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| Donald Trump, Burlington, Iowa (21-Oct-2015) |
Donald Trump is the stuff of America. He embodies American values of the ambitious self-made man, a rags-to-riches story of sorts, a man who embodies that anything is/ should still be possible in the world at large, and more specifically in that once-avant-garde New World territory that is the USA. Trump also happens to never be short of a trick as a pretty astute businessman. Last but not least in the arena of American politics, he also happens to be charismatic, short of a showman, which always fares well in a country that roughly stretches between DC and Hollywood.
Yet what stands out of the Donald Trump's one-man show is that he's nailed his focus right: he unequivocally puts his country first to make it shine again: 'Make America Great Again!' He wants it to be strong, revitalised, proud, and once again thriving. A hard-working nation glued together by good old American Christian family values taking once again pride of place on the family mantelpiece and the work station. A working America, once again fuelled by a manufacturing workforce and a sense of worth and belonging, and the hard work rewarded. To have a sense of contributing to the country's wealth rather than be a mere recipient of its welfare system, or play the national pastime of aimless shopping, as a passive consumer of planned obsolescence made-in-China shoddy goods, then back to work on Monday, wearing off the carpet of some Office Space, doing some pointless job, feeling worthless and useless, and relegated to an ungratifying lifetime as a member of the working poor. Put this into perspective and coat it in political correctness all your while, but I believe that Entrepreneur of the Year should once again be a captain of industry and their driving force (which includes workforce), not some loner geek that designed a smartphone app.
Down with the allegories. Trump breaks the mould on many levels. First, he is not bound by blood to some political dynasty. Historically, modern America has been built around core political dynasties (Roosevelt, Kennedy, Bush and Clinton, to name only a few). Yet it seems that the continuity principle imposed by such political dynasty arrangements only serve the private interests of the elite class. Yet frankly what is to be expected from the bitter wife of some former President or a third generation Bush?
Cash and a remarkable success story are a sure way to attract jealousy and animosity your way. Yet Donald Trump has spelt it out loud and clear: he needn't be bought out because he already has all the cash that money can buy. This is his main forte and competitive advantage; his strong financial independence gives him the luxury to afford political independence in his views and principles.
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| Donald Trump painting by Donkey Hotey, via Flickr |
Sadly European countries like France have been engineered by decades of Socialist doctrine, crippling bureaucacy, and a much-skewered interpretation of the values borne out of the French Revolution, to believe that too much cash is crass, and that to be rich is either to have been borne into it without asking for it, or to have sold out one's soul. Furthermore, our spirit of enterprise has long been squashed in the process by constant government interventionism into our daily lives and into the conduct of our business affairs, crushing our manufacturing legacy into the ground and overtaxing and rewiring our remaining flagship companies like Air France, under EU complicity.
In a world where Revolution by the People for the People will not be televised, it remains to find it refreshing - as we are searching for second bests - to be once again probed by the idea of enterprise and entrepreneurship, of national pride, of traditional family values, of the importance to rebuild a fragmented, socialised, pauperised nation that once (half a century ago) stood as a beacon of social progress, innovation and modernism, to the ROW.
If I were American and allowed to vote in US elections, I would certainly be seduced by Donald's programme, his bold energy, his political uncorrectness, and no-nonsense parley. If however this were all to end up into nothing more than a dream, at least it will have hinted a flavour of what the American dream should be standing for.
(*) President Of The United States
