The real reason Australian elites hate Trump: The bandana bore says Americans are just dumb. The truth is Dons comeback reminds us of something we lost and will never get back, writes STEPHEN JOHNSON
Australias cultural elites are really scoffing at working-class pride when they have a meltdown reaction to Donald Trumps election victory.
Australias cultural elites are really scoffing at working-class pride when they have a meltdown reaction to Donald Trumps election victory.
Left-wing author Peter FitzSimons struggled to have any civility when an X follower politely called him out for adopting the mindset that Trump supporters were beneath contempt.
I have no respect for Trump whatsoever, he replied as the election results rolled in.
FitzSimons, a resident of Mosman on Sydneys very upmarket lower north shore, would probably struggle to comprehend how working-class Americans voted Republican because they are more concerned about high inflation and job security than identity politics on race and gender.
Vice-President Kamala Harris didnt just lose the industrial states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania after making abortion and defending democracy key themes of her campaign.
She also delivered the Democrats their worst electoral college vote in a presidential election since 1988, as Trumps Republicans swept up the states with the highest proportion of blue-collar workers.
But this time, she also became the first Democrat in two decades to lose the popular vote after preferring to campaign on stage with the likes of Bon Jovi, Beyonce and Jennifer Lopez.
Trump instead donned a McDonalds uniform, scooping up fries, and also sat in a garbage truck wearing an orange fluoro vest - drawing ridicule from left-wing media outlets.
Australias elites are really scoffing at working class pride when they have a meltdown reaction to Donald Trump s election victory
The Republican president-elect at least showed an affinity with low-paid workers, or those doing hard physical labour.
This is something certain snobbish B-grade celebrity pontificators - including those who wear a red bandana as a fashion statement - would have trouble comprehending as centre-left political parties from the American Democrats to the Australian Labor Party lose the support of those without a university degree.
FitzSimons even contemptuously suggested Australian followers of Trump - with their red Make America Great Again hats - were mentally unwell.
The saddest thing, for me, is the Australian MAGA supporters claiming to be "patriots" - completely oblivious to the fact that they are no more than a rundown branch of American nutters, he posted on X a month before the election.
About as UN-Australian and unpatriotic as it gets!
The irony of FitzSimons describing Trump supporters as unpatriotic and nutters for wanting to protect local jobs!
Trumps plan to impose 10 to 20 per cent tariffs on imports is, in fact, exactly the kind of policy Australia had when it still had a car industry.
From 2000 to 2005, Australia had 15 per cent tariffs on imported cars.
Back in 2002, Holden - and not Toyota - was still Australias top-selling brand, with the Adelaide-built Commodore the No. 1 selling car.
Import tariffs fell to 10 per cent in 2005, and under Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd they were halved again to just five per cent in 2010.
Peter FitzSimons (pictured with wife Lisa Wilkinson) struggled to have any civility when an X user called him out for adopting the mindset that Trump supporters were beneath contempt
The Republican president-elect at least showed an affinity with low-paid workers, or those doing hard physical labour
By 2011, the Australian-made Holden Commodore was no longer Australias top selling car, with the fully-imported Mazda3 taking that crown.
Never before had a fully imported car been Australias bestseller, with the nations most popular car previously being either assembled or fully manufactured locally.
Just six years later, Australia made its last car, with Holden, Ford and Toyota having all closed their local manufacturing operations.
This occurred during Trumps first year in office in 2017.
The end of Holden was a blow to Australias national pride, ending 100 years of the former Adelaide saddlery company assembling American General Motors cars and launching the first Holden in 1948.
The brand synonymous with the Kingswood and the Commodore was once the pride of Australia but the car make with the lion badge died in 2021.
The Ford Falcon nameplate had lasted 56 years - as a car proudly made in Australia - but the worlds longest-surviving model moniker is now no more than an historic footnote.
The end of Holden was a blow to Australias national pride, ending 100 years of the former Adelaide saddlery company assembling General Motors cars and launching the first Holden in 1948
Trump may get ridiculed by the elites for wanting to impose high tariffs, including the 60 per cent tariffs on Chinese goods.
But from 1978 to 1988, Australia in fact had 57.5 per cent tariffs on all imported cars.
The elites also like to mock Trump for wanting to rip up free-trade deals.
They are all well and good if both parties operate in good faith - but in the case of Thailand, Australia got dudded after signing such a deal in 2005.
In a bid to protect its own car-making industry, Thailand imposed special taxes on larger cars, which made it impossible for Ford Australia to export the Territory SUV to that market.
Ford only made right-hand drive cars, too, and having obstacles put in the way, despite a free-trade deal, meant it didnt have a viable export program to survive beyond 2016 as a local manufacturer.
Its too late now for Australia to revive its car industry.
Trump - the author of The Art of the Deal - at least understands how its the working class who get screwed over in bad deals.
Thats something those wealthy, lefty elites may wish to consider - but that is probably beyond them.
