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Originally Posted by Trolly McTrollson
How does an Aussie even become a Trump superfan? What are they possibly going to get out of the America First Trump presidency? At least awval *might* get a tax break and see fewer scary Muslims in his neighborhood, but Trump isn't going to kick out the aborigines from Australia or ban gay marriage. It's weird as all get out to devote yourself to some foreign politician that 95% of your countrymen think is a moron.
We have our own orange moron here, this woman Pauline Hanson who is sort of a Sarah Palin figure. Way back in 1996 she gave a speech to Parliament in which she said "I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians. They have their own culture and religion, form ghettos and do not assimilate". She was duly crucified in the media and that was the catalyst for her to become Patient Zero in a movement of people who were sick of being talked down to by egghead liberals. I think that is the similarity with Trumpism, and perhaps the difference from other nationalist movements like UKIP, that at its heart it isn't really about policy, it's cultural resentment. It's people with idiotic beliefs who are furious about being told by chardonnay-swilling elitists that their beliefs are idiotic. You can see that pretty clearly with Sushy and bundy, right? TS is a whole other deal, I doubt he's even a Hanson fan.
In addition to ethno-nationalism, Hanson's party has also frequently trafficked in hare-brained schemes similar to "build a wall!", i.e. ludicrously simplistic answers to complex problems, which libruls can't see are obvious because their heads are all muddled from too much book-learnin'. It's pretty similar to Trumpism, so Hanson fans are generally also Trump enthusiasts. This is maybe 10% of the population at most btw, mostly safely corralled in Queensland. Trump's approval rating here during his candidacy was 10%, presumably lower now.
btw, 20 years later, Asians have now basically been grandfathered in as Real Australians. The new Threat is Muslims, obviously, goes without saying. A few months back Hanson wore a burka in Parliament as a political statement of something or other.