I've made a point in my short online blogging career of not getting involved in Trump's
America.
That is, I have made very few comments, neither negative nor positive, about the current administration
of US President Donald Trump.
However, I made a rather offhand comment about Trump in one of my recent videos.
Specifically, I said that it wouldn't surprise me if Trump sent in a team of marines to take
care of the tribal aggressors on North Sentinel Island.
To be fair, he didn't do this.
It's just a thought that crossed my mind.
Other podcasters have said similar things.
The comment might have been inappropriate.
It might have been ridiculous — but I had the right to say it.
Quickly I found out that if you dare mention Trump in an unfavourable light, prepare to
be attacked.
Ardent Trump supporters do not like to hear dissenting voices.
One such commenter even said that he'd given a thumbs down to all my videos, unsubscribed,
and blocked my account.
Fair enough, he has the right to do so.
But isn't that a rather disproportionate response?
I made one comment, that never turned out to be true, and the Trump supporter felt that
it was worthy of the online equivalent of "disowning" me.
And that's the focus in this recording — How far will fervent supporters of Trump go?
I'll make the argument that vehement support for any leader or candidate is not good for
a country and will only bring about division, resentment, and the ultimate downfall of that
society.
Just a bit of a disclaimer first.
I don't really care whether you support or don't support Trump.
You can support who you like — I presume you are lucky enough to live in a free society
where you have the freedom to so.
I have nothing against Trump supporters, nor any other supporter for that matter.
As long as that support doesn't lead to others getting hurt, or prevents others from
having the same freedom to support the candidate of their choice.
Secondly, I'm Australian.
Who Americans choose as their president is up to Americans.
It's not my place to say who or who you shouldn't elect.
If you want a gun-toting narcissist in office, that's up to you.
I would never argue against the right of Americans, or any citizen of any country for that matter,
to choose their own leader.
However, I am going to argue that we are free to criticise your decision.
That's the very essence of a free and democratic society.
The moment that people are not allowed to criticise their leaders and/or their supporters,
is the moment that tyranny sets in.
All countries need an opposing voice.
Unopposed leaders eventually become dictators.
And just one final point before we get into it.
If an American was to criticise the current Australian leadership, I would wholeheartedly
welcome it!
Not because I necessarily disagree with the current Australian leaders, but because it's
good to have an external dissenting voice to keep our leaders honest and to alert us
of potential wrongdoings.
It's beneficial for all of us to understand the benefit of external criticism.
China are famous for telling other countries to quit meddling in their domestic affairs.
This might seem okay at a distance, but delve deeper and you can see that the current Chinese
regime are murdering people who publicly speak out against the government.
China is the world's most active death penalty country.
Now that we've got all that out of the way, I would like to comment on the ardent Trump
supporters that I have had the pleasure of dealing with in the last couple of weeks.
I've found that in general, they support everything Trump has to say — no matter
how outrageous.
If somebody disagrees with them or their leader, even just to a minor extent, they will immediately
dismiss that person as "left-wing", a "communist", a "social justice warrior",
or any other belittling remark.
The Trump supporter does not want a dissenting voice.
They want everyone to agree with them.
They want their leader to go unopposed.
And that's dangerous.
That's dangerous for the individual.
That's dangerous for society.
And that's dangerous for America.
The fervent Trump supporter thinks they are helping America.
But in actuality, they're following a line that all authoritarian governments before
them have followed.
Never say anything negative about your own candidate.
Always reject the opposition and make them look extreme in their views.
Use pejorative labels where necessary and a propaganda campaign that leads to wide public
support to achieve the ultimate goal — the criminalisation of the opposition.
This allows the current leadership to enact emergency measures to deal with such individuals.
They inevitably rescind individual liberties, remove rights of assembly and freedom of press,
and allow for the indefinite detention of provocateurs without charge or court order.
This is pretty much exactly what happened in Nazi Germany.
If you truly believe that Trump is the saviour of America and has all the answers, and you're
willing to accept his policies without question, then you have to ask yourself one important
question — Is this really what you want?
— The unquestionable support of a single leader.
I don't think that's really what you want.
Maybe you think it's the only way to bring about change, but ultimately, a single leader
without opposition will be the downfall of your country.
Trump is only a man.
He's not infallible.
He makes mistakes.
He says inappropriate things.
He uses Twitter to insult other world leaders!
In a word, he's human.
But then again, so are we all.
We all make mistakes.
We all say inappropriate things.
Many of use Twitter to insult people.
So knowing all of this, how can you possibly agree with everything Trump has to say?
He's not the saviour — he's a business-savvy individual who has found an opportunity to
become the "most powerful man on Earth".
He's used his money and his connections to become a world leader.
He knew what the people wanted, and used rhetoric to stir up division.
And with division, comes power.
He knows this.
It's what Hitler did.
It's what Mussolini did.
To some extent, it's what Putin is doing to Russia now.
Divide the people in order to conquer them — "divide et impera".
It's as old as politics and war.
It's okay to be a Donald Trump supporter.
It's okay to be a Joe Biden supporter.
But certainly, it's not okay to blindly follow your candidate regardless of their
actions and what they have to say.
Blindly following anybody ultimately leads to fanaticism and dictatorship.
None of us would want to live under the rule of an authoritarian, single-party regime.
Look at China.
Look at North Korea.
People have lost almost all political freedom.
That's not good for their countries.
It's created a culture of fear and despair.
China may have a growing economy and military, but at what cost?
If a Chinese citizen made a video like this, but instead talked about Xi Jinping, he would
be locked up, or even executed.
Opposing voices are not welcome.
Luckily as a Trump supporter, you can disagree with some of the things he has to say, and
not go to jail.
You can express your own individual opinions without fear of reprisal.
You can concede that the opposition's policy is better, but still remain a supporter of
Trump.
Rigorous debate is good and "keeps the bastards honest" as we like to say in Australia.
It's not black and white, nor should it be.
Trump supporters claim that they just want to make America great again, but by blindly
following Trump and dismissing all opposition, that's not making America great.
That's not democracy.
That's not freedom.
That's the lead-up to a dictatorship.
You can dislike this video.
You can get your friends to dislike all my videos.
You can unsubscribe and block my account.
But don't forget — democracy needs dissent.
Without dissent, there is only tyranny.
Don't let it happen.
Support America by questioning its leaders.
Make sure Trump knows who's in control — the American people.
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