4 December 2024

ALAN HAYES

 

WHILE there's a patient wait for the official launch of Trump version 2.0 to arrive, there’s been no shortage of verbal diarrhoea from the self-believing Emperor of the U.S. – or as the middle class who voted for him would attest, Emperor of the Free World. The fact that when Trump opens his mouth to speak, delivering assertion after assertion, which could only be described as a plethora of abject lies, it doesn’t seem to matter to the fawning faithful that there’s no credence in what he says.

 

Trump’s continual lying all adds up to no more than a ‘word salad’ – a plate-full of empty kilojoules that may cause food poisoning, yet his devotees eat it up.

 

There’s a resolute belief by Trumpians’ that their so-called deity is also a self-made man, who, because of his uncanny ability, was able to rise above the hardships of life and achieve great wealth – an ability that they see as the formula for a better tomorrow under the leadership of Trump V2.0.

 

Trump’s claims of being one of the wealthiest, most successful and brilliant businessmen in America was created with smoke and mirrors, using his father's wealth, media-created myths, lots of enormous loans, and instances of tax fraud, along with false claims and unkept promises.

 

The Trump family fortune, in fact, has its unsavory origins beginning with Trump’s grandfather, who, before the turn-of-the-twentieth-century, set up a restaurant and brothel in Seattle. He later decamped to Canada, taking part in the 1891 Yukon Gold Rush. Instead of mining for gold nuggets he operated hotels and restaurants that also included brothels – his somewhat dubious business activities foundered the start of the family fortune. A fortune passed down through the Trump family, which has all been revealed in a new book ‘Lucky Loser’.

 

Lucky Loser tells the story of Donald Trump’s less-than-stellar business career and how he was able to misrepresent it as a success – a Potemkin village that is Trump’s business empire.

 

Lucky Loser was written by New York Times investigative journalists, Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig. Both have won Pulitzer Prizes for earlier analyses of Trump. Another badge of honour is Trump sued them – and lost.

 

Still, around the globe there are people who still continue to believe Trump’s every word – a cult-like following has sprung up. Not least of all, it would seem, is Australian politics, which appears to be now following the Trumpian path, particularly when it comes to the environment, and marching lockstep to beat of the drum that earned Trump his victory.

 

Trumpism in Australia and broken promises

 

There’s no doubt, as we’ve previously reported, that opposition leader Peter Dutton has realised the impact of Trumpism in the U.S. and has no doubt become imbued by Donald Trump’s election victory - intent to consigning the Albanese Government to a one-term status at next years federal election.

 

Dutton has been accused of embracing Trumpian tactics, and, like Trump, becoming a ‘populist’ who seeks political gain by pitting ordinary citizens against corrupt ‘elites’ – weaponising migration and a nuclear power future as ploy to garner votes.

 

And ‘Big Nuclear Man Dutton’, just like Trump, has an unwavering knack for political division. There’s no doubt that stoking fear and the politics of division can be brutally effective, but the last thing Australia needs is to import the damaging culture wars of the American far right - deranged idealism, dominated and fuelled by bonkers, whose conspiracy theories are adhered to by militant acolytes that are untroubled by reality.

 

So, what is Albo doing to keep the populist-wolf from blowing down Labor’s door?

 

There’s no doubt that Albo's floundering, despite his term as prime minister being heralded in on the promise of doing all things great to protect the environment and reduce the impact of climate change. But as we has seen on the Central Coast, in the fight to protect our most precious asset – the drinking water catchment from being destroyed by long wall coal mining – that no major-party government can be trusted to take real action. If it hadn’t been for a determined community, the water catchment would have been destroyed because of broken promises. This same government apathy still continues to ‘play out’, as extremist far right ‘elitist corporate dogma’ – in particular the fossil fuel industry – unduly influences government decisions. This is especially so when it comes to real action on climate change, despite the meaningful, if unambitious, promise to reach the 2050 net-zero carbon emission reduction goals.

 

The Albanese government’s rhetoric sounds impressive – PV solar, windfarms and pumped hydro will turn Australia into a ‘renewal energy generating powerhouse’, providing inexpensive electricity bills for every home. But the simple truth is somewhat different! Although the Parliament began with great hope for a brighter, environmentally sustainable future, it has ended this year with a Labor government firmly in the control of the fossil fuel industry and influenced by the climate destroyers.

 

The ALP axed its own election commitments on the environment as our fossil fuel exports continued to surge – Australia is now one of the world’s biggest fossil fuel exporters.

 

The fact is that Albanese’s green credentials are now as black as a lump of coal. Why? Because Labor continues to approve new and expanded coal mines and gas fields, and to support the toxic fantasy of carbon capture and storage, enabling big polluters to continue to operate in a business-as-usual manner, and to hell with the environment.

