Matthew Steeples questions recent political events in Britain and America and suggests the public have only themselves to blame
Sadiq Khan was elected Mayor of London on Friday whilst Republicans all but anointed Donald Trump as their presidential candidate earlier in the week. Many have questioned this bizarre state of affairs, but of the latter, the best summing up came in the form of a Facebook post by the Eton educated, New York based financier Euan Rellie.
In a simple, one sentence question, Rellie asked: “If Trump is the answer, how stupid is the question?” and though some will argue that both men have come to prominence as a result of voters being disappointed by traditional politicians, its actually much more worrying that. Our very own laziness is the cause of the rise of such individuals and our failure to adapt has allowed radicals – be they Trump and Khan or Mhairi Black and Ruth Davidson – to rise to the top.
Criticised widely for sharing platforms with extremists, Khan is definitely the lesser evil compared to Trump but his policies will set London on a backward path. His anachronistic views are tinged with Communism and business leaders are right to fear him. Watch this space but a combination of this man endlessly quoted as “the bus driver’s son” as the city’s new head honcho, taxation hikes from George Osborne and the uncertainty of Brexit cannot bring anything but bad for London’s residents.
Trump, on the other hand, is a man fuelled by nothing but his own over-inflated ego. He was rightly referred to as “an idiot” by Rashid Razaq in the Evening Standard on Friday and his promises of a wall to keep out the Mexicans, trade sanctions against China and general crassness embarrass all but the most stupid Americans.
Those with a voice need to wake up and re-engage with the political system. If we, as vaguely capable individuals, don’t, we can only realise that we’ll continue to get what we deserve.
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