What can we learn from the current political situation in America? Further to that, what ramifications does that potentially have for Australians? There is no denying that Australia tends to follow the United States in terms of business trends and culturally to some extent. This is no accident, of course, as many of these things are actively imported by local parties wishing to profit from their uptake downunder. Why copying America is bad for Australia. Examples of this include: neoliberalism, the gig economy, the fast food sector, Big Tech monopolies and the manosphere. President Donald Trump dominates the global news with his succession of tariffs and now, wars inflating economies detrimentally. Trump leads the right wing party known as the Republican Party or the GOP. Republicans have long been the party of conservatism and were once considered the better economic managers than their rivals. This has all changed under Trump, as his MAGA base took over via primaries and imposed the politics of grievance protesting against wokeness and anything vaguely considered progressive. Trump hates renewable energies like wind and solar.
Aussie Right Wingers Follow America
Those on the Right shifted their pitch from responsible economic management to the culture wars instead. This much more emotive fodder has impassioned right wing voters around issues like gender reassignment for teenagers, LGBTQI stuff more generally, illegal immigration, refugees, DEI, and race/national identity. President Trump champions white supremacy and misogyny on a daily basis via his constant Truth Social posts. MAGA eats this up for breakfast, lunch and tea. Bemoaning the fate of the poor white man has become a favourite national pastime. The politics of grievance feeds on the millions of folk who feel hard done by via their lifetime experiences. One Nation in Australia is mining that rich vein of grievance right now in a bid to reproduce the American results here. Selfish folk who only think of themselves, which is a common right wing trait, often, find that they did not get everything they wanted and are looking for someone other than themselves to blame. Populist politics is all about the blame game and harvesting the protest vote for their own electoral gain. Has President Trump delivered on his promises to MAGA voters on affordability and no more forever wars – no, he hasn’t. Populists rarely deliver the solutions they promise prior to gaining office.
One Nation Is Aussie MAGA
In Australia, we witnessed the Right, formerly led by the strident Peter Dutton before his electoral smashing, embarking on the culture wars over the old saw of responsible economic management. Dutton was victorious in leading the No vote in a referendum about an Indigenous Voice to parliament. He railed against the Right’s usual suspects, refugees, immigration, gender stuff, wokeness and racial minorities in the firing line. Peter Dutton and the Libs left economic credibility far behind in their batshit crazy nuclear power policy. Then, they made the fateful step to bring out Trump’s campaign manager to Australia for the federal election in 2025. The outcome was a disaster of epic proportions, leaving Labor with the largest parliamentary advantage ever. Pauline Hanson, the leader of One Nation, has visited Trump’s Mara-Lago and sings Donald Trump’s praises. Her oligarchical benefactor, Gina Rinehart, wants a MAGA like Australia, where she can more freely and profitably mine its resources. Less red tape is often a euphemism for cronyism and kleptocracy. So, bear that in mind when they talk about slashing government waste. Right wing populist parties seek to ride the protest vote engendered by the politics of grievance for their own aggrandisement. Remember that Trump is the lesson in real time folks – don’t look away.
Pauline Hanson Loves Trump
Australia likes to copy the US and especially those on the Right. Former PM Tony Abbott, who sold the Port of Darwin to the Chinese, is a big fan of One Nation, these days. Tony tried to make Australia more like America via his unsuccessful push to privatise our top universities during his time in government. The Right has spent 50 years trying to kill off Medicare, to leave us in the invidious health insurance space that America lives in, where more Americans declare bankruptcy over their inability to meet their medical bills than for any other single reason. Neoliberalism is an American political/economic poison, which has infected much of the world. Selling off valuable public assets cheaply to private interests, with the promise of greater efficiencies and cheaper services for consumers. The promises were never delivered on cheaper prices for consumers but made a few billionaires along the way. Have a think about recent American business trends and inventions. The fast food sector is economically predicated upon young adults not being paid proper wages for their work. The gig economy, likewise, has delivery drivers and riders, often, not earning the minimum hourly rate, whilst risking their own vehicles at their own expense. These sectors are exploiting workers for the benefit of share holders and consumers. America promotes dog eat dog, zero sum games for the benefit of the wealthy. American multinationals like Uber and McDonalds avoid paying their fair share of corporate tax in Australia by shifting their profits to tax havens via dubious IP charges to associated entities. You can see a pattern here, where American companies don’t want to pay taxes and pay their workers and subcontractors as little as possible. This is the America they are exporting to Australia and which Pauline Hanson is so enamoured of. Pauline Hanson loves Trump.
