Donald Trump is a monster nurtured by the US political establishment: on the one hand, the anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant bigotry stoked by the Republican elite and their media mouthpieces for years. On the other, the abandonment of millions of Americans who have been left with stagnating living standards and who understandably are fed up with the diktats of liberal economics. And now the monster is unleashed, a plutocrat feeding on the fears of the neglected.
But Trump matters not just from the United States, but for all of us. An online letter is circulating – now signed by over 1.5 million and counting (fast). “The world rejects your fear, hate-mongering, and bigotry,” it says. A live feed of signatories gives an indication of the breadth of its support: as I type, from Iraq, Brazil, Greece. If enough sign, then the letter will grace the pages of major newspapers the world over.
At first, I was loth to sign it. Online “clicktivism” often seems like an exercise in feeling good, and little else: sign a petition as a substitute for more meaningful activism, then move on to something else. Given many of Trump’s supporters resent much of the rest of the world, that world informing them of their disapproval might simply make them feel vindicated and little else. Some would say the Guardian has form on this – though whether it really did swing any votes in a Ohio county in 2004 is open to debate. So I’m particularly wary. This clearly isn’t something to take lightly: should outsiders really interfere in the internal affairs of other nations?
But the truth is that what matters in the US matters for all of us. US power may have suffered relative decline for many years, but the country remains our only superpower. From foreign policy to its cultural reach, whoever wins the US presidency has seismic influence over the rest of the world. We surely have a right to speak out about a contest in which we have no say, but whose consequences we will suffer.
Trump’s unapologetic embrace of racism, xenophobia and misogyny vindicates all of those ugly prejudices the world over. And millions of Americans are horrified about Trump. They deserve our solidarity and support. There is, after all, another United States, one forged by immigrants and transformed by courageous Americans who fought racism, sexism and homophobia. That is a United States millions of us believe in. And that is why we should sign this letter.
