Tag Archives: Trump

Here we go again…

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So we’re 8 days in, and the new president in the world’s «leading democracy» has started his campaign to make his country great. Or great again, according to his slogan.

It’s true that the USA was one held up as an example to the rest of the free world, but now we seem to be better moving along without them. Or we should use them as a text book example of how NOT to do things.

First, you don’t make any country great by degrading at least half its population as secondary citizens. That goes for both women, LGBTQIA+ and immigrants. You can debate all you want immigrants’ rights to be there, but they are still human beings, and not all the other things Trump is calling them. (And, a friendly reminder that all of your ancestors were once immigrants, but that seems to have slipped your memory.)

As for women, we have the right to control our own bodies, and our own reproductive rights. The conservatives push (and victory in many states) for a total ban on abortions, are not going to eliminate abortions, but instead it will cause thousands of women to die from unsafe abortions and lack of proper healthcare. The same will follow with the re-enactment of the GAG-rule, in other parts of the world. Why is it that American conservative Christians dictate the healthcare given to women, both in their own country, and elsewhere? But we get it, it’s more important to be against abortion at all costs, than taking into consideration that you get blood on your hands through all the unnecessary deaths following from unsafe abortions, refusal of care, or total lack of care due to your policies.

Second, you don’t make a country great by bullying others to obey your petty wishes. I’m sorry, but you have again elected a president that behaves like a spoiled child, and who bullies and intimidates anyone standing in his way. It has nothing to do with the interest of Americans in general, it has to do with his ego.

Third, you don’t make your country great by denying climate change, pulling out of international agreements, and rolling back on the development of green technology and industries. Instead of seeing this as a threat, you should see it as new opportunities and new jobs.

Fourth, you don’t make your country great by removing the pages of the history books that don’t please you and your narrative. You could rather do with an update of your history books, and throw in some real geography at the same time.

Fifth, you don’t make your country great by increasing the social and economic differences. On the contrary, that’s a good recepie for social unrest and violence, but it is perhaps what the president wants? I mean, Marxist equality politics, or as we call it in Scandinavia and Europe, redistribution and well-fare, are really scary stuff! Not sure how we survive on the European side of the Atlantic, with our public funded educational system, public health care and so on.

Sixth, you don’t make your country great, or even make it look great, when your president throws a tantrum each time someone disagrees with him, whether it’s a journalist or a prime minister of another country or someone else. It actually makes it look like you’re run by an idiot.

Your president keeps saying «make America great again», but I don’t know how it’s going to work, both for the above mentioned facts, and then because America was never really that great. You don’t have to dive deep into history, to see all the injustice and bullying the USA has been doing over the years. Both within your own country, and abroad.

The only thing that can make the US great again, is that you elect responsible politicians at all levels, that are more interested in the well-fare of every citizen in your country, and not only interested in clinging to their power and generous pay-checks, actually paid for by the tax payers at the bottom of the hierarchy…

The reason I even bother to write this, is that, unfortunately, the US has too much influence on the global scene, which means US politics actually affects people outside the US. I also feel incredibly sorry for all Americans that didn’t vote for Trump, and I hope you will unite and fight back (with all means except violence!) and that you (and the rest of us) will manage to create a better world in the future.

What can we learn from the American election?

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Yes, I freely admit it. I was one of them who didn’t believe Trump would run off with the victory in this election. He was too much of a bully, a misogynist and not really consequent (except for criticizing Hillary to the detail). That there exist resistance against immigration in USA was neither shocking nor surprising. We have seen too much of the same in Europe the recent years.

Maybe the Americans are not ready for a female president yet? That was more surprising to me at first, but looking to whom she lost against, it’s a natural conclusion.

Because what is most shocking, is that one who evidently looks upon women as objects he can treat as he likes, one who is degrading women, invalids and immigrants to second rate people, still gets enough votes to embark on the position as the world’s most powerful president.

It is obvious that we are many who hasn’t understood what it is that is going on in the American population. Perhaps it is not so strange, because our impression of USA is shaped most of all by what (political) news that reach us, films and tv-series. They clearly tell us next to nothing about the average American everyday life of people in like the Mid-West. As a matter of fact we know hardly anything about the actual living conditions in the USA. Now and then we read about how people have two or three jobs to make ends meet, we read every so often about shootings and murders. But most of all are we fed with “happy” political news from the country where everything is supposedly possible, if you just dream hard enough about it, and films and tv-series where love conquers everything or where the hero always beats the bad guy. What we do know about USA is in other words very superficial.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be so overly surprised about the outcome of this election. At least not if we take a closer look to our “near surroundings”. If you dear take a dive into the comments section in the internet newspapers, you’ll soon realize it’s a rather “muddy business”. Females engaged in debate are told they should be gang raped and beaten the shit out of. And what they write about is not even controversial.

There’s a strong resent against immigration in the comment sections, to put it mildly. The view on women is shocking as we write 2016. I would have thought and hoped for, that these views were thrown out the window long time ago, but evidently we are many being proved wrong about this.

The day after, we clearly see that masses of voters, previously not mobilized, this time finally left their sofas to cast their vote. Masses of voters who long have found themselves overseen and neglected. This is something we should learn from, even in little Norway. Because even if the turnout of the election is higher in Norway than in USA, there’s still plenty of people out there who feels invisible and neglected by the establishment, and the despise against politicians is blooming as the apple trees in Norwegian gardens in May.

I do hope, that also the French political establishment, takes a lesson from this as we are soon to enter into the presidential election campaign here. Marine Le Penn was the first, French politician to congratulate Trump with his victory, honouring the American people for “taking their country back”. The contrast to the rather coldly congratulations from President Holland could not have been more clear.

Le Penn has renewed her inspiration in front of the 2017 elections, and I guess it’s needless to say that I fear she will rise to power.

The European political establishment has to put a finger in the ground, or better still, get grounded. They have to open their eyes and see what is actually going on out there in their own countries. They have to remove their well-polished shoes, and stroll around in the dust trod by normal people. They need to understand why the average man and woman is angry and frustrated.

There’s no use in hanging around in their empowered offices and corridors, fiddling with their ties and wonder about what went wrong. It’s no longer enough to make some visits to construction sites or factories, shake peoples’ hands and think you earned their vote.

Let the average man and woman scream out why they are angry and frustrated, and meet them wih constructive ideas in a language they get.

The rhetoric might be nasty for some time, but at least, words kill nobody.

It would be a shame if we didn’t take any lessons from the American election, but keep shutting our eyes and ears to what concerns most people. If we insist on continuing down that path, we risk ending up with political leaders (I hope at least) the majority of us would rather not see in office.