Originally Posted by geotag277
I imagine this is a pretty common sentiment, and what is striking to me is how it lacks empathy or any attempt whatsoever to see things from the other side of the aisle. It is an endemic attitude that is becoming more and more pervasive among politics, and reminds me heavily of the attitudes towards Stephen Harper. Chants of "there is no possible reason in the entire world to vote for this monster!", "if you support Harper you should be ashamed of yourself!", and similar sentiments trying to vilify even the thought of anyone having a political point of view different than your own.
Now, I don't expect many Canadians to be all that well educated on Trump, especially as most get their perspective on him through the eyes of the media. Many people outside America just like to point and laugh at American policies, spend very little time actually critically thinking about things, and can't wait to jump on the "those ridiculous Americans, look how stupid they are for voting for this guy!" bandwagon.
An important point is that people don't vote for a candidate for their flaws. Clinton, Harper, Trudeau, Trump. They are all flawed candidates. People vote for the candidate who gets the major things right.
People don't vote for Clinton because she used an email server and her campaign colluded to sabotage Sanders in the primaries. They vote for her because they generally want to see a continuation of Obama's policies.
People don't vote for Trudeau because of nepotism. They vote for him because they agreed with his platform.
That said, if people are actually interested in why Trump is so popular, I will try to explain in three reasons.
The biggest reason, I believe, is that this election is a referendum on free trade. It's important to note that Sanders was also loudly criticizing free trade, so Sanders and Trump actually have more in common than people like to pretend. For many, this is the number one economic issue and everything else is background noise. Economies in several states have been devastated by expanding trade, including notably Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, but it has affected every state in the country. Corporations, both large and small, have exploited lopsided trade deals to erode salaries, erode jobs, and have hung the sword of Damocles over state governments to operate virtually tax free by threatening to cut even more jobs.
Along with that, the massive outsourcing of labor to jurisdictions which have no minimum wage, low minimum wage, no worker protections, no unions, no health care has fueled unprecedented income inequality, such that the only individuals actually benefiting from these schemes are the owners of the companies, the executives who receive large bonuses for saving money by killing American jobs and outsourcing, and the people with enough money to invest in the stocks of these companies that continually outsource.
People are tired of it and desperately want to have a national conversation about free trade. It is also what made Sanders so popular. For many people, this is the signature issue of the election, and everything else is just background noise.
Another large reason I think Trump appeals to people is his foreign policy perspective. He talks in large strokes about this, but people are really tired of America's interventionist foreign policy, spending trillions of dollars on a myriad of wars. Foreign policy has been directed by Bush and Clinton administrations since 1988. People are desperate for a change of direction and Trump represents that change. This is an incredibly important aspect of the presidency that gets overlooked for sensationalized media distractions.
Finally, another large part of his appeal is that Trump represents being a political outsider. People may forget, but in 2008 Obama was largely elected on the platform of bringing change to government and being himself distanced from the establishment. Americans have been signalling for a long time they are tired of the status quo, and want a politician to stand up to corruption. Obama didn't really deliver that, but the popularity of both Sanders and Trump shows how much Americans desperately want to see this kind of change.
Of course Trump is a flawed candidate. Perhaps the most flawed in a generation. But people support him because they believe he gets the major things correct. And having this attitude that people who disagree with you should be ashamed of themselves, and trying to paint Trump as some incorrigible monster who would literally burn America to the ground is not only adding fuel to the fire of modern highly partisan political divisions, it is incredibly disrespectful to almost half the entire country that simply has a different political opinion than you.
Empathy. It's what is lacking in modern political conversations.
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