I regard Donald Trump as an abomination - a narcissistic, ignorant, corrupt, racist, misogynistic, mendacious, divisive, President. Much has been written about him, so I do not intend to repeat the obvious here, just mention a few things that have caught my attention or crossed my mind of late.
In Vietnam there is a brand of cigarette called ‘Trump. On the packet is an image of the Statue of Liberty and the word ‘TRUMP in golden capitals. Presumably the creators of this cigarette had Donald Trump in mind. I am not a smoker; I came across Trump cigarettes by chance and bought two packets to show my friends. The vendor told me that Trump is an unpopular brand because it has a nasty taste. How fitting, I thought: cheap and nasty just like Trump himself! Also fitting is the image above the Statue of Liberty of a man smoking a cigarette while coughing his guts up – a government health warning, which could equally be interpreted as a warning against Donald Trump.
Someone sent me a video of a man called Jordan Klepper interviewing Trump supporters outside a rally. Mr Klepper is but adopts a neutral
stance when asking his questions. The ignorance and prejudice of these Trump supporters is breathtaking. One woman says that no matter what proof is offered to the contrary, she will always believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim and a terrorist born outside of the United States. His birth certificate, she says, is fake.
I knew already how woefully uneducated many Trump supporters are, but what intrigues me is this: why do some highly educated intellectuals support Donald Trump? A case in point is my Dutch friend, a man of culture and intellect, with an impressive knowledge of history and world affairs. It astonishes me that he admires Trump. When I asked him if he sees anything bad in Trump, he said no. I find this incredible. If he were to admit that some things about Trump are but that, on the whole, Trump is good for the US and the world, I might take him seriously; but to say there is NOTHING wrong with Trump is bizarre.
My Dutch friend has no time for Joe Biden, saying that the video clips of him touching young girls prove he is a paedophile. This is beyond ridiculous. To
call someone a paedophile is, if untrue, a grave insult, and the videos of Biden contain nothing untoward. They show an elderly man expressing affection, in a paternal or grandfatherly way, for girls. Moreover, in every case Biden is in public, surrounded by many people. He is not surreptitiously doing something dirty; he is being his natural self, which, I suppose, is politically naive when you have Trump sympathizers around looking for any excuse to sabotage Biden.
Someone sent me another video about Trump rallies and Trump supporters. It is an interview with Jeff Sharlet, who specializes in analyzing the intersection between politics and religion. He says that many people regard Trump as a sort of Messiah. They do not wear masks at his rallies, because they believe they are magically protected by the hand of God. They look for secret messages in his tweets, almost as if they are scripture. In their eyes he can do no wrong. For them, a Trump rally is a ritual. Trump and his cult following reminds me of Jim Jones, the phony Messiah, who persuaded 918 people revolutionary suicide on November 18th 1978 in Guyana. I am
at a loss to explain how so many people are blindly devoted to Trump. As he himself said during his campaign in 2016: I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldnt lose any voters, okay? Its like incredible.
I find it hard to sit down with Trump supporters. Even if we talk about other things, the knowledge that the person with me likes Trump is the elephant in the room; I cannot put it out of my mind. For me, indicates a moral vacuum. Recently I have unfriended one man on Facebook for stating that Trump is his hero.
