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Kumara Republic's avatar

The reactionism has always been there, the only real difference between Trump & his predecessors is the messaging. Namely swapping out the dog whistle for a megaphone.

ICYMI, the Research Association of NZ has publicly come out about Curia's departure:

https://web.archive.org/web/20240823060005/https://www.researchassociation.org.nz/Update

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Kai Jensen's avatar

I suggest the causes of Trump's increased popularity in Australia and New Zealand include these. 1. He was president for four years, which stabilised his brand and made him seem a little less disreputable. Do you remember how his look became much smoother in the first months of his presidency? In particular I remember that his hair became less orange and more silvery. 2. Because the Republican Party has united behind him, he's now a major symbol of right-wing thinking globally. So supporting him is no longer just supporting a maverick populist (although he's still one of those), but is primarily support for a portfolio of right-wing views. Thus the right wing of parties like the Nationals, or here in Australia the Liberals, are feeling that supporting Trump is just part of their political position. But also, as you observe, Trump's overt sexism speaks to people who find feminism and LGTBQI+ rights threatening and so want to turn back the clock to the 1950s, when women were homemakers or Playboy bunnies, men ran the show, homosexuality was illegal and abortions were hard to get legally. I was intrigued that Trump's views (at least as reported) include a fondness for old brick public buildings, or white ones with a facade of pillars - 1950s small-town American architecture as opposed to modern and postmodern "art" buildings. (Weren't the 1950s great! - not.) So for these three reasons it's unsurprising that his polling popularity in Australia and NZ has risen substantially, particularly with male voters. I'm not sure the trend is that alarming. Those right wings of the major right-of-centre parties have been with us for a long time. And those parties tend to be the citadel of sexism. The repeated failures of the Australian Coalition to increase their proportion of female MPs are fascinating to watch, though I feel sorry for their senior women who keep being nobbled by the boys' club and end up leaving the party.

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