Donald Trump and the Far Right Legacy - Let's Catch Ourselves Before It's Too Late

You could argue that is already happening but it's as important as ever that we use the Brexit fallout as medium to have a long hard look in the mirror and constructively address the issues that divide us. Let's catch ourselves before it gets beyond hope and use Donald Trump as an example of what is not wanted here.
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Now the USA presidential candidate selection is stuttering to an end, it is becoming clear who will be heading into the 2016 general election representing both the major parties.

As the rest of it's world holds it's breath to see if the GOP will actually select Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention without the support of the party's establishment, it's evident Hilary Clinton has the backing of the Democratic Party elite.

According to Bloomberg, 55% of likely US voters say they would never vote for Trump. It doesn't take a political genius to suggest moderate voters would struggle to back to his ability to alienate the electorate with his rhetorical stance.

Although it's not impossible, it's unlikely Trump will emerge above Clinton but what is far more scary is Mr Trump's hyperbole and the legacy it will leave post general election.

The magnification of social issues and ethnic tensions within American communities by Trump has encouraged an unwelcome dialogue and spats of racial violence at his rally's.

But is Donald Trump a person of far right views?

It's hard to pin Trump as a far right candidate considering the States foreign policy which is in favour globalisation over nationalism, and he obviously adheres to that via his own enterprise.

I don't particularly think Trump is genuinely anti-establishment but nor is he pro-people, plus I do not think he's even whole heartedly Pro-Republican. He is however, a populist who has found a demographic who are prepared to hold him in regard if he spits chauvinist styled xenophobic idiom.

It's a sort of cult.

The majority of the people he represents, now have a platform to express the kind of views they wouldn't usually have the opportunity to project and that isn't something that will go away, even beyond the general election.

The Republican Party is a complicated crowd with different factors constantly manoeuvring in the ranks. These factions range from traditionalists, conservatives, neocons, centrists, libertarians, Christian right to the absolutely terrifying Tea Party movement.

If there's space in a party that is already veering more and more to the right thanks to the influence of the Tea Party, is there space in the party for a new faction?

There is a real concern a far right and potentially fascist dialogue could be soaked up by the party, and historically the party has a history of collecting people of various right wing leanings so why not this.

You could argue that it's the party's fault for not being representative enough and it's a flaw of the American two party system.

I'd suggest due to the wide range of factions vying in the Republican Party it's not reflecting of it's demographic as it's too wide and if this is the road continues to choose, it's fair to say the party will struggle long term. If it's not disintegrated by the Democrats in the short term, it will most probably have lasting effects that will affect them going forward.

Long term, if America opened up it's public platform to the so called lesser parties such as the Greens, Libertarian Party and even the Constitution Party. Marginalised GOP voters could potentially vote for something that represents them better and the Republicans can get on with fixing what went wrong and get back to it's core values.

It seems American voters need to physically see something and have their information presented to them which can be quickly digested.

That's just the effects of deep-seated populism and popular culture, we are the same.

Over here in the UK we have our own problems in regards to xenophobia but Trump's Islamophobia allurement with his electorate is legitimising the same kind of dialogue in our country.

We need to reject this kind of discourse as a community of activists before it can manifest itself into our mainstream political party's repartee.

You could argue that is already happening but it's as important as ever that we use the Brexit fallout as medium to have a long hard look in the mirror and constructively address the issues that divide us.

Let's catch ourselves before it gets beyond hope and use Donald Trump as an example of what is not wanted here.