The unthinkable only becomes remotely thinkable till it happens. Donald Trump successfully captivated the frustration of an average white American and this backlash reverberated across the world. Just like many others, I became a passive observer throughout the Trump phenomenon which was marked with xenophobia, hatred and pure disrespect.
Significant lessons can be drawn from the historic presidential election, probably the most momentous being, not to underestimate the power of democracy. I do not question as to why Donald Trump is the President of the United States, he clearly is a product and celebration of a fair democratic procedure. My scepticism arises from the uncertainty of what Donald Trump’s actions would be.
Mr Trump must remember that his voters are frustrated with the system, the political elites and the economic disparity.
How will Trump save average Americans from the political elite when his only guiding principle is his ego?
Trump’s campaign heavily focused on the capture of the government by a certain class of political elite who thereby exploit an average American citizen. But how will he save these average Americans from a similar fate when his only guiding principle is his ego?
His voters hoped that one charismatic leader could change the political system. However, Mr. Trump’s only experience in the field of international relations is him being the owner of a highly successful, yet questionably transparent and ethical global real estate enterprise. Let us remember that diplomatic relations of the United States of America (labelled the global symbol of stability after the Cold War) will be carried out by him.
The constituent population of the USA is governed by immigrants who initially travelled from Europe to give birth to this nation. It would have been ludicrous to ask to ‘go back’ if he wasn’t serious. He promised his voters that he would banish the immigrants but how exactly will his government carry out the deportation of millions of these citizens?
His second important claim is to ‘bring the jobs back’. Exactly which jobs are these and where are they coming back from? I’m sure that even he does not know. This idea could have shaped when Trump was chugging beer with his ignorant buddies and cursing Asians for taking up ’their’ jobs. Since the 2008 recession, the manufacturing and coal sector in the United States has in fact expanded.
But where must we go from here? Actually, where must he go from here?
The predominant danger that Donald Trump brings is his disrespect towards multiple facets including: established institutions such as the media and democracy, the Democrats and overall everyone. The world could work better without Trump’s sheer ignorance and hatred.
Yet, all we can do now is watch with a bated breath and let the future unveil, because praying for the best clearly didn’t work.
