RE: Trump Won And The Scale Of His Victory Is Astonishing...
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Loved this post. I don't pretend to understand America but I'm tired of people I know reading the Guardian or Aussie equivalent and calling everyone in America rednecks without having any idea about what your nation has been facing. You can't argue with anti Trump people. Look I don't like the guy but I can totally see how he was voted in. Your conclusion is dead right - the Democrats didn't read the room. I honestly don't get why people don't see that.
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Thanks. The research part was fun, as I knew somebody had been carried out of somewhere, but had no idea about the details.
I'm not MAGA myself, and was thrilled when he lost in 2020. However with the growing immigrant-fueled crime wave here and in cities in the eastern part of my state, we've all had enough.
I think culture plays a part too, as we've seen in the recent news story about a man who stabbed his wife to death because she cut her hair. A 50-year old woman shouldn't have to ask her husbands or boyfriends permission when she wants to style her hair.
This happened not far from me just a few days ago...
This culture of toxic masculinity springs from a belief in viewing their women as possessions, property that is owned by the man. I have actually had people from that culture tell me that their women are their PROPERTY. Unreal. People here such as me who were once pro-migrant, have now been repulsed by the extreme violence they've injected into our communities. That's why so many here voted for Trump.
I warn everyone to stay away from the eastern half of Pennsylvania. The migrants have taken over many cities and small towns, and will indeed kill you (Trump was not making that stuff up!). I should know. I've lost so many friends to them including my own grandmother. Stay away from eastern PA!
In my culture, women are seen as soverign and owners of thier bodies. Our phrase is "Happy wife, happy life." Women are seen as EQUALS. One of the reasons I stay in so much (where I can write more) is the level of violence we see here week after week.
BTW, with the increase in the BTC price, let's hope HIVE moves up along with it. It would be great if it did, and be a real shot in the arm to a community that truly deserves it.
I read your article to my hubs and he loved it - it's exactly what he's been trying to tell people but you can't argue with anti Trumpers here as they don't listen. They just hate him and think Americans are idiots. Thing is, they don't KNOW Americans - as Jamie said to me, at least I know a heap on Hive so I understand what your perspective is from posts like this!
Multiculturalism is a lost dream really. It has worked in this country for years and is the bedrock of our culture. We have taken many post wars in particular and continue to. Different cultures DO enrich us in many ways. We are still taking in migrants for skilled labour we don't have, and students too. For Australians, we don't understand why you are so worried about migrants - even though we have been misled by politics and media ourselves over the years like the dreaded South Sudanese youth gangs (which were, in the end, no worse than the Australian born ones).
But in the UK and in parts of America, as you say, its a completely different story. Again, people I know can't stretch their understanding to actually what you're experiencing in your real lives.
I do have to ask though, in light of what you say about women's rights - one of the things that are a big sticking point here is the issue of women's reproductive rights in America. It's something I have qualms about and am struggling to understand too. I can definitely see why people are concerned, particularly as a woman myself. I'd love your perspective on this one particularly as you extol women's equality as a point of American cultural pride.
I'm sorry this is so long, but it's an important issue. :)
Thanks for your response. I had no idea the issue of American women's reproductive rights would be a topic of discussion in Australia. I assume you've heard of the Roe v. Wade court case that enshrined abortion rights for women back in 1973. Well, Trump in his last term appointed Supreme Court justices who then voted to overturn abortion rights, sending the issue back to EACH STATE to decide.
So in liberal states like New Jersey and California, women have expanded abortion rights. BUT in conservative states like Florida and Texas, women face RESTRICTIVE abortion rights, and in some places criminal charges can apply.
People that are liberal tend to be "pro-choice", meaning we leave abortion up to the woman to decide, while many conservatives tend to be "pro-life" and demand restrictions on abortions, where women are limited in their abortion healthcare choices.
Imagine you live in a state that has a 12-week abortion ban. What happens if you develop life-threatening complications in week 20? See the issue? This is why I don't think we should be putting a number of weeks on a womans healthcare choices.
Read about the sad case of Nevaeh Crain, 18 of Texas, who died in 2023 because she couldn't get timely abortion healthcare due to restrictions in her state. So sad.
If you're a woman, I believe that you own your own body and should be allowed to make your own choices.
Some people even want to ban methods of birth control. Crazy.
So it's a mess, with conservative Texas even trying to go after women who travel to pro-choice states in order to have an abortion, compared to the Roe v. Wade era when women enjoyed NATIONWIDE abortion rights.
