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The US is in a dangerous place


I love the US.


As a teenager, I travelled by road from New York to California with my parents and sister.


My doctoral thesis at the Australian National University proved, contrary to public opinion at the time, that American corporate investment in Australia had been of enormous benefit to Australia.


As an historian, I knew only too well that but for Uncle Sam’s navy, New Zealand would have been invaded by the troops of the Japanese emperor.


I lived for five years in Washington DC when Lyndon Johnson and later Richard Nixon were President.


I was there when the debate over the Vietnam War was at its height, and when Martin Luther King Jr and Bobbie Kennedy were assassinated.


Back in New Zealand, I was for ten years the CEO of a small investment bank, 25% of it owned by Wells Fargo Bank, and in that capacity I travelled extensively to and through the US every year.


I was the guest of the State Department on a “US familiarization” visit in the eighties.


I visited the US at least once a year during my 14 years as Governor of the Reserve Bank, and again when I was Leader of the National Party.


I have holidayed in the US on numerous occasions, including twice in the last 18 months.


So it makes me extremely sad to see the awful state in which the US now finds itself.


No one person is responsible for this situation. Fierce competition from other countries, including especially China, has left too many Americans with limited employment prospects. White Americans have felt increasingly threatened by rising numbers of non-Whites (or “People of Colour” in the politically-correct terminology of the era). Evangelical Christians have seen the values and truths which they have believed in tossed aside.


Into this sea of potential discontent waded Donald Trump, promising to solve every problem and Make American Great Again.


No matter that he had not the slightest chance of implementing most of his promises – like building a wall between the US and Mexico and getting the Mexicans to pay for it. Or like replacing Obamacare with a healthcare policy which would be better and cheaper.


No matter that his economic policies were in important respects totally at variance with traditional Republican values – like balancing the budget and supporting an open trading environment.


No matter that his personal morality was totally at variance with the personal morality of the evangelical Christians who became among his most devoted supporters.


No matter that he was shown to regard telling lies as a totally normal way of life.


Somehow, many millions of Americans were persuaded not only to vote for him as President in 2016 but to repeat the act four years later, after watching him in office.


And then to believe him when he claimed he had won that second election, despite Christopher Krebs (the man appointed by Trump himself to monitor the election) making it clear that the election was perhaps the most secure in American history and that Biden had clearly won; despite William Barr (the man Trump appointed as his Attorney General) declaring that the election was sound; despite Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republicans in the Senate, declaring Biden the winner; and despite the failure of almost every attempt to show in court that there had been skullduggery in counting the votes, including of course two cases before the Supreme Court.


And then the extraordinary spectacle of Trump urging tens of thousands of his supporters to march on the Capitol and “show strength”, with Rudy Giuliani as the supporting act urging “combat”, followed by the most appalling scenes of mayhem in the Capitol itself.


And perhaps most depressing of all: the sight of more than 120 Republican Members of Congress voting to reject the validly elected Electoral College votes for Arizona and Pennsylvania, even after the riot.


Now there are apparently more members of the US armed forces in Washington DC for the inauguration next week than there are in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria combined.


What depresses me is not that Trump is an evil bastard but rather that there are still tens of millions of Americans who think that he is God’s gift to creation, and that he is the last bastion against communism. The US is in a very dark place.


 
 
 

8 Comments


michael_ellis
Jan 19, 2021

Trump is a symptom of the wider problem. For instance, in 2000 Alabama amended its State Constitution to remove anti-misceganation language which in the Loving case had been ruled unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court 50 years earlier.


While it passed, 40% of Alabama voters opposed the change.


Similarly, many readers may have seen the three larrakin Top Gear presenters delibrately painting provocative slogans on each others cars in Alabama and being run out of town by rednecks.


The deep seated racist and distrustful attitudes in the USA have only boiled up under Trump.


My hope is that the Republicans can manage out the candidates who appeal to Trump voters and bring in a more small government, traditional conservative approach…

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1799.gold
Jan 18, 2021

I agree with Don. Trump had to go. Another 4 years could have broken american democracy. You break that and it may fall everywhere. With Trump there was good and there was bad, but it was time for change.

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roger
roger
Jan 18, 2021

Just really sad to see a person who I respect as much as Don Brash suffering so badly from TDS. The inability to see beyond what he dislikes in a man and to also fail so completely to see the media manipulation and distortion that is so rife in all forms of the media really does make me wonder. The inability to see beyond and behind the human weakneses and the abvious personality differences to the basic principles shows something ...... I seriously doubt that millions of people see him as God's creation but as a man with many faults who never the less tried to keep him word and try to do the very best and also see a…

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donaldk
donaldk
Jan 18, 2021

I would put my money on Trump anytime given the choice between him and the guy who used his VP position to make deals for the benefit of the "family"

Trump may be a rough diamond but his real achievements although downplayed and supressed by a partisan press will eventually be seen to be positive.. He knows how to talk to middle America and 'tradie" types because he is one of them. Can spin a subject in language they can understand and put a bit of a spin on it, like my father's fish stories.

The one matter he seemed to have missed, was how deep, evil and extensive the Washington swamp is.

The matter of the alleged rigged election…

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thomasmhunter
Jan 18, 2021

With your parting shot about Trump I'm sure you'll be amused to see in whose company you are being thrown by Chris Trotter, <a href="http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2021/01/trumps-surprisingly-large-army-of-new.html">Trump's Surprisingly Large Army Of New Zealand Supporters.</a>.


According to Chris it seems that in 2005, with your narrow election loss, New Zealand narrowly dodged a Trumpian bullet.


One of the things you never realised was that for the vast majority of the Left, you were and still are, as beyond the pale as Trump in many respects. Yet you still imagine that you could appeal to or reach out to such people rather than fighting them as they fought you.

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