I ran across a recent meme by Occupy Democrats (the which I will not present here, one can look it up if so inclined) — a quote of an editorialist from New Zealand who stated something to the effect that Trump personifies everything the rest of the world despises about America: racism, materialism, self-aggrandisement, vulgarity, and that this indicates “how warped the GOP has become”. Suggesting, I suppose, that America would have been much better off with Clinton at the helm, since she’s *such* a better person.
Well, that’s one way to see it, I guess.
Let’s unpack this a bit:
- According to Secret Service personnel who spent a lot of time with HRC, she repeatedly (and angrily) uses racial slurs , whereas accusations that Trump’s a racist are, on closer inspection, distorted if not blatantly fabricated
- HRC exhibits ‘crass materialism’ herself with her fraudulent foundation (look it up — only 5% or so of the billions it collected for Haitians ever made it there), while Trump gives millions to various charities and causes, and underwrote most of his campaign himself, spending a fraction of what HRC spent (he beat her mostly with the non-stop coverage he received from an obsessed mainstream media and a free Twitter account)
- Self-aggrandizement — a less flattering term for “self-promotion”, and what politician doesn’t indulge in that? the Clintons are no strangers to it
- Studies have shown that using vulgarity is good for your health… relieves stress.
God knows, Trump has plenty of faults… but he still whooped HRC’s ass (feeling less stressed now) in the heartland of America, including in what had been several traditional Dem strongholds. I see this as less of a wholesale endorsement of all-things Trump than it was a severe repudiation of HRC and the debilitating progressive policies she represented.
But it *does* break my heart that some editorialist in New Zealand apparently despises America. I’ll lose sleep over that.
But seriously — I think, insomuch as America is despised abroad, it has less to do with the personality traits of any particular president and more to do with the meddling empiricism of the US in recent decades, under both Dems and Pubs. That’s where the rubber meets the road when it comes to US administrations and policies, and where historical perceptions are forged outside the US. Forget such niceties as personality traits — has MY neighborhood become a target?
If the future perception of Trump is that of a provincial rube who nonetheless managed to unleash fewer drone strikes and bombing missions on the world (see Bush Jr *and* Obama), and lowers global tensions generally, does anyone honestly think those outside the US will judge him harshly for his populist nationalism?
In that regard, Hillary promised more of the same. Her misadventure in Libya was just a taste of what she would have dished up as president, while Trump is already working as pres-elect to normalize relations abroad, and has repeatedly stated he plans to be more selective when it comes to international skirmishes (which, not being a progressive war-monger who believes it’s America’s job to police the planet, I support).
His success with all that has yet to be seen, of course, and if leftist fears that he will impulsively descend the country into WW3 pan out, then (assuming I survive) I will obviously not be pleased with his performance. But early indicators suggest he will be considerably less trigger-happy than Clinton, whose record of international meddling as SoS and frequent displays of rage (as revealed by Clinton-camp insiders) are well-documented — she was described as being infuriated, depressed, inconsolable and drinking heavily on election night. In this light, her frequent declarations that “Trump does not have the temperament to be president” are laughable. Flyover America saw this, and that’s just one of many reasons why Hillary was Trumped.
