecting democracy throughout the world. Trump wants to pull back from foreign intervention. He doesn’t want to change regime in Mexico – he wants to build a wall and keep Mexico and Mexicans out. Isolationism is bad news economically and certainly counter to globalism. But then remember how we lamented the power of huge multinational corporations that could do as they pleased and thumbed their nose at governments? And remember how we lamented the callous loss of life as American drones took out dozens of innocent lives, in the name of democracy and America? So will Trump’s isolationism (if it happens) have any positive features? One at least – it’ll mean the US will stop acting as the world’s policeman.
- Trump puts America first. What does that mean for us? It means that Ireland may have to stop relying so much on foreign investment from companies like Google and Apple. Trump plans to lower the rate of corporation tax in the US to 15%, and he may well pressure such companies to relocate much of their work back home.
- How happy were you with the world that Obama and others before him had created? Well there was certainly something wrong with their model, judging by the meltdown that occurred in 2008 – and the world still hasn’t recovered from that sickening slump. Again, if Trump follows through, he’s going to create a system that’s different from that. It may not be better but it should be different. It’s the difference between the known bad and the unknown.
- If Trump and Brexit had come in some different form, many of us would be pleased and even punching the air. Niall O’Dowd, the prominent Irish-American, was on RTÉ last night, and he pointed out that when you superimpose a suicide map on the US – a map showing the suicide rate – it matched very closely the areas where Trump had the strongest support. People who kill themselves are people who have nothing left to lose. Likewise in Britain – it was northern areas and communities that had been left behind, old industries dead, nothing replacing them – that’s who voted for Brexit. It’s good news – very good news – that the have-nots have stood up and said “Enough!” What’s rather less good news is that their cry has ushered in Brexit and Trump – right-wing notions as a solution for their woes. Will reality take the gloss off the victory-night delight that many are still feeling? Nobody knows. But it’ll be unprecedented if the brave new dawn promised by the likes of Johnson, Farage and Trump doesn’t hit the wall of the real world and stagger back to reconsider.
working class except they havent got the jobs to go with the title……….
people who kill themselves are people who have nothing left to lose……..
jasuz we know your in a bad mood because your wee leftie world is falling apart,but your blog attacking democracy is wild.you dont seem to be able to grasp the fact the world is changing.
The world’s not changing ,billy. It’s only the illusion of change.The sun is still shining in this morning’s blue sky. This is only a momentary blip. Look how quickly time has run in since the Twin Towers were blown up .It hardly seems like fifteen years , does it? Look how quickly Obama’s eight years passed.Trump will come and Trump will go and those poor buggers who think he’s going to save them from themselves will still be twiddling their thumbs and living inside their own fears. People are simply easily manipulated by populist orators. Look at how they lapped up Hitler’s rhetoric in the 1930’s. Trump has promised them the sun , the moon and the stars and everyone with a functioning brain knows he’ll not be able to deliver any of it. Events will take over and he’ll be told exactly what he can do what he is able to do .He’ll be that busy running from pillar to post on a relentless scheduled timetable set down on his desk every morning that it will drive him around the bend .He’s not used to being told what to do and he’s not used to being advised either, so it will be interesting to see what kind of backroom political shenanigans will steer his course in the West Wing.
Add to that his well-documented misogny, his mad impossible promises that he could never , ever be able to fulfill because it is mostly unlawful and his complete lack of any kind of knowledge…self-knowledge or even knowledge about the outside world and you have a recipe for sitting on his hands for four years…if he makes it that far without sticking his foot in his mouth and creating an international incident. Comedy on a stick in other words.
“People are simply easily manipulated by populist orators.”
Like Obama and Blair? The whiff of self righteousness is lost on some. Perhaps paddy the ‘uneducated’ should not have been allowed to vote in this election too? After all these people haven’t the knowledge to decide on important issues just like brexit.
