Back to Black
Donald Trump’s presidency is cause for concern, but destructive protests are not the answer.
It now seems that only a meteor strike can stop Donald Trump becoming President of the United States. Perhaps even that would not stop him, although scientists seem to think such an event wiped out other dinosaurs.
Let’s be clear, I don’t wish the man ill. I just wish he wasn’t going to be the next president. I won’t be joining thousands of people in the National Mall to watch the inauguration ceremony, because I will be in New Zealand, but if I was going to be here, then I would probably be extremely busy doing something like vacuuming under our spare bed. It would be my personal “let’s pretend this is not actually happening” protest, guaranteeing that something beneficial came out of Inauguration Day, at least in my household.
So, what makes an effective protest? In Mexico, they’re already rioting and setting fire to cars. Like individuals, countries do better when they feel optimistic. Suffice it to say US politics looks even bleaker to those south of the border than it does to some of us here in the capital. Make America Great Again is all very well, but to Make America Great Again at the Expense of Mexico is, understandably, not going down all that well with Mexicans.
How to protest is vexing, particularly against someone who – whatever the shortcomings of the US electoral system – has been democratically elected. I abhor the destruction of public or private property as a means of protest. Some prominent US artists have called for an Inauguration Day strike by artists and artistic institutions, although if Trump has not yet tweeted his response to that idea, I could probably write it for him.
So, what are we left with? I hope a quiet resolve to maintain not the rage, but the outrage. Maybe Trump’s presidency will be okay for more than just tycoons, or maybe it won’t. But I expect I’ll need to replace my vacuum cleaner before 2021.
After swinging our car into a handy parking spot at the supermarket the other day, I looked up and saw it was reserved for veterans, so I swung straight back out again. I regularly go to places that have discounts and/ or priority queues for veterans, and some airports have lounges for their exclusive use.
When my son and his partner, who are visiting from New Zealand, were buying cupcakes at a local shop, the first customers in line were two uniformed servicemen. When the servicemen got to the counter, the civilian behind them said she would pay for their order as her way of acknowledging their service to their country. I have also seen military personnel thanked in the street.
It is easy, as a Kiwi, to mock the way Americans wear their hearts on their sleeves, but there is also something endearing about it. There is a gratitude for public service here that, in New Zealand, other than in honours lists, would only be expressed at someone’s funeral, because if you thanked them while they were still alive, they might die of embarrassment.
Americans seem to respect military service, even when they don’t agree that their service people should even be in some of the places to which they’ve been sent. Perhaps those people are given even more respect.
They also respect political office and particularly the office of the President. Many of them simply wish the new President had as much respect for the office as the public does.
It is easy, as a Kiwi, to mock the way Americans wear their hearts on their sleeves.