The Possibility of President Trump

Holy cow. By the time I wake up, there’s a decent possibility that Donald Trump will be elected to become the most powerful man in the world. And in case you’re left wondering about my personal bias, then allow me to assure you that if this happens, I’ll be quite certainly distraught. In fact, I’m already quite upset that the world has gotten to this point, where a large percentage of Americans want an elite and selfish America, where a large percentage of Brits wanted us to leave the EU and look out for purely ourselves. We seem to be regressing to an age of nationalism and pride rather than international co-operation and communication. And as the world becomes more technologically advanced and more connected, you’d expect the latter to be the safer bet.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the rapid evolution of humans in both a cultural and a technological sense, and it’s immediately clear to me that shedding our previous animal traits in preference for more civilised ones is imperative to the continued success of our species. Rape is a horrifying crime, not a fact of the mating world. Violence is replaced with communication, so we can solve our problems instead of killing each other over them. Intelligence is fast outgrowing the need for physical strength, and anyone who wants to cull the gene pool in a fit of utilitarianism is forsaking the imperative rule of human compassion for regression into the previously physically driven tribal world. And most relevantly to this discussion, we’ve evolved from hitting that other band of humans with sticks and rocks until they’re dead, to embracing our differences and working together to live longer.

Can you tell what I think of nationalism in regard to that last remark? Donald Trump wants to “make America great again”, a statement which could mean the uprooting of many of the previous decades of human evolution. He’ll make the US focus more on itself as a military power and frontier of the world, than he will care about diplomacy with other countries. Driven by a life of prejudice and power, Donald Trump is the kid who believes that keeping all the resources for himself is the right thing to do. And it’s alarming that there are enough people in America – and likely in other countries too – that agree with him enough to give him the power to see this through.

If I was to put it in a simple, insulting way, then I suppose I’d say that Donald Trump is a shortsighted neanderthal who puts prejudice in the way of diplomacy, and believes that speaking louder and blocking his ears will get him further in life. And so far, he’s not been proven wrong on that front. But that also brings to mind another point – the social media’s opposition to Donald Trump. I have seen countless posts making fun of his appearance, of his voice and his life and making many personal attacks against his character, and whilst I don’t exactly sympathise with the man and have more than likely participated in this behaviour without thinking, it’s also the kind of behaviour which validates the man. Instead of hearing a strong, ruling voice against him that’s backed by logic and genuine concern, he is – in his own mind – validated in covering his ears and speaking louder because all he hears are irrelevant insults from the anonymous majority. I’d call that the Katie Hopkins effect. When anger gets in the way of your protesting, you shouldn’t spit your vehemence at your target, as you’ll only weaken your own voice. And that’s a flaw that I’ve seen repeated across humankind day in and day out. Our anger gets the better of us, and leads us down self-destructive paths that allow men like Donald Trump to ascend the throne of the world’s largest superpower.

I’m always preaching this on my blog, but I’ll end this with the reminder that our current western culture and civilisation is not a certainty in life. Countless generations have been born into it and we have developed a complacency to this way of life and adopted it as normality. In reality, it’s a fragile construct which could be knocked down at any time by nukes directed by hatred and anger. When you’re voting for a world leader, you’re not just voting for somebody who you agree with to do the things that sounded good to you and those around you. You’re putting into power somebody who has the ability to change the very shape of the world. And that’s often forgotten in petty prejudices and hatreds.

Trump

America is on the cusp of its most anxiously-awaited historical event, and I think I can speak for the rest of the world when I say that we share those anxieties too. Like it or not, America is one of, if not the most powerful country in the world, and it would therefore come as no surprise that the election of its new leader is viewed with scrutiny, nervousness and anticipation. So if the first counter-argument out of your mouth was going to be that as a Brit, it doesn’t concern me, then you can kindly return to your narrow spectrum of cause and consequence in peace.

There isn’t a week that goes by where I don’t hear something about Donald Trump. Oh, he’s just said that he wants to build a wall between America and Mexico. He once tweeted that global warming was a lie by China to propagate their economic importance. He just hinted at assassinating Hillary Clinton whilst talking about gun laws. And every single time I’m convinced that this will be his undoing, that he’s finally slipped up and said or done an unforgivable thing that would easily unravel any other politician.

And people still cheer for him.

This blog post isn’t going to change anything. My anger and disbelief isn’t going to change anything. But I feel the need to get my thoughts regarding this unstoppable figure down on virtual paper before this election goes any further. Not to look back on and say “I told you so”, or because I’m the only person with concerns, but because I can’t go another day listening to that man without saying something about him and against his ideologies.

He doesn’t even speak in complete sentences. When speaking about Hillary Clinton in the hinting of spurring on violence that I mentioned earlier, he said, “If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day.” And this is one of his more intelligible ramblings. I’m not just insulting his grammar here; I’m expanding on my earlier theory that he could say anything, no matter how outrageous and nonsensical, and people will cheer the roof down for him. His campaign is built on ego and force of will, and the majority of arguments I’ve seen against his supporters have always ended with the supporter saying something like, “Haters gotta hate!”, “The left is losing, that’s it, you just gotta accept it,” and other arbitrary remarks, like they’re trying to will their beliefs into existence just by repeating them. I’ve seen people taking joy and mirth in the concerned arguments of others, and I’m reminded of playground arguments where that one kid would always win the argument by simply shouting how right they are.

It’s frustrating.

I cannot shake the belief that by electing Donald Trump, humankind would be revisiting the mistakes of the past which are there to be learned from, and that by ignoring this in an ever-escalating environment of warfare and weaponry, we’ll eventually run out of second chances. We currently live in a western world which is mostly at peace with itself, and many of us have grown complacent in the belief that this world without the constant threat of death and destruction is the default, the norm, and not something that one man’s hatred and prejudice can destroy as it so often has in the past. But we live on the same globe as the immigrants whom we so often turn away, who are not simply migrating but fleeing to our shores in an attempt to escape their land of uncertain life and ever-present death thanks to the hatred of others. All it takes is one misstep for our civilisations to fall into similar states of discord, to the loss of countless lives and lifestyles.

And sure, Hillary Clinton is no saint either. From what I’ve heard there’s plenty of things to be concerned about her being in office. But seeing as she’s the only other option in this election, and she clearly understands the fragility of the world we live in more than Trump, I’d wager that she’s the lesser of two evils and can only hope that four years down the line, some more suitable candidates come along.