Learning from the Trump victory

Learning from the Trump Victory
 
Peter Dutton and Gina Reinhart would have us learn from Trump’s victory.  I agree, but what exactly are we learning?

Shaun Micallef alerts us to what we knew before the election, and what has not been changed by the election:

he was (is) a well-known quantity: a fulminating blowhard with neither dignity nor shame; a cry-baby idiot who knew nothing worthwhile about anything, least of all his limitations; a pompous, inarticulate, opportunistic, grifting windbag; a liar, a cheat, a moral and, on a number of occasions, actual bankrupt; a felon several times over; a fire-and-Fred Flintstone carnival-barking Florida real estate salesman playing to, it turns out, not so much the lowest but the largest common denominators of aspiration and greed.

Well, that just about covers it!

So, what are we learning?

1.If we believe our self-interest is being served, shame and dishonesty do not matter.
 
Clearly, an unregulated and tax reduced world serves Gina Reinhart and Elon Musk very well. The end of wokism, whatever Nigel Farage thinks that is, appeals to him. That the poor in the rust belts also believed their interests would be similarly served is tragic. It is beyond dispute we (the global community) are moving from an industrialised world based on fossil fuels to a digital, electronic age served by renewable energy and shaped by circular economies. The industrialized world, which has shaped communities and economies for more than 200 years is ending. Every era has a limited time in the sun. Trump can cry ‘dig baby dig’ all he likes, but in doing so he is digging an economic as well as environmental hole which will see the US decline while other nations and economies begin to thrive.  
 

1. Empty statements without reason or logic are all that a politician needs to deliver.

 
Trump was a master at this. Who can forget his promise to end war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Apparently, Dutton is adopting this modus operandi. The most obvious example being the promise to deliver baseload nuclear energy without costing, without community consultation, and with a timeframe that even at its best does not deliver carbon neutrality within the frame demanded by science.
 
3.The ‘most Christian country in the world’ can abandon traits of integrity in support of exclusivity.
 
The Christian right’s help in shaping the Trump victory was significant. To do this it sacrificed integrity in leadership to gain support for an ideology of exclusivity on several fronts: including gender, sexuality, women’s rights and the triumph of Israel notwithstanding genocide. ‘Jesus is my Saviour and Trump is my President’ must be the most idolatrous statement I have ever heard. Linking a saint in that fashion, no matter how noble, would be idolatrous, and Trump is no saint, indeed by any discernible measure he is not a man of faith. Rank individualism, which appears to be a cornerstone of American life, certainly of its right wing represented in Trump and Musk, is anathema to Christian life. Christianity is, of its very nature, socialistic, it is belief in the unity of life, respect for others including the natural order, lifting the poor out of poverty: - it is belief in a life of service.
 
4.Truth does not matter. 
 
It is inevitable that politicians will massage truth to suit their message. However, what Trump has done is lift untruth to an entirely new level. Because his self-belief is superiority in all things no story can be told, no message given, other than one that presents him as the extraordinary genius he clearly believes he is. Because one cannot believe anything he says, it is yet unknown whether he will carry through or some of the more outrageous statements he has made, not least his statements of vengeance and reprisal.
Sadly, Trump’s behaviour in this way seems to have bequeathed two sources of news and information across the globe.  On the one hand there are those outlets that strive, no matter how imperfectly, to provide genuine information and facts, and news outlets whose sole objective has nothing to do with fact, but the promotion of a Trump like brand.   In the latter category we find Sky News in Australia and Fox News  in the US.  Because Dutton appears addicted to a Trump-like version of truth he continues, as do all his acolytes, to undermine sources of news however imperfect which attempt to convey truth realistically – notably the ABC, a source of news paid for by the public purse.
 
5.America first, the rest of the world must fall in behind

Because the US is such a big economy, global best interest matters greatly. What the US does or does not do has a disproportionately greater affect on the wellbeing of others than most other countries.   The threat of abandoning environmental responsibility is morally outrageous for those living in more vulnerable parts of the world.  However, it is also reprehensible action for younger US citizens as well as younger people everywhere in the world. Climate disruption with only a 1.5 degrees rise is barely manageable, the consequences of a three-degree rise, which will happen with this kind of irresponsibility is unthinkable.
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So, Dutton and Reinhart, please learn from the US election, if that is the world you wish to live in, move to the States, it is not a world you should be imposing upon Australia, we are better than that.