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I recently visited my relatives on the west coast after many years’ absence. We are all getting on in years and I would not describe my family as political in any real sense of that word. I was shocked at the level of vitriol expressed in regard to what is happening in the United States. My take on this is that ordinary Australians are disgusted by Trump’s America. The dysfunctional nature of Washington DC and wanton cruelty happening in the US, under Donald Trump, has Aussies upset. It is hard to get your head around the extremism of the actions taken by the Trump regime.
“President Donald Trump is barreling forward with his administration’s heavy-handed efforts across the United States, in rather ominous and drastic ways. In recent days alone, his administration has tried to skirt a Trump-nominated judge’s ruling against his use of the National Guard in Portland, Oregon. “
Trump’s Fascist America Shocking Us Downunder
Armed masked troops in the streets of the big cities, like Chicago and LA, is very reminiscent of Nazi Germany in the 1930s. The lies told by Trump and his allies about what is happening in America are not concocted for no reason. This is an authoritarian takeover of what once had been the world’s greatest democracy. It was never perfect, far from it, but it did offer free speech if not much else in the way of equality of economic opportunity. The symbolic nature of the USA is gone under the jackboots of Trump’s white supremacist thugs. If you have brown skin in these cities freedom is no longer something you can in any way rely upon.
“Hang on, didn’t the Right campaign on the evils of cancel culture??? Donald Trump and MAGA banged on about those on the Left limiting free speech. Now, in power the Trump regime is using its authority to effectively stifle Liberal comediennes like Jimmy Kimmel and getting the Late Show cancelled. Trump’s nutjob cabinet are threatening all and sundry with arrest for saying stuff they do not agree with. The hypocrisy of Trump is heinous. They are using this bogus antisemitism false flag to attack academics and students in US universities. Threatening them with ICE agents and taking away their right to live and work in the United States.”
US Dictator’s Actions Concern Even Conservative Australians
A recent visit to the clubhouse of my golf course, not a bastion of radicalism as you can well imagine, registered similar concerns voiced in conversations with members there. Old white men shaking their heads in disgust at the lies and cruelty being perpetuated by extremist Trump cabinet secretaries and their goons. The consensus being that you cannot carry on with such behaviour without it coming back and biting you on the arse. The people will not take it. The citizenry will rise up and fight back. Americans are not known for their apathy. I do not see America rolling over and becoming like Putin’s Russia without some sort of armed resistance. Having an ally putting armed soldiers in the streets of its own cities is not a comforting thing. It bespeaks of a failure of leadership at its most basic level.
US Economy In All Sorts Of Trouble
Australians are disgusted by Trump’s America. Having followed American capitalism into a neoliberal order downunder, many of us are looking around over there with real concern. The cost of living has been eating away at the lifestyles of many Australians. The extreme focus on the profit motive and ever greater shareholder returns has not delivered increased wealth for a large number of us. Everything is so bloody expensive, even what used to be called the basics of life. Food, shelter and energy. The market has not delivered good outcomes for all Australians, especially our younger generation. If America goes belly up and the financial signs are worrying, as we speak, following their lead may not be the best idea. It is, obviously, time for a complete re-evaluation. It is not ‘business as usual’ folks!
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The Stoic Golfer; Money Matters and America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump.
©MidasWord
