Just a Wee Blether…

About America’s unpopularity contest

This time last year very few people took seriously the prospect of the Brexit movement succeeding, and the UK chortled at the thought that Boris Johnson might hold one of the country’s great offices of state. At the same time Donald Trump’s chances of ascending to the US Presidency were put at 1%. Now he has a 50/50 chance, only Hillary Clinton stands in his way.

Forget Game of Thrones. If you thought the Battle of the Bastards ended when Jon Snow defeated the forces of Ramsay Bolton, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Trump and Clinton are two of the most despised figures in the US, yet one of them is going to become President – what Americans like to call the Leader of the Free World.

We should be under no illusions that what has happened here over the past 12 months has been nothing short of a political revolution. I have been fascinated by American politics for a long time and have watched ‘alternative’ candidates come and go. Trump, love him or hate him, has achieved the unthinkable.

The two-party system of American politics is so corrupt it stinks to high heaven. That system has been torn to shreds. The Republican Party might not admit it, but there is in effect no Republican candidate this time around. Sure, Trump has been endorsed but he is no Republican, he has hijacked the party and he could easily have done exactly the same with the Democrats. In all honesty he is leading the Trump Party.

So traditional Republican supporters who normally vote the party line will have to think twice this election. Trump has proved himself a great opportunist. Republican candidates of recent years – McCain, Palin, Romney – have been dire. Not one of the plethora of candidates that announced their intentions for the 2016 election looked worthy of the job. Trump saw an opening, took a chance, and won the day.

And let’s not run away with the idea that his calls for a wall on the Mexican border, a ban on Muslim immigrants, a trade war with China, are the rantings of a madman. Trump knew precisely what he was doing. He was tapping into a deep well of anti-establishment frustration, fuelled by the belief that the politicians in Washington had deserted the man in the street. The people were lost and he was their saviour.

To an extent he was right, politicians of both parties have been lining their pockets for decades at the expense of the taxpayer and an overhaul of the system is long overdue. But Trump has also whipped up a climate of fear and paranoia, a feeling that the world is against America, and that ‘anti-Americans’ in society are threatening the nation’s traditional values and way of life. Of course he means members of ‘other’ races and it all sits well with a large section of society.

The former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke announced on Friday that he was to run for a Senate seat in Louisiana, declaring, “I’m overjoyed to see Donald Trump and most Americans embrace most of the issues that I’ve championed for years.”

In recent months America seems to have been consumed by one of its sporadic spasms of violence and unrest. At the heart of it, as always, are the issues of race and the gung-ho forces of law and order. During the same period, I have heard the N-word and other racial slurs, normally restricted nowadays to behind-closed door settings, used more commonly and with more confidence.

Trumpism has achieved what wannabe Presidential candidates such as Ross Perot and, further back in time, William Randolph Hearst and Henry Ford failed to do. The man is one good campaign away from the White House.

So how have the Democrats responded to this outpouring of anti-establishment sentiment? In typical arrogant fashion, they have all but ignored it and carried on as if nothing has happened. It’s like the political equivalent of Dumb and Dumber. While Americans have been railing against the Washington political elite, the Democrats have smoothed the path of a candidate who is not just part of the establishment, but a member of an establishment dynasty – and a deeply unpopular one at that.

Hillary Clinton has made history by becoming the first female Presidential candidate and for that she should be praised. But she comes with a terrific amount of negative baggage, and lacks the undoubted charisma of her husband. One commentator remarked this week that Clinton compared with Trump was like ‘watching the television test page’.

Last year the Republicans were pushing Jeb Bush as the anointed candidate. No-one wanted another Bush in the White House and it remains to be seen how many are keen on another Clinton.

Trump may be an egomaniac in every sense of the word but he is in a very strong position. His promises at the Republican Convention that he would bring back jobs to depressed cities such as Detroit and Cleveland were nonsense – but the people loved hearing them.

A few short weeks ago the British people fell for the spin of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage and voted to leave the EU. It has turned the established political class on its head. So will the US continue where Britain left off? Don’t bet against it.

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