The other night at dinner, Lars asked me if I am a Trumpist. In complete seriousness, he was looking at me with questioning eyes. I processed for a couple seconds, my eyes widened and I looked at him sideways, giving him a short no. It is such a common thing back home to make jokes about Trump that when I was faced with the opposite opinion from someone I consider sane and kind, I was astonished.
He went on to explain why he loved Donald Trump and did not like Hillary Clinton. Clinton aside, these are some of his thoughts on Trump:
- he's a breath of fresh air for the political system
- he doesn't need to borrow money from anybody because he uses his own money; he's self made
- the media only shows the bad sides of him/portrays him horribly
- Clinton is just more of the "same old"; Trump will actually change things, he actually has plans
- he's eloquent, he almost speaks like a poet, he has "a way with words"
The last one shocked me the most. I was dumbfounded after every reason he gave, but I'm not one to start a big argument, especially about politics, so I smiled and listened. Towards the end, a voice of reason, Cecilie, stated her belief that politics has turned into nothing more than a mud fight and it has become less about plans and problems and more about the other person.
I asked Lars this morning if he still stood behind Trump after the debate last night; he admitted that Trump did botch his answers pertaining to taxes but Lars stills believes that Trump will bring positive, much needed change to the United States.
This only emphasizes the power of the media and the vast range in opinions, all over the world, on two political figures. I'm very unsure of what to think, or do.I will add that the good part about our conversation was that if he was to choose between everyone before the primaries, above all the candidates he'd choose Bernie. :)
P.S. No offense meant towards anyone in the writing of this article
P.S.S. As a complete side note, the Tim Brennan is coming out in me; if you read my subway post I stumbled on this TED talk a few days after I wrote the post. I just thought it was a coincidence that it was quite similar to some of my ideas and that the speaker specifically mentions Denmark...
