Wednesday, 2 March 2016

MR. DUMPF


As always, American politics is proving to be an incessant sensationalist sideshow that the world can’t take their eyes off of – and contrary to what some of you think out there, that is not a good thing. In fact, as a resident of the United Kingdom, it is often downright embarrassing. To be clear, I think it’s safe to say that if you have a brain in your head (sadly many don’t) most politicians are to be held at arm’s length, and not to be trusted. They operate within a world where sound bites rule, promises are a dime a dozen and the main aim is to appease the masses without having to hold true to pretty much anything. And not to be utterly cynical, but the system supports (and breeds) a certain type of individual that is easy to despise. It’s a world that is rife with in-fighting, hypocrisy, back channel deals and hard lined, often selfish agendas that have very little do with what is good for the common citizen. If you think otherwise, ohhhh how I wish to live in that perfect world again.

In this very vein, at the moment, Mr. Dumpf (one biographer said the Trump family name was just this before it “evolved over the centuries” so now this is the only name I shall use) has taken American politics from the circus that it already was (let’s be honest, we’re the only country on earth that conducts campaigns in the outlandish - and overblown - manner that we do) to the utter absurd, obscene and vulgar. If you disagree, stop reading, we will simply never see eye to eye on this man. To reiterate what’s already out there, Trump is outspoken to say the least. Which is actually one characteristic of his I can actually stomach. Where it becomes positively dangerous is when he wades into the waters of hate speech, racism and misogyny (this shouldn’t be news to anyone as he’s been a misogynist for a long long time). Whatever a politician’s views are, we’d all like to think they could express them with some eloquence, dignity and most importantly, some consideration for the country to which they’re speaking. 

America is a melting pot of men AND women, of all shapes, colours and creeds and like it or not that is what we were founded upon: a bunch of immigrants running from the mother ship disavowing tea (ha).  For a potential candidate to find it amusing – cause one thing Dumpf does is amuse himself to no end - to denigrate certain sects of people with such disregard and callousness, well, I find it utterly vile. To take it one step further, Dumpf is an outright racist – his own words have earned him this label - deeming Mexicans as rapists and all Muslims as threats in need of bracelet branding like they’re mere animals. Of course, not settling with just branding them, he's also called on an outright ban of all Muslims from entering the United States. Whatever you choose to believe, Islam is the second largest religion in the world with over 1.6 billion adherents, and Mr. Dumpf has spent a many of years doing business with the very people he now wants to tag and shove in Guantanamo. To truly humanize this (as often this gets lost in all the sensationalist b.s.), if you were a hard working Muslim living and working in the United States, and your own President to-be suggested you be tagged and or shipped out? How on earth would you feel about this? Like an animal no less, and to be frank, I'd be scared as hell. This happened once in history by another rhetoric spewing hate monger and we know how that turned out.

But moreover, what gets under my skin even more than Dumpf are those individuals that support him but claim to not espouse to his beliefs. If you support a candidate that is racist (he mildly disavowed the KKK. Not vehemently or immediately, but mildly after considering it a bit…the flipping KKK) and misogynist, you my friend are dancing dangerously close to being just that. (And if you are a woman supporting this man, I'm pretty sure you need to explore your self esteem issues). You are in support of a man that is quoted as saying that he thinks we should “treat women like shit.” You are in support of a man that attempts to humiliate a prominent female journalist by talking about her period as an excuse for her intellectual decisions. You are in support of a man that spews insults and ugly rhetoric like a bully in the schoolyard. And you are supporting a man who is against your undeniable right to choice when it comes to your own body. Recently, in a three day period, Trump changed his stance on abortion five times and concluded that woman who receive illegal abortions should be 'punished.' 

Now, for those of you screaming at the computer that you just want America to return ‘back to what it was…” What was it exactly? A country of immigrants? Yes, that’s what we started as, so fine, we can go back to that…A country of gun toting capitalists that shrink at the mere word socialism cause god forbid we should help anyone but ourselves? Gosh, there is something to aspire to. If you think that Trump is going to make America great again, I’ve got some sad sobering news for you.  A man that clings to hate speech and bullying is not what we stand for, what we’ve ever stood for, and its shameful to even conceive that this man should be a representative for us in the global community. Not to mention, the swirling culture of hate and violence at his own rallies is surreal at best, ending in the arrest of Trump's own campaign manager for assault on a woman attending one of his rallies. In pure and simple terms, the Trump campaign is a circus sideshow. 

As one (clearly intellectually stunted) woman stated, I’m voting for Trump cause America wants “more of a celebrity now.” That mere statement should scare the sh*t out of you.  I don’t know about you, but I want more from the leader of my country then a spray tan and a sound bite. 



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