American Übermensch: Donald Trump’s Thrilling Confidence

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America 911, American Liberty, Art of the deal, Barack Obama, Capitalism, Civilisation, CNN, Defend the modern world, Donald Trump, Donald Trump 2016, Donald Trump could win, Donald Trump NBC, donald trump speech, donald trump wiki, Envy, Fox News, New York, Philosophy, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, Riches, trump speech, United States

So, Donald Trump, the brash celebrity billionaire and star of TV’s ‘The Apprentice’ has dramatically announced a bid for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. Cue hysteria. Cue mob humour. Cue intellectual laziness.

I understand how conventional it is to laugh at Trump; at his braggadocio, his squirrelly hair and material emphasis. He is clearly someone who enjoys the media spotlight and who often speaks with the media in mind. But away from the quirks in his character, it cannot be denied that Trump, via his achievements and lived philosophy, also personifies America at its most unapologetic, creative, tough-minded and independent.

He is a throw-back in that regard; the living relic of an era – fast being lost – in which the United States was the country to imitate if you wanted your own to succeed. It was an era of unipolar domination, whether on the economic, cultural or military plain. It was the era in which most of the skyscrapers you see on the dazzling Manhattan skyline were constructed, when the bridges were built (on budget and on time), and when the US army considered concepts like ‘retreat’ and ‘failure’ to be eccentricities unique to Europe.

I believe this American spirit still survives, in pockets and enclaves, but the condition of America in general is increasingly tenuous. Toxic issues are beginning to develop in the marrow of American life; issues that if left without treatment, could prove lethal to its long-term prospects.

Trump announced his bid for presidency this week with a resounding rally held in his Manhattan skyscraper ‘Trump Tower’. The fallout would last for days. Here are some of the more ‘provocative’ statements emphasised by the press:

On immigration  – “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

On jobs – “Our real unemployment is anywhere from 18 to 20 percent. Don’t believe the 5.6. Don’t believe it… That’s right. A lot of people… can’t get jobs. They can’t get jobs, because there are no jobs, because China has our jobs and Mexico has our jobs. They all have jobs.”

On health-care reform – “We have a disaster called the big lie: Obamacare… Yesterday, it came out that costs are going for people up 29, 39, 49, and even 55 percent, and deductibles are through the roof. You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high, it’s virtually useless. It’s virtually useless. It is a disaster.”

Shortly after these comments were made, left-leaning cable channels set about presenting them as stand-alone bigotries, considerably more extreme and stupid seeming than in their original context. The television network NBC responded quickly by severing all ties with Trump, accompanied by the retail giant Macy’s, hair-product brand Farouk Systems, and the Latino TV networks Univsion, Televisa and Ora TV.

I won’t deny that the comment about Mexican rapists was lazy and ill-advised. There doesn’t seem to be a problem with sexual violence in Mexican communities more serious than in others. But outside of these unfortunate snippets (incidentally, I don’t share the Republican anxiety over subsidised health-care either), I found the speech rather inspiring.

Trump offered his audience an honest, easy to understand diagnosis of real and important maladies. His remarks about the pathetic failings of the Iraqi ‘military’ were dead on the nail. His comments about China’s cynical devaluation of its currency were timely and brave. His stated willingness to protect Israel should comfort the hearts of besieged democrats around the world.

But more than anything, it was Trump’s call for a ‘cheer-leading’ President who can resurrect the attitude of exceptionalism that truly impressed me. As I have written perhaps too many times before, positivity and the “Let’s Win!” spirit is not only useful on the football field or basketball court. It is the same attitude that destroyed the Empire of Japan and liquidised Iraqi divisions in Kuwait. It is the attitude that built the Hoover Dam, and which drives the world economy.

Trump understands this. He understands the psychological basis of American strength, that this strength is not derived from virtue alone, but from arrogance, determination and unilateralism too.

Despite my enthusiasm, I am soberly aware that a Trump administration is as unlikely Caitlyn Jenner birthing triplets. Impossible, of course, but perhaps not wholly undesirable.

D, LDN.

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Defending Materialism.

