Today is a momentous day. As the cameras and microphones were steadied towards the podium, the world sat back in silence and waited for the spectacle. As the people behind computer screens hit refresh repeatedly, the news broke: Donald Trump is now the President of the United States.
President Trump
People expect it, you know? Politics is like a bad circus where they attempt to juggle topics and throw the blame around but drop the ball constantly. And the more you pay attention, you realise: nothing really changes — but that frustration has come to a head in 2016.
There’s that saying “3 things you don’t talk about at a dinner party: religion, money and politics.” Well, these three topics were forced on to everyone’s dinner plates when the global threat of ISIS and the war in Syria made people more paranoid than ever.
Many people thought Trump’s candidacy would never gain traction. But people’s fear reached a height nearing hysteria. Muslim refugees and immigrants became seen as a threat to the US physically, culturally and economically. People were either angry or scared and wanted protection.
In other words, America was primed for someone like Donald Trump. A man who unleashed that fear from the “shackles” of “Political Correctness,” amped it up, and combined it with the hate, frustration and distrust the people have for politicians and the establishment.
He sold to the idea of being a man with his own money who isn't paid off by corporations. He fostered people’s nationalistic pride and gave voice to those who felt underrepresented — the people who some refer to as “the every man.”
The fall of the Democrats
However misguided this may be, with Trump being a member of the elite who has exploited “the every man” himself, what the average voter wants is a simple solution to one complex issue: the government and its two-party democratic system which has made people utter the words “the lesser of two evils” a few too many times.
Bernie Sanders did something similar in reaching out to the underrepresented, but from a far less destructive angle. Instead of trying to unite people through hatred and patriotic entitlement, Bernie did so by turning the frustration purely against the government. He championed the populist flag and only took donations from grassroots organisations.
He unequivocally pushed for socialism and denounced the corruption of the government. Bernie gave voice to the other untapped resource of disillusioned democratic voters. Hillary had no choice but to adopt at least some of his far left views in order to retain her popularity — which worked to make her the nominee.
But in the end, democrats lost because of Clinton. To the voters, she was the embodiment of the government and all its surreptitious depravity over decades of American politics. It was due to this very fact that during the primaries, many Bernie supporters expressed that if Bernie lost, they would prefer Trump over Hillary; as he is someone who came from outside of the government’s box.
And so the people got their wish.
This, I think, can be seen as the silver lining in the midst of this disaster. This historic and catastrophic election will send a powerful message to the politicians around the world that drastic change is possible.
If people are desperate enough, they will take any chance to remove duplicitous politicians — even at the expense of having Donald Trump as a leader. And Trump, Sanders and inadvertently, Clinton, have made us all realise, those who have been apathetic, silent or both are in fact important. Because changing their minds means change itself.
What we experienced today is a modern age revolution with the wrong leader at the helm. This could happen in the UK, it has already happened in Australia (to a lesser degree) with Pauline Hanson.
Hopefully, this election will be the rude awakening for all politicians across the democratic landscape in every country. If change isn’t provided, someone will bulldoze their way in to make it happen.
Give the people a chance for real change.
