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A Win for MAGA

Entry 2372, on 2024-11-06 at 20:42:51 (Rating 3, Politics)

Summary

I express my relief at the end of the US election, indicating that Donald Trump has won. I criticise the biased and repetitive media coverage during the election, which focused on negative portrayals of Trump and positive portrayals of Kamala Harris. I also criticise celebrities who urged people to vote for Harris, arguing that their opinions are not taken seriously.

I defend my support for Trump, arguing that many criticisms of him are unfounded and that his flaws are outweighed by his character and policies. I acknowledge some of Trump's controversial actions but argue that the Democrats are equally responsible for spreading misinformation and inciting violence. I criticise the focus on Harris's gender and race as a basis for voting for her, arguing that it is important to focus on qualifications and policies. I conclude by hoping that the Democrats will learn from the election and present a stronger case for voters in the future.

Full Text

Well, it's basically all over, and I'm so happy about that. Just in case you are wondering, I'm talking about the US election, and as I write this, it's not quite all over, but unless there is a miracle (or some election fraud) Trump has won. I did write a second version of this post for Harris winning, but it looks like I won't need it!

The endless stream of ill-informed, biased, unoriginal nonsense being peddled by the media here was getting to me a bit. I mean, the last few weeks have been so tedious with all of those hours of media coverage, being able to be summarised as: there's an election in the US, it is close, there's a bad man called Trump, there's a wonderful beacon of hope called Kamala, who we really want to win, but we can't come out and say that ourselves, but we will only ask biased commentators to speak and try to choose ignorant sounding Trump supporters to try to discredit him.

And all the celebrities who have made such heart-felt pleas from on high to the common people, asking them to "do the right thing" or threatening to leave the country if they get the wrong result, have not succeeded. I wonder how many of them will actually leave.

I have made no secret of the fact that I would prefer a Trump victory, even though his supporters are likely to be ridiculed and denigrated at every opportunity. Now I can act a bit smug: where did I put my MAGA hat? (Just joking, I don't have one)

But given all the problems with Trump, why do I support him?

Well first, most of the criticisms of him are nonsense. Many of the suggestions on how he might behave when in power can be answered by looking at what happened when he was president four years ago. Did he behave that badly then? Not really. Well, there was the January 6 "insurrection"", but let's deal with that later.

What about his criminal convictions? Is that not enough to make him unfit to be president? If they were genuine, maybe (and that really is "maybe", not definitely), but they weren't genuine. Legal experts have questioned the motivations behind those, and it seems clear they were just a dirty trick to try to discredit him. The fact that they engineered such a antidemocratic and devious plot should be a reason not to vote Democrat!

So, he is loud, unpleasant, and obnoxious, isn't he? Fair enough. You could make that case, but those particular character "flaws" can be an advantage in many situations, and I prefer someone whose true character is on display rather than someone who is constantly saying what is deemed correct according to political expediency.

But, doesn't he lie a lot? Well he does say a lot of stuff which is not backed up with much evidence, although it is rarely without any supporting facts at all. He also indulges in a lot of hyperbole and rhetoric. But in general I find the other side spreading misinformation at least as much. I have heard the Democrats repeating the same discredited material over and over. For example, that Trump wants a nation-wide abortion ban. They are just as bad, if not worse.

So what about January 6? I think that was an extremely unfortunate event, and some of the blame for it must lie with Trump. Even if he thought the election had been stolen (and there was some evidence at various times to say it had) he should have just conceded anyway, for the good of the country. But Jan 6 did happen, even though Trump had asked his supporters not to indulge in violence. There were deaths, but only because of police over-reaction. And the riots the Democrats encouraged (BLM in particular) were much more damaging and lead to far more deaths.

Harris got a lot of support from high profile people, including celebrities, so should we not be taking notice of that and voting accordingly? Well, yes. When we see the most over-rated, mediocre, privileged people in society trying to tell us what to do I think there is a case to do the exact opposite. Maybe celebrities will get the message now: that there opinions are not taken seriously, to a large extent because they live in a fantasy world and are amongst the world's worst narcissists!

But isn't Trump a fascist, or a Nazi, or both? No, he's not. And Harris isn't a communist either. In fact several high profile white nationalists and other people the left tend to criticise have supported the Democrats. They are the ones talking about reducing rights (including free speech) upheld by the Constitution. You could make a case to say they have the more fascist tendencies, however I would just avoid using the word altogether.

What about the other people on Trump's "team". Aren't they dangerous extremists? Again, no. Elon Musk, for example, has had to endure a lot of abuse and even threats to how his businesses can operate, but he has values which seem to make a lot of sense to me. I think he, and other Trump team members, are arguably what the country needs to improve a lot of the problems it faces.

Isn't voting for Kamala just a good thing to do? Isn't electing the US's first female leader something we should celebrate? Well, no. She is clearly a "diversity hire" and I don't think she would have got to the position she has now if she wasn't a woman and was white (I really don't know what her latest claim of racial ancestry is). Voting based on the gender and racial characters of a person, rather than their skills, is not the right thing to do.

Notice that nothing I have discussed so far has said much about the policies of either side. To many people policy seems to be irrelevant. This is more an election about perceptions of the two potential leaders, about vague philosophical proclivities, and about emotion more than rationality. In many ways, policies don't matter.

So the US has chosen Trump, despite the massive forces against him, and I suspect there will be much angst generated by this. Will it be seen as a good result in 4 years time? Well, I don't know. Who knows what the future might hold? I just hope the Democrats learn at least a small amount from this, and can make a more compelling case for Americans' votes, next election.

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