The Right Is Eating Itself Downunder
One Nation has just won the Farrer byelection, taking it from the Liberal Party after its former leader Sussan Ley retired from politics after her recent defeat in a leadership spill to Angus Taylor. The Right in Australia and elsewhere is in thrall to the Far Right and the manosphere. Whilst Pauline Hanson might not be a bloke, she has long spoken plainly about her racist and white supremacist views. One Nation has strong appeal in regional and outer suburban areas where Australians do not live closely together and have not learned to tolerate diversity. Anglo-white settler antecedents run much stronger in regional areas downunder than in cities. Farrer has never been held by the Labor Party and they did not field a candidate in this most recent contest. It is a regional seat most often held by the National Party or the Libs. One Nation is eating up the vote of the Coalition and may well force its way into that political marriage of convenience. Who said that 3 is a crowd at this new time of Trumpian morals on the Right? I mean Donald Trump is a known sexual abuser and used to hang out closely with Jeffrey Epstein as his best buddy. Those on the Right celebrate the manosphere and men taking what they want, however.
The Manosphere Drives The Right
Interestingly, American Christian Nationalists have made a pact with Trump, despite his criminal and sexual proclivities. Something about doing deals with the Devil must appeal to these once righteous folk. The price of power is sullying oneself with unsavoury characters in this tryst. The manosphere rules these fans of Old Testament religion, where women must know their place beneath their master. The South plays a large part in Trump’s electoral success. The former slave states still hold the whip hand via gerrymandering to keep the Blacks down and their version of Christianity was never hampered by the institution of slavery back then. The invention of a blue eyed Jesus, whiter than white, continues the exceptional American talent for manufacturing fictions and selling them enmasse. The Supreme Court (SCOTUS) has just struck down the last vestiges of the Voting Rights Act, freeing the South to rig their voting maps even more effectively to squash any seats that might have voted Democrat. Donald Trump is a mob boss who has sewn up the Republican Party tighter than his own wallet. It means that Americans in the South have lost what little democratic rights they had to cast a meaningful vote. This is what totalitarian regimes do to stay in power.
Your Adherence To American Culture
So, as you sit there sipping your bourbon, your JD or Jim Bean and Coke have a think about your own slavish adherence to America. Perhaps, you are fiddling with your devices running Microsoft Windows or chatting on Facebook or Instagram or WhatsApp. Maybe, you are asking ChatGPT about the meaning of life and getting it to write your resume. Ask yourself, who the fuck am I? Do you actually have an identity outside of Big Tech screentime? The shows you watch on streaming services and the wall to wall digital entertainment filling your waking hours. You may be in harness via the home loan you are paying off and feeding the huge profits of the big banks. Or struggling to meet unaffordable rent on the roof over your head. You want change, some relief from the grindingly oppressive cost of living. Just remember the Trump experiment in America and how that is going for folk over there. Copying America is what got us in the shit in the first place. Greedy bastards and billionaires sucking us dry. Don’t fall for the first mob promising stuff that you want to hear. Charlatans in the model of Trump have no shame. Be careful what you wish for!
“Driving through a town/suburb the other day I felt sorry for the residents in that area. Dementia and mental illness is a scourge in Australia. Imagine being so easily confused that you are forced to display your national flag outside your home in order to remind yourself which country you live in. It is a sad state of affairs when feeble mindedness is so apparent on the streets of our communities. It does not help that so many of the goods that these folk buy are made in China. Even the 4×4 giant Utes many of these guys drive are made in China and purchased because they are cheap. On the other hand, all the tech we use is American, the social media and much of the hardware is American owned and made in China. I am not sure if flying a flag outside your residence counts for much when your lifestyle choices tell a very different story. Paper thin patriots thick on the ground downunder.”
Robert Sudha Hamilton is the author of The AI Heresy; What Price Life?; America Matters: Pre-apocalyptic Posts & Essays in the Shadow of Trump; and other titles. NOW AVAILABLE AT APPLE BOOKS & GOOGLE PLAY BOOKS. Google Play Books AUDIOBOOK
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The AI Heresy: A Betrayal of Humanity – Epub
Golf got me started on this new book. It was my golf game that got me thinking about what was happening inside my head over the golf ball. How my expectations had been influenced by computers and the digital world we now inhabited. The expectation of instantaneous results, as if in front of a computer screen or on your smart phone. Golf, of course, is not like that – it is an ancient game. Royal and ancient! Anyways, The AI…