Maybe all those intelligent folk should stop gawping at their university degrees on their wall and take a look outside at the real world. Never let your schooling get in the way of your education
Just a few weeks ago a local secondary school held a ‘women in politics’ talk for its female students. On this esteemed panel were 2 s.f politicians, 1 SDLP and 1 unionist. Inevitably it turned into the Hilary Clinton show whereby each panellist was asked their view on Clinton and who they wanted to win presidency. All the nationalist politicians declared that they wanted Clinton to win because ‘although she has many faults it would be great to see a woman win’. That was the bottom line of their view. Although I must add one of them said that the Clintons were friends of hers and ‘stay in touch’!(nut job) On the other hand the unionist lady said that it didn’t matter to her whether it was a male or female that takes the White House but simply the best person should get the job. She admitted that she had no real time for trump but she felt Clinton was certainly not qualified for the job. She backed that up by listing her reasons and one that stood out was Clintons view on abortion I.e she’s all for it and that means anytime abortion.
Whether you agree or disagree with the politicians views at the very least the unionist lady was being logical and thus encouraging the students to think for themselves rather than being led by the nose and being told what to think. Ironically enough this school is an outwardly staunch R.C school and yet it’s cheering on a proponent of abortion. Strange. Maybe the prods have a point about the R.C church?
Like I said…“People are simply easily manipulated by populist orators.” WT. We’re going through a period not unlike the 1930s when the sour cream of fascism rose to the top of the bowl. It’s happening right across Europe too. This time it seems to have been embraced by many Americans and France and Germany might follow once again.They’re all scratching about for a whipping boy to replace the Jews and they’ve found Muslims and immigrants to blame this time around. It’s mad when you consider that America was built on the premise of immigrants stealing the land from the Native Americans. Education seems to have very little to do with it at all.As for Protestants and Catholics…well you probably know my views on religion by now , Wolfie.
Trump has promised less regulation and less government. If anything those policies will heighten the prospects of another credit crunch.
Indeed Cal, but it will be good for working class America and smaller businesses who don’t trade internationally.
It also highlights the darker side of globalisation which is perhaps a false economy that will inevitably result in corporate growth and working class debt and eventual dissatisfaction.
It isn’t good for the little guy but when the little guys all come together it is good to see it can still make a difference.
Its been a long time since I have had any respect for Americans, fair play to them.
Two words, Esteemed Blogmeister, struck one while following the course of the US Presidential Election via three different TV channels : one on account of its over-use, the other because of its non-use.
The T-word which was done to death, or rather near-death was T for Temperament, while the C-word which never managed to get as much as a solitary mench was C for Charisma.
Georgie Best hadn’t got much time for Thierry Henry; not because M. Le Frenchman lacked great qualities as a player, but rather because ‘a great entertainer needs to have charisma’. GB knew a thing or ten thousand about charisma.
Earlier this year one of the two most charismatic characters to emerge from the Land of Uncle Sam in living memory passed over to the Great Out Yonder as a result of septic shock: Muhammad Ali. He could scarcely be ever namechecked – and quite rightly so – without having the C-word affixed to his name like a sticker to a piece of airport baggage.
The other character has just been elected to the Highest and most Oval Office in the same country: and despite dripping charisma the way a rusty pipe leaks drops of water The Donald (for it is he!) and C-word were never twice , much less thrice , mentioned in the same breath. (Once, ok, but that was by accident, a slip of the lips.)
Pourquoi? Why? Cén fáth?
Could it have been because every time he appeared on screen the homogenous hackitariat on CNN immediately went into septic shock? The same effect was noticeable in the embedded panels on the two other TV channels through which one followed the election – the two replica CNNs: RTE and BBC.
(By the same token the two M-words were noteworthy: one for its over use: M for Misogynist and the other for its non-use: M for Misandry.
The most extreme example of the latter was the string which one particular Hillary honcho pulled to have himself voted Woman of the Year. Bono (for it she!) is not to be confused with Edward de Bono. The latter is the Father of Lateral Thinking, the former is the Mother of Fatuous Thinking).
So much for C for Charisma, and its complete lack of namecheck. What about T for Temperament?
Despite the mandatory sipping of the T-word by the homogenous hackitariat (with their H for Hillary badges on show 24/8) with all the ease and enthusiasm of a Teahouse of Mandarins in China beneath a harvest moon, at least one particular viewer did not quite grasp the concept till the Early Hours of Wednesday morning.
