Australia's View on Trump's America

[SYZ]

How will Donald Trump’s victory affect Australia’s economy?

Australian markets reacted to the prospect of a Trump win on
Wednesday with shares rising 0.8% and the Australian dollar
losing about 1.5% against its US counterpart.

The Reserve Bank governor said that it was “too early” to tell
how Australia would be affected by a president-elect who won’t
take office until 20 January.

The assistant governor was more forthcoming. Should Trump
slap those hefty tariffs on China—which takes more than a third
of Australia’s exports—the impact may be “adverse”.

While the dollar lost ground to the greenback yesterday, it actually
rose more broadly, at least according to the trade-weighted gauge.
Most of our exports go to places that don’t use the dollar, such as
China and Japan.

The knock-on effects of the election on Australian stocks have been
mixed.  A rising US dollar is traditionally a weight on the price of
commodities, which is a major factor for Australia’s resources heavy
share market.

Trump is definitely seen as more business-friendly from the perspective
of tax cuts, less regulation, tariffs and protectionist policies. For example,
On the ASX, some specific stocks such as Australian steelmaker BlueScope,
which has operations in North America, have risen sharply because it could
benefit from higher tariffs on steel imported into the US.

The fortunes of Australia’s iron ore miners are more closely tied to how
China handles its domestic economy than the result of the US election.

Australia’s broadly centrist politics will not be immune from Trumpian
echoes but are less likely to succumb. The Australian way of democracy
is reinforced by compulsory, preferential voting and independent electoral
commissions.

[Rhythmcs]

Without the us protecting freedom of navigation and sea trade, china will eat australias lunch. There's no credible version of the future, imo, where the beneficiaries of american hegemony come out better with the decline of the american hegemon.

[SYZ]

This morning Australia's Labor Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese spoke with Donald Trump...

Good to speak this morning with President Trump to
personally congratulate him on his election victory.

We talked about the importance of the Alliance, and
the strength of the Australia-US relationship in security,
AUKUS, trade and investment.  

I look forward to working together in the interests of
both our countries.

The Liberal opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said Trump’s
election was a “truly historic outcome” adding that he “is
not somebody to be scared of, but somebody that we can
work very closely with”.

   Hmmm...   

(Labor = ~US Democrats,  Liberal = ~US Republicans)

[SYZ]

So the media pundits are already into damning Harris's purportedly
poor performance—after liberally praising her over the past few months.  
Easy to kick someone when they're down already I guess.

  From the ABC News Australia we get this sort of stuff...

The woman who had famously flamed out of the 2020 Democratic
primary contests before a single vote had been cast, after a badly
mismanaged campaign and failing to earn support, became the
unopposed standard-bearer for the party in 2024.

Despite an initial wave of relief-fuelled enthusiasm among Democrats,
happy to have a candidate who could speak clearly and with confidence,
her shortcomings quickly became evident.

She was nervous and unconvincing in interviews, prone to "word salad"
responses when pressed, where she didn't say much of anything while
deploying complicated language.  While a competent reader of an autocue,
she struggled with anything off the cuff.

She also seemed uncertain of how to both own the successes of Biden's
term and sell her experience as the number two, while distancing herself
from some of the more unpopular aspects.

What's clear in retrospect is that the Democrats should have run a competitive
contest to decide who should lead them in this election.  They should've allowed
the next generation of talent to sell themselves and their ideas.

There was a stable of talent ready for the opportunity:
Pete Buttigieg, Gretchen Whitmer, or Elizabeth Warren.

[mordant]

There was a stable of talent ready for the opportunity:
Pete Buttigieg, Gretchen Whitmer, or Elizabeth Warren.

Liz Warren was the only one who kinda sorta would have gotten at the real problems with the policies the party had on offer, but party leadership always chokes presidential aspirations of such people in the crib as they are a problem for the rich donors. Pete and Gretchen are just more centrist pablum slingers. They are bright and articulate and nimble, but it turned out, so was Kamala.