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America, America 911, American Liberty, BBC, Capitalism, cheeseburgers, Christianity, Christopher Caldwell, Civilisation, consumerism, decadence, Decadent Western World, Defend the modern world, Hollywood, Leftism, Materialism, materialistic, Muslims, products, Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, rightism, supermarkets, United States

“Materialism – ma·te·ri·al·ism \mə-ˈtir-ē-ə-ˌli-zəm\. noun, a way of thinking that gives too much importance to material possessions rather than to spiritual or intellectual things.”

Far too often we are told by spiritual types that the Western world is ‘decadent’ or overly ‘materialistic’. Islamists especially delight in badmouthing our ‘self-indulgent’ way of life as soulless, meaningless and amoral, usually with specific reference to the UK and America.

It is high time someone shot back at this tired old critique. Materialism, properly considered, is wonderful. Consumerism is enlivening. Capitalism is ingenious. We should rejoice in these things, even as we preserve our higher beliefs. There is no contradiction to be found here, nor is there a choice to be made. Abundance and refinement can coexist. We know this because they have done for decades.

While it’s perfectly true that I sometimes enjoy leafing through Carlyle’s French Revolution or Huysmans’ À rebours, this is not to say that I don’t also value the cheeseburger or the Dyson Vac. Shopping centres mean more to me than opera houses. I find more worth in shiny electronic goods than in old, overrated paintings.

Being modern is something to be proud of. Technology separates us from the barbarian far more effectively than art or ‘ideas’ do. You can’t repel a Muslim with a sentiment, but you can make short work of him with a stinger missile.

Indeed, Muslims make themselves look even dumber than usual when they use the word ‘decadent’. Perhaps, my Muslim friends, if you spent a little less time indulging your own cultural biases, you might have developed the means to match our economies or resist our militaries. Is it not also decadent to spend every day reading the same book, or commentaries upon that book? It is certainly lazy. It is lazy (and obnoxiously arrogant) to presume you can get ahead in a world of infinite variety by stubbornly remaining the same.

As it turns out, our vulgar materialism, our worldliness, our ‘decadence’, our devotion to the modern and to the future has won through.

Hurrah for our side! 

Ramadan Mubarak to the losers.

D, LDN.

‘Graveyard Britain’ needs more Capitalism, not less.

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Boring Britain, Capitalism, Chav, Defend the modern world, Europe, Recession

Britain can be a miserable place to live for many reasons. Prominent among them is the fact that civilisation here tends to shut down no later than 5pm.

After the normal working day finishes, much of Britain becomes a ghostly wilderness pocked with grey, modernist warehouses and gridlocked roads. Business is restricted to convenience stores, pubs and 24hr supermarkets. Town centres begin to swirl with drunken youths and hooded ‘chavs’. Walls (and war memorials) are urinated on. Vomit thickens rainwater in city gutters.

During these hours, Britain is the worst place on earth.

Things are vastly different elsewhere. I knew a fellow from Ghana who was studying here and couldn’t wait to leave. He proudly told me that over in Accra, the cafes, libraries and street markets stay open to 3am most days, and people go to bed later and wake earlier. I’ve witnessed the same kind of life in France, Italy and Spain.

Why is so much money spent on government studies to find the root cause of binge-drinking? The answers are painfully obvious. After the hours most clock off from employment the only places with light and company are outlets selling liquor.

In Paris I remember seeing wonderful bars selling coffee, wine and light food to crowds of people – children and adults – long past the sunset. A mini-orchestra busked in a town square nearby and was applauded after every piece.

People are rightly told that we should work to live, rather than live to work. But this requires the existence of a social apparatus which survives the close of the normal office day.

So many of Britain’s problems are not, as the media portrays them, due to capitalist excess, but rather the opposite – to a slovenly attitude to commerce rooted in an outdated past.

The ‘Chav’ phenomenon which so blights town centres is due to a lack of things for young people to do. If the only places open after dark are off licenses, then sure enough the youths will get drunk, and if there is nowhere pleasant they can drink, they will take that booze to children’s playgrounds, street corners and residential areas.

The solution would be for the government to encourage extended hours of trading. This would provide work for the unemployed, overtime for the underemployed, and a boost to the economy.

Britain used to be famed for ‘common sense’. It’s a shame it seems so thin on the ground with addressing these matters.

D, LDN.