That was, ironically, when the embedded panelists failed (utterly ) to utter the T-word (as in The Trump Temperament, over which a Q-mark hovers, permanently) when its need was at its own obvious.
That happened when the show was indubitably over, and The D of the Questionable T was the clear winner. All that was required was for the Fat Lady to appear in front of her adoring camera crews and to show the world, the universe, the glaaxy, just how to lose and to lose gracefully.
But, what happened? Alas, Missy went Missing.
THE GODMOTHER GOES TO THE MATTRESSES
Would you trust this toad of a gent as Mr.President
With the nuclear code after threat from the Orient?
Thus did Hillary
The Don pillory
From her No-show we now know her contemperament.
Just heard on BBc Radio 4.
One of their reporters was crying that Trump called Australia and Ireland before
the Brits.
The reporter said and i Quote..” I can’t figure out what geo political strategy going on that he called these before Britain..”
These Brits are so up their own Aras.
They’re unreal.
“I can’t understand why Australia and these other countries have jumped up the list.”
FFS
This is from Norman Smith BBC
Golly.
Crying because they’re number 10 on Trumps call list.
Self awareness something the BBC need help with.
can anybody help the BBC?
That is the Brits all over, they think the whole world regards them the way Arlene and co. do. They are full of self praise which as any fool knows is no praise.
Since the election,everybody I meet has been discussing it and all have been dissing Trump.World recession,human rights violations,nuclear war,are among the predictions I have heard.However one elderly man dammed him with the more down to earth assertion – “Thon’s a bad oul hoor, he’ll do some gropin before he’s finished”!
“The truth is, nobody knows how Trump will be as president”
It will be interesting to see if Trump does actually build that Wall to keep the Mexicans out because many of his voters literally wanted just that…..if anyone in Ireland wants to make some money, making bricks is the business to be in if President Trump stays true to his word……
“. The people who voted for Trump are very similar to the people who voted for Brexit: those who feel disenfranchised, who fear foreigners”
Its not about fearing foreigners, its about the number of foreigners coming into their country. 1 million Syrians went into Germany last year alone, that’s just Syrians, not counting other nationalities. Millions of Mexicans have illegally crossed the border into the USA. The majority of people who live in London aren’t even English born. There is a flood of illegal immigration coming into Europe from Africa and Asia, and the truth is we have no idea who these people are, if they have committed crimes or if they are Islamic Jihadists. The vast majority are low skilled and uneducated. Both David Cameron and Angela Merkel have openly admitted people aren’t integrating in Europe and the Multicultural experiment has failed.
Its only logical and natural people will oppose all this and want to preserve their Culture, Identity and Heritage. The Political Elite like Obama, Cameron, the EU, etc ignored all the concerns, even attacked those expressing those concerns. Now as a result we have Brexit and Trump. Le Pen and Geert Wilders will be next.
“Trump plans to lower the rate of corporation tax in the US to 15%, and he may well pressure such companies to relocate much of their work back home”
Companies don’t just come to Ireland for the low Corporation Tax Rate, though it is important. In the case of Trump lowering the American CTR, I see the Dail lowering our Tax Rate again, maybe even as low as 7%. It looks like a race to the bottom which is very regrettable. But Ireland is also attractive to companies for being in the Eurozone, something which will be even more attractive for us when Britain leaves the EU. We have a very skilled workforce, Business friendly, etc
I don’t think Trump will do our economy damage, in fact I think President Trump will be positive towards Ireland, as a business man he has invested millions in opening a Golf Course in County Clare along with a 5 star Hotel, which he described as “Perfecto” and he’s actually popular with the local residents. That’s in contrast to his unpopularity with many residents in Scotland….
“But it’ll be unprecedented if the brave new dawn promised by the likes of Johnson, Farage and Trump doesn’t hit the wall of the real world and stagger back to reconsider.”
I don’t believe Trump is going to or even be able to do half of the things he’s promised. I believe he may backtrack on the whole wall business but crack down on immigration in other ways. Trump knows that millions upon millions of Americans absolutely oppose him, they are out on the streets protesting against his election victory already. His first job will be in trying to unite people and that requires lowering the tone on many of the things he wants to do or even backtracking on some……