By Situation Theatre 16/12/2015
No surprises there. In the wake of Abbott’s comments about the reformation of Islam and Trump’s call to ban Muslims from entering the US, these natural allies have knocked their heads together and formed a new political party. In English, it translates as the International Socialist German Workers Party, or INSDAP. The mixture of ‘International’ and ‘German’ seems a little confusing, but it’s perfectly in line with the incoherent nonsense these two usually prattle on with.
You may have heard of Godwin’s Law: the longer an argument drags on, the more likely a mention of Nazism. The person who drops the Nazi comparison then automatically loses the argument.
It's a good law.
Except when it comes to Tony Abbott and Donald Trump. The views of these men are now so extreme, not to see some similarities with Nazi ideology seems almost willfully blind. Let's not let old mate Godwin prevent us from recognising serious threats to civil society when we see them.
Most commentators rate Tony Abbott’s chances of a comeback at zero, and Trump’s chances of being elected President at not much more than that.
Others say that the same was said about Rudd, and that Trump is leading the Republican race, has hit an all time high in the polls, and could very well be president. Those prospects are scary but remote enough to avoid panic attacks. Although Sasha Abramsky’s piece in the New Statesman is well worth reading: Think Donald Trump is a joke candidate? That's what they said about Hitler.
Whether they gain high office or not, their toxic discourse which is consistently lavished with the attention in the media across the board is dangerous and scary enough. Owen Jones uses the concept of the Overton Window to explain how these men are shifting political debate to the right and making bigots seem moderate. There are clear links between the time spent in the media spotlight by Abbott and Trump and the Muslim experience of intensified racism in Australia and the spike in hate crimes in the US.
We must recognise these men for the danger they are. They must be laughed out of the public spotlight as quickly as possible. So long as they both have megaphones they will continue to drag public discourse dangerously to the right.
And if either of them do rise to power, may your religious being of choice have mercy on all of us.