The things that Donald Trump has taught us

I wrote the title of this blog post with some tongue in cheek and quite honestly out of total hope that he will lose this election and we will start to see the end of this very scary phase of our lifetime.

Today the final votes will be cast and hopefully tomorrow we will get the great news that Kamala Harris has beaten Donald Trump by a significant margin.

Whatever about being gone, what has Donald Trump taught us and what will his legacy be?

For one he has left the United States in tatters with people at each others throats about who they support in the election – this has gone on since he first ran and he chose hatred and fear and division as being his winning cards.

That hatred and division will linger on for a long time.

What else did he teach us?

Clear simple messaging

I wrote a blog post in September 2016 about his first election run, and before he won I wrote about the power of his simple ‘Make America Great Again‘ message.

In a time poor world where people are slow to go deep on any topic he pushed that out over and over and “they” bought it in their millions.

Politicians

He poked a hole in the establishment and traded his “celebrity” status as a successful businessman as good enough to break through the political wall of established names such as Clinton.

Racism

Racism is alive and well in the United States (and so many other places) – he said out loud the disgusting things that no one should ever say and he gave permission to racists to join in on the party.

What was that about “great people on both sides”?

Schoolboy bully

The schoolboy bully who would mock the poor kid with the disability or the huge glasses or the strange accent was always scolded and told never top do that again. This adult did it and too many people laughed.

Are we still bullies?

Media

He came to the scene when media had stopped being neutral and if you happened to be a Fox News consumer then you were delivered his hateful message with bells on and … anything that your opponent did would be twisted.

It is now possible to get powerful media on your side if they are convinced they can make money on the back of it.

I hear my brother justifying some of the things that Trump has said and done – I ask, where did you come up with that from?

Power

He reminded us about the danger of powerful people who exact revenge on anyone that talks out against them, even if this revenge results in them receiving death threats.

We saw how his power muzzled “principled” Republicans and suddenly many who openly declared that he was unfit for office were kissing his feet and became surrogates for his hateful rhetoric.

We saw this power threatening the lives of election officials.

We now know how Adolf Hitler came to power nearly 100 years ago.

Incredibly his running made JD Vance said that Trump was a modern day Hitler!

Cowardice

This is the thing that troubles me most about Donald Trump – he taught us how easily people were manipulated and just how cowardly they are.

Politicians whose lives were threated on January 6th because of Donald’s actions just sucked it up – in a democracy that bangs on about “the rule of law” they decided to buckle and allowed one of the most dangerous men on this earth to resume where he left off.

Rule of Law

So many of his “crew” have found themselves in trouble with the law, spent time in prison, were disbarred – and yet over and over there is always another fool willing to sell their souls just to be close to the power.

And while he has been indicted, been found guilty of serious crimes both as a businessman before he took office and since he has been in office he continues to slither away.

He knows (like so many other criminals) better than anyone how to manipulate the law – Roy Cohn, the lawyer for the Mafia, taught him those tricks many moons ago.

If he is found guilty he screams “Witch-hunt” and his supporters believe this is true, never the witnesses and the juries!

Ignoring the signs

When his Chief of Staff says he is unfit for office, his Attorney Generals, the staff that worked closely with him who all said he is too dangerous, people conveniently ignore this information and justify their choices for some other piece of rationale.

We learn that people believe what they choose to believe regardless.

Covid !!

The United States had one of the worst death rates in the world. He responded to the danger slowly, for politically motivated economic reasons he wanted to keep everything open and to make matters worse he successfully managed to make this huge health crisis a divisive political issue.

This was a time when you needed leadership and what did the United States get?

People died unnecessarily while he was busy arranging for his signature to be on each welfare cheque.

I mention the grifter later on..

For Sale!!

We know he is “for sale” and whether that is pardons for money or favours for money it just gets conveniently ignored.

The poor newly elected Ukrainian leader, Zelensky having to deal with Trump when vital aid that had been approved was being withheld in exchange for “dirt” on his opponents son.

It was proven but the cowards all looked away, again!

Pardons

We learnt that this has become a scheme to give a pass for people who committed crimes on your behalf – how is this even possible.

The Supreme Court

He was able to manipulate the whole process around judges to the extent that Roe versus Wade was reversed and they effectively gave a huge “pass” for the actions that a President might take while in office.

This incredible ruling was designed for the huge legal quagmire that Trump finds himself in because of his actions but yet it will now apply to any President that follow.

On what planet is that sane?

Duped

He taught us that people are extremely gullible – he managed to convince the devout Evangelicals that he was a religious bible holding man.

Ah Jesus (sorry for taking your name in vain) ….really??

Grifter

Taking God to another extreme he produced “Trump” bibles and sold them for profit along with all of the other grifts.

If people are that stupid can you blame him?

World Safety

He taught us once again about the huge role that the United States plays in the state of affairs around the world. After today hopefully Israel can be sorted out.

Many Americans don’t and never will have a passport – he doesn’t give a fiddlers about anything outside of America and many people love this approach that he has taken. God love us when Ukraine could have been handed to Putin in exchange for favours.

Climate Change is a Hoax

He taught us that if you say it is a “hoax” enough times people will believe you, and you can then make it a political agenda item to win votes, In the meantime the fires and hurricanes get ignored

Immigrants

We can try our best for desperate people who leave their homes out of necessity or in search of a better life – America is the land of opportunity after all, and immigrants were the backbone of this multicultural country.

He taught us that it is much better to say “there is no room at the inn” and to mock them and create fear in people saying they are rapists and murderers.

When he says this people applaud. When he says that they eat cats and dogs they applaud,

I remember the children being separated by their parents and put in cages.

X Factor

We know he has this, whatever it is.

This is a dangerous weapon in the wrong hands.

Us

Finally he taught is about ourselves – who are we and what do we believe in?

Is it ok to look past this horrible evil person because he has a policy that suits us?

Do we think that a President or any person in power should be a role model for our children?

Do we fight with our friends and families because of our beliefs?

Do we fight with strangers because of our beliefs.

Trump has taught us that we are fickle, easily manipulated and yes, many of us are capable of looking past the facts, supporting him and losing ourselves in the process.

While we laugh at the outrageous things he says and does he taught us many serious lessons.

People are petrified about the results of this election and for good reason.

As I said at the beginning, bye bye Donald.

I hope and pray I am right…

Greg

Greg Canty is a partner at?Fuzion?a?Brand Communications agency with offices in Dublin and Cork, Ireland