I am going to put out my neck again as an American in Australia because something occurred this week that concerns this nation, but it happened in New York.
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I was heading home from work, and though I had intentions to watch the first presidential debate between US Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump on You Tube, I caught some of the highlights on the ABC radio as I drove out of town.
After the sound bytes, the ABC newsreader reported a network poll indicated 53 per cent of Australians believed Mr Trump had won the debate. Astonished cannot exactly summarise my reaction to that statement.
Later, as my satellite broadband feebly sent a low resolution, but very clear recording of the debate through my laptop, I felt even more astounded by the news Aussies would barrack for the man - Aussies, whom I have always felt, had a fairly sensible outlook on life.
Because the tangential rhetoric Mr Trump spewed in retaliation to Mrs Clinton’s articulate and measured responses made me question not the mileage gained by this man in the presidential race, but the measure of the American, and worldwide support he enjoys.
Mr Trump has a track record of misogyny. He targets the defenceless who shoulder the weight of most of America’s most undesirable jobs. If the records are accurate, he has not paid his federal income tax for perhaps his entire professional career, and yet he decries the government’s stinginess on fixing America’s social, educational and health problems.
He presents no firm policies, he ignites through platitudes, bullying tactics and contradicts himself on ideologies and agendas. You cannot protect a community by then turning and demonising people within that community. How can we learn from this in Australia?
And yet, so many of the American population who back Mr Trump will make excuses. Like a victim of domestic violence who clings to something dangerous, but appeals at some level; be it security or fear of the unknown, we will make excuses for a dangerously narcissistic man who openly mocked a person with developmental disabilities on national television.
More worrying than how the Republican candidate got so far, are the attitudes of the people who have put him there.
-Michèle Jedlicka, editor