In short, things are now a complete mess.
We have 50 states here, and each can now write their own unique laws concerning abortion. The state of Florida has a 6-week ban on abortions, even though many women don't even know they're pregnant at 6-weeks. It's nuts.
Now that Trump has been re-elected, many women here are worried that he will sign a NATIONAL abortion ban even though he has repeatedly said he won't. Here's a link to an interactive map showing the different abortion laws state by state:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2024/jul/29/abortion-laws-bans-by-state
Notice all that red in the southern USA? That's where culture comes into play, with the south and the mid-west states being very conservative, and the northeast and west coast US states being very liberal.
Imagine you're a pregnant woman living in the very restrictive southern state of Louisiana. You're having medical complications, but can't get a late-term abortion there as it's illegal. You now have to travel hundreds of miles to the closest late-term state of Illinois in order to recieve that medical care.
See the mess this causes?
In 2022 the conservative-majority US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, sending the issue back to the states, leading to the chaos we now have.
Religon and culture come into play here too, as some cultures see abortion as murder, while others (such as mine) see it as healthcare. My personal beliefs are that no one (especially a man) should be interferring in the heathcare choices that a woman has. That's between her, her doctor, and her God.
Back on migrants, sometimes when I'm watching the latest news reports about someone having been raped, robbed, assualted or killed (people I knew), I have to take a deep breath and realize that there are Good Samaritans out there who are illegal immigrants. There are some good people out there, but they don't make the news. Maybe we need to follow the example of the Europeans and our friends the Aussies and the Kiwis, take a deep breath, and find a way to keep the good ones. :) But it's hard.
You say that many Aussies don't understand why we're so worried about migrants? Here's a way you can bring it home to them.
My position on immigration from being a migrant advocate, to supporting Trumps massive deportation plan changed GRADUALLY over a loooong period of time.
My best friend's little sister was raped and strangled to death by a migrant when I was a young teen, that was the first one. Others were beaten robbed and murdered, but it still wasn't enough. Then my beloved grandmother was beaten by an illegal alien who knocked on her door and asked her for food (she died a few years later from complications tied to the vicous beating).
That finally did it for me.
Yet I didn't close the door completely. Ask the Aussies what would happen if their cousin was stabbed to death by a migrant, then the elderly bookstore owner was shot by a migrant, they lost jobs to gloating migrants, and an elderly neighbor was killed a few days before Christmas by a migrant.
All this happening over years and decades.
Drip. drip. drip.
Loved ones, friends, neighbors, all paying the ultimate cost at the hands of people seemingly seeking "a better life"
Little by little and bit by bit, my position evolved, until now after having lost so many friends at the hands of these monstors, I want them out, and any new migrants heavily screened before they're allowed in. That's where I am today.
Firstly, I am so, sorry about your loved ones who have experienced such brutality. It's very rare here, and it's often Australian men murdering their wives, or yes, it's a cultural honour killing. I would love to know why America suffers this more, over here. Do we look after our migrants better? Certainly if you feel a sense of belonging and gratitude to a place, you're more likely to be part of it and be less disenfranchised. I know a lot of migrants to Australia feel incredibly lucky to live here and they want to contribute. But we also don't have open borders - it's a visa system that's very strict. I think the porous borders of US and the UK are far more of a problem, which is what I tell people that don't understand it. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of Aussie history and culture that celebrates white Australia and thinks anyone else should 'go back to where they came from' - we are absolutely a racist nation whilst at the same time experiencing a kind of double think where we love migrant food, sports people, musicians, comedians. Acceptance is absolutely conditional. The irony is that even the most Australian of us can only go back to 250 years - either convicts or settlers who did very well thieving land and murdering Aboriginals. But you have a similar story.
I'm grateful to the effort you went to re abortion rights. It clarifies for me that whilst you can vote in Trump as the better of two evils, you can still be against overturning Roe vs Wade. I think you have a very unique issue there where conservative also equals religious. We are far more secular than you, that's for sure, andwhilst of course there are pro lifers here, it's not as endemic. Whilst pro lifers have raised it and want to roll laws back like the US, most of Australia disagrees about 80:20. It's definitely not on the agenda of the two major parties. I wonder what it is there.
Thanks for this conversation. It helps me think about how I will broach the conversations that tar all Americans with one brush. To be honest I've been not paying much attention as it hurts my soul - there's only so much you can take or even do - yet I find post Trumps win, I feel like I have to reassure people I know that it's not so simple, and definitely not all as it seems.