In news that will surprise no one, former Labor leader and current provocateur Mark Latham has penned a positive appraisal of loud American reality show star and presidential hopeful Donald Trump, which highlights his straight-talkin’ political incorrectness but curiously brushes over his stated plans to ban Muslim immigration.
Latham, who clearly sees himself as Australia’s Trump analogue but seems to lack the actual wild populist appeal, bemoans the influence of identity politics and reckons America has been craving a hard man who tells it like it is for some time.
If their policies have been anywhere to the right of Che Guevara, the elites have labelled them “racist”, “sexist” and “fascist”. In Trump’s case, he has also been depicted as “vulgar”, someone too common, too plain-speaking, too rude to be seriously considered for high office.
You can definitely make the argument that identity politics has fired up a base of people who are tired of being told how to talk and think by inner-city elites, but it’s also kind hard to make the argument that an actually racist billionaire is the guy who really speaks for the average joe on the street.
Also, uh, this:
When it comes to tolerating vulgarity, no one beats Mrs Clinton: hanging on to a husband who famously perfumed his Oval Office cigars with the scent of Monica Lewinsky.
Gross.
Latham has created an image for himself as a battler for the common man, and has trumpeted that through… weird comments about domestic violence and Islam? You can see why there’s no wild movement to put Latham in the top job.
He makes the point that Trump is opposed to “foreign adventurism” – i.e. wars in the Middle East – which Latham thinks is a big plus for Australia too. Trump’s commitment to invade Syria, destroy ISIS and take the oil seems slightly at odds with this take.
Anyway, there you have it: Mark Latham officially supports Trump. Criminy, what a scoop.
Source: Daily Telegraph.
Photo: Getty Images / David Becker / Jonathan Wood.