 

So, what has happened to Albanese’s utopian ‘renewal-energy-superpower dream’? Coal exports are forecast to rise back over 200 million tonnes in the next two years, while royalty-free tax exports on natural gas will be around 60 per cent higher – carbon exports are estimated to increase by another 15 billion tonnes between 2023 and 2035. This begs the question: Who’s pulling who’s chain over a sustainable energy future and reaching 2050 carbon emission reduction targets?

 

Only on domestic electricity generation has there been a glimmer of hope! At least struggling families can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel – Labor has at least endeavoured to live up to its commitments there. Why? Because Chris Bowen has been focused only on expediting the transition to renewables, not propping up coal-fired power, and has brought substantial money to the table via the Rewiring the Nation and Capacity Investment Scheme programs. But is that enough to swing an election? Unlikely – nor is Albanese’s nuclear fear campaign persuasive enough to convince voters not to vote for Big Nuclear Man Dutton.

 

Yet, despite Albanese’s delusional belief that the majority of voters will actually be convinced by Labor’s anti-nuclear stance and win them the election, it’s still been business-as-usual or worse. Labor has refused to put an end to the scam of Human-Induced Regeneration, which means in a nutshell that 30% of Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCU) — used by heavy carbon emitters as offsets for their pollution — are entirely spurious; a hoax by any other name.

 

Meanwhile, in the Dutton camp, the Coalition has taken a hundred steps backwards to even before the Abbott government’s prehistoric position on climate change – a leaf out of the ‘Trumpian-anti-climate-change-book’. The Coalition’s climate change denial is a worrying situation for Australians hoping for a clean energy future! With Dutton as Prime Minister, climate action would be undoubtedly be abandoned as the iron grip of fossil fuel interests on government continued apace. Yet the Coalition’s years of delay and denial seem innocuous compared to Labor’s current commitment to export as much CO2 as possible.

 

Labor has ensured that Australia remains the world’s second biggest carbon exporter after the Putin regime!

 

What are our choices? The status quo or electing far right extremism?

 

Since Donald Trump’s second ascension, it has shown us how fragile democracy really is and how easy it is for even the best intentions of government to be influenced by the agendas of the climate change deniers and the fossil fuel industry – broken promises and good intentions have become an acceptable tool in the political game. And its this closed world of misinformation that has fostered paranoia, grievance and mistrust – people will accept a promise for a better tomorrow without questioning the truth or the motivation behind it. It has allowed the birth of ‘Trumpism in the land downunder’!

 

And there is little doubt that Trumpism puts Australia in danger! For the past thirty years, the biggest economic losers have been Western low and middle-income earners – those, especially in the U.S., who have adopted a deluded salvation through Trumpism. But the biggest winners in advanced economics have been the Western elite – the top one percent, who, behind a shroud of secrecy, exert unparalleled sway over our decision makers.

 

But will the use of Trumpism political tactics be successful in the 2025 Federal election? Already, high-profile nationalist and populist movements are increasingly making a virtue of eschewing the usual etiquette of politics in favour of divisive hyperbole - Peter Dutton is no exception. It is the Liberal camp that seems to be taking the Trumpism approach to the extreme.

 

Recently, two Australian states, (South Australia and Queensland), ultra-conservative Liberal MPs have been associated with attempts to re‑criminalise abortion. The revival of an incendiary debate that had largely been settled in Australia felt like it came from nowhere - such is the reach of an abrasive populism paraded by Donald Trump.

 

Like Trump, whose support base is essentially white working class, Dutton appears to be forgoing the inner cities to chase suburban and regional malcontents in the lead up to the 2025 election. The middle class voters, disillusioned with institutional politics, are a prime hunting ground for Dutton's nimrods – employing intimidation to dissuade “woke” CEOs and, what he calls, “mad left” journalists.

 

Central to Dutton’s suburban strategy is a Trump-style contempt for institutions and “elite” nuance. In short, he is employing Trumpism with Australian characteristics.

 

While the upcoming Federal election may not have all the hoopla and the same showmanship of the ‘Donald Trump show’, keeping abreast of the movements in federal politics is important to understand if or how decisions may upon impact you!

 

Yet, there’s little doubt that Trumpian-type politics will continue to raise its ugly head! So, how will Australians really react to this style of politics at the next election? Rather than the chaos and destruction of Trump, will they continue to channel the current distrust and disillusionment in politics into more positive and constructive outlets - creating an entirely new form of political realignment?

 

However, one thing is certain - Donald Trump’s election win has certainly made 2025 more challenging for Anthony Albanese!