If reasoned, calm argument were the answer, Pete was all over the airwaves taking hostile interviews during this campaign with aplomb and near as I can tell no one said, gee, darn it, you're right -- what have I been thinking?

Even if they were inclined to, none of those mentioned candidates would be allowed to say, as Sanders did (and paid for it with a shiv between the ribs) that we repudiate the wealthy donor class and offer a full throated pro worker platform. Strong unions and worker protections, healthcare for all, college for all, childcare for all, student loan forgiveness and a strong bias toward peace over perpetual war. Tax the wealthy to pay for it.

[adey67]

I have absolutely no sympathy for America or Americans because electing that goon was the most retarded action ever, frankly I wouldn't give two shits if the election of Trump didn't affect the entire world.

[TheGentlemanBastard]

I have absolutely no sympathy for America or Americans because electing that goon was the most retarded action ever, frankly I wouldn't give two shits if the election of Trump didn't affect the entire world.

(my bold)

It needs to be pointed up, the people you're telling that you have no sympathy for, the people on this site, are not the one's that voted him in. And, broad brushing in general, is very bad form regardless.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I have absolutely no sympathy for America or Americans because electing that goon was the most retarded action ever, frankly I wouldn't give two shits if the election of Trump didn't affect the entire world.

Weird. When the UK passed Brexit, I groaned with sympathy for the voters there who voted Remain. That's the problem with democracy, you don't always get what you want and sometimes it's a very narrow margin.

Of course I won't feel sorry for Trump voters when the reaming comes their way, but really, no sympathy for Americans who did what we could to stop him?

[LastPoet]

I have absolutely no sympathy for America or Americans because electing that goon was the most retarded action ever, frankly I wouldn't give two shits if the election of Trump didn't affect the entire world.

Please, let us not get emotional over this, you love your contry as do I love mine, although i am not from the US i am sure most of them love it, it hurts to be bundled under the same idea. Perhaps lack of alternatives, personal grievances etc made people vote trhe guy. 

At any rate, time will tell. I don't like Trump, but i don't vote there. Reasoning might help, albeit hard to accomplish.

[SYZ]

Recent polling conducted by pollsters Talbot Mills Research
shows a troubling split between young men and women in
Australia.  Younger men prefer(red) Trump to Harris, while
Trump support among young women was tiny.

"One of my sons said to me Trump was his hero," said a
Nationals senator from Queensland.   Ouch!

[jerry mcmasters]

So the media pundits are already into damning Harris's purportedly
poor performance—after liberally praising her over the past few months.  
Easy to kick someone when they're down already I guess.

  From the ABC News Australia we get this sort of stuff...

The woman who had famously flamed out of the 2020 Democratic
primary contests before a single vote had been cast, after a badly
mismanaged campaign and failing to earn support, became the
unopposed standard-bearer for the party in 2024.

Despite an initial wave of relief-fuelled enthusiasm among Democrats,
happy to have a candidate who could speak clearly and with confidence,
her shortcomings quickly became evident.

She was nervous and unconvincing in interviews, prone to "word salad"
responses when pressed, where she didn't say much of anything while
deploying complicated language.  While a competent reader of an autocue,
she struggled with anything off the cuff.

She also seemed uncertain of how to both own the successes of Biden's
term and sell her experience as the number two, while distancing herself
from some of the more unpopular aspects.

What's clear in retrospect is that the Democrats should have run a competitive
contest to decide who should lead them in this election.  They should've allowed
the next generation of talent to sell themselves and their ideas.

There was a stable of talent ready for the opportunity:
Pete Buttigieg, Gretchen Whitmer, or Elizabeth Warren.

It's very accurate.  I pointed out some misgivings at the time but was widely assured she was brilliant and a great speaker and there was no reason for her to bother going off teleprompter, everything to know about her was already obvious.  The article says "What's clear in retrospect..." but no shit, that's why it's called retrospect.  It's understandable what the Dem party did, but