His rise is utterly
remarkable, unpredictable, and unprecedented. Weeks out from the Republican
Party National Convention, he knocked out 17 other Republican candidates,
including well-known and experienced politicians. Trump has received more votes
in a Republican presidential primary season than any other candidate in
history.
Let’s face it: this is the most unusual US Presidential
election in our lifetime. Well-known, experienced politicians have been
sidelined while populists are taking centre stage. The experts are dumbfounded
as a volatile electorate endorses candidates who would have been dismissed as
improbable only a few years before. The two main populist candidates are Bernie
Sanders and Donald Trump.
On the far left
Socialist Bernie Sanders, a US Senator from Vermont, is an independent who
seeks the Democratic nomination for President. He would be comfortable with the
likes of Fidel Castro, who promised the people of Cuba free education and free
healthcare. Yet Castro ruled with a rod of iron in the worse tradition of
totalitarian dictatorship, causing boat exodus from Cuba to Florida that dwarfs
what Australia has experienced. Younger Americans view Bernie as a ‘rock star’
(‘I can feel the Bern’) who speaks about the unfairness of Wall Street, the
banks, promises to write off student debt and level the economic playing field.
The Democratic
front-runner, Hillary Clinton, is an intelligent, hard-working woman, with
universal name recognition, an impressive resume of offices held, and plenty of
campaign money. But she is viewed as ‘untrustworthy’ and ‘untruthful,’ with an
on-going FBI investigation into her emails while US Secretary of State, along
with her role in the collapse of Libya and the Benghazi disaster, which led to
the assassination of the US ambassador Christopher Stevens. Critics say she has
been big on busyness but short on accomplishments.
In the centre-left is
Donald Trump, who seeks the Republican Party nomination for US President.
The ‘rise of Trump’ is
an enigma, in part, because he does not easily fit into any mould. He is not
a conservative in any traditional sense of the word. He is for
protectionism, taxing the rich, soft on abortion and same-sex marriage. He has
been married three times, did business with casinos, and attends his New York
Presbyterian Church when he can.
However, the
‘conservative’ side of Trump is for border protection. He says that the global
warming scare is exaggerated and the proposed solutions will harm jobs. He
promises to appoint conservative Supreme Court justices and a less
interventionist foreign policy (America should not be be the policeman of the
world).
Americans, like other
westerners, want the government safety net or entitlement programs like the
Social Security (old age pension) and Medicare (government provided health care
for the elderly). Never mind that these are exceedingly costly, wasteful, play
a significant role in increasing the ballooning US national deficit, and are
less efficient than private enterprise.
This is progressivism:
it promises to ‘take care of you’ and your interests through big government
involvement. In practice, it means in exchange for heavy taxes, much
regulation, a more autocratic government that has no problem with interfering
in people’s lives or fighting wars, ‘big brother in Washington DC’ will be
watching out for you.
Despite its
unsustainability and poor return, Social Security is such a sacred cow in the
United States that even the mere mention of touching it arouses the wrath of
‘grey power.’ Woe to any politicians who even breathes the word ‘reform;’ they
will be run out of town! So the deficit increases.
Trump is unlikely to
reform the safety net - he is going to preserve it. That means, with his
populist, politically incorrect message yet ‘give and take’ on conservative
issues, he has a fighting chance to be President. This is remarkable
considering questions on his character, gaps in knowledge, and questionable
conservatism.
In any case, the 2016
US presidential election will be anything but dull.
Next month, we will
look at the topic: Could God be behind the rise of Donald Trump?
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