We must recognise that over 50% of US voters have now elected Trump. The almost cult-like MAGA can no longer be regarded as an aberration. Countries like Australia now have to recognise just how this new US increasingly is becoming a “foreign” country.
Amid the deluge of instant commentary by arm chair quarterbacks and the emerging gaggle of aspiring lobbyists (including not a few former Australian politicians and senior officials), not to mention the many Trump Cabinet hopefuls and the long list of others seeking the myriad appointments Trump has promised, forecasting his policies on specific domestic or international issues is speculative at best.. Let alone trying to assess their likely implications ! So what can we work with ?
More than has been the case with previous Presidents , bolstered by how he performed in Trump 01, we know how he relishes the unpredictable while all too often paying scant attention to the truth and rejoicing in conspiracies. His public performances throughout the campaign reconfirmed his bullying technique as well as his foul mouthed boorishness and incoherence which have been so widely counterproductive for MAGA’s (Make America Great Again) mission in the international community.
But we must recognise that over 50% of US voters have now elected him and the almost cult-like MAGA can no longer be regarded as an aberration. Nor one that is likely to moderate much in the next 5 (and probably 10) years given the control he will have over the Congress, Supreme Court and elsewhere across the US. We now have to recognise just how this new US increasingly is becoming a “foreign” country which collectively we must understand much more comprehensively.
Sadly the early Pavlovian responses of Peter Dutton and some other senior politicians here just underline the urgency we must attach to avoiding outright copy catting........