By Penelope Griffiths
As I sit in my lounge watching my 55" HD, 3D TV, I could be on either side of the Pond but currently I am on the UK side with my jaw on the floor at the shenanigans of the U.S. presidential hopeless, Donald J. Trump.
But what shocks me more than his candidacy is the support he is gaining from U.S. citizens, despite his ridiculous statements such as “building a wall to keep Mexicans out” or “stopping all Muslims from entering the U.S.A.” What?!?!
Many years ago there was a similar man in Europe who also was inciting this sort of “aid” to his country. He wasn’t the first, nor, sadly, will he be the last, but what that monster “achieved” with his absolute belief that he was the right man with the right idea for the good of his country and the world was some of the most grotesque death and destruction the world had ever seen. Not only did he foment the murder of millions of “unsuitable” people for his new world but he also enabled other equally evil people to flourish. I am of course referring to Adolf Hitler.
It is shocking to me that in the 21st Century the citizens who are supporting The Trump can’t recognise or see the similarities. Is it because they have never thought of the outside world, never ventured outside their own country or witnessed anything other than the U.S. of A.? Or is it that they just want the easy option? Vote for someone who “says it like it is”? But it isn’t as though The Trump knows what actually is. Just like the followers of Hitler who went before, all The Trump’s followers want is to win, to be the boss. The Trump – it appears to me sitting on my comfy sofa an ocean away – just wants to win at any cost. But I don’t think that even he knows what he would do if he were to be elected.
Therein lies the dilemma of the U.S.A., the most powerful and greatest country in the world. In Europe we do not see Obama as the “black President,” but just as “the President,” and the apparent failure of many in the U.S. to see that has been a problem for the U.S. What do you think the rest of the world will see The Trump as?
| Copyright © 2016 by Penelope Griffiths Penelope Griffiths lives in Cardiff, Wales. She has aptly been described this way: “Once met never forgotten, sometimes not for the right reason but always for the open and honest way she conducts herself. You may not like what she does or says, but you will remember it and you will always come back for more.” |
Penelope (or should I call you Penny?), THANK YOU for your first posting on Moristotle & Co. (other than in a comment, that is). Welcome.
ReplyDeleteI – and I suspect many of our readers – are now wondering what your view might be of Ted Cruz and other Republican contenders, or of the Democratic contenders, for that matter. If you would, please let us know, perhaps in a comment or comments, if not in follow-on articles on the U.S. Presidential primaries. We appreciate your view from across "the Pond."
I for one am deeply embarrassed that so many Americans take an evil fool such as Trump seriously. I can only plead that the Italians seem to be playing footsie with an equally embarrassing political clown.
ReplyDeleteIf Trump gets power, I wonder if there's anyplace on earth far enough to run.
Penny, my question about Ted Cruz becomes perhaps more salient, given that he came out ahead of Trump in Iowa yesterday. So, please do give us your thoughts on evangelical Ted Cruz, from over the Pond. Thank you.
ReplyDeletePenelope has emailed me: "Will put something together when I have finished my purgatory with my customers!"
DeleteThe important thing about Trumpmania is not Trump, who will fall by the wayside at some point. The important thing is the people who are supporting him and the way they are supporting him. Now obviously, they are supporting him out of a sense of outrage. Why are they outraged? They feel that they have lost their country. They are right:
ReplyDelete1. We have developed a society where it is no longer possible for most people to get ahead. Real wages are stagnant or are even declining. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.
2. The economy continues to stagnate due to Obama’s decision to jam Obamacare down the Republicans' throats in lieu of pursuing a real economic stimulus program that would have improved the infrastructure of the country and put middle-class construction workers and manufacturing workers to work. Obamacare will fall of its own weight; adverse selection will keep driving premiums higher and create a vicious cycle.
3. The middle class's unionized work force is shrinking because Clinton, with NAFTA, and Obama, with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, have sold out the manufacturing industries and their workers.
4. The leadership of neither party has any real understanding of, or interest in, the middle class. The Republicans are always supporting idiotic economic policies that help the rich but not the middle class, and the Democrats are enthralled to policies supporting minority groups such the LGBTs.
5. People feel threatened by immigration – illegal and otherwise. In the past, immigrants have been assimilated into a unitary America. Now we have a vicious cycle of less unity and less assimilation. It used to be that the second generation of immigrants would be the most Americanized. Now, we are seeing that a small minority of Muslim second generationers are becoming radicalized.
6. People feel that the accepted moral structure of the country is falling apart. Obama’s contempt for those who are tied to their guns and their religion is clear. One cannot expect HIlliary Clinton – a millionaire who is fighting for us – to feel much differently, although she may not be stupid enough to say so.
Trumpmania will not go away until some of these problems are dealt wilth.