Most of the time, we can sit back and laugh at the state of US politics – with the insane, bizarre and wtf antics of the 47th President of the United States- Donald J Trump and his band of crazy criminals in the current administration. In Australia we mostly think – “meh – this would/could never happen here” and call it an “American thing” – but we forget that we have many copycats here – who revere the Trump style politics.
Putting aside Pauline Hanson and One Nation, the state of Australian politics (and in some ways the court of public opinion) is heading in that direction in how discussions are being had in government, parliament and the media on geo-politics involving Mainland China, the white/Western superiority public discussions on how regions like the Middle East and Asia should operate on a domestic and global scale, and all the blame and shaming of immigrants for every problem Australians faces – such as housing affordability, grocery prices etc.
With the rise of the alt-right, One Nation and the narcism of the party’s leaders – Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce etc – it is clear that in their playbook being a racist is a proud thing. Calling out and accusing certain cultural and religious groups of being threats to Australia is common there- creating a very divisive environment. With the polls continually showing growing support for One Nation – it is eerily similar to the support for Trump prior to the last US elections. FYI- this type of divisive politics is not limited to Hanson and One Nation.
It is impossible to list all examples in Australia of this type of divisive politics, but just watch the news, social media etc and you will see all that. Things like Hanson banning the ABC, the Age and the Guardian from One Nation press conferences and events, to her stating that networks like SBS will be abolished if One Nation Party forms government are pretty much straight out of Trump’s playbook.
The similarities are so uncanny and it is clear that Hanson, One Nation and those who subscribe to this divisiveness want to be like Trump – as sad as that all is.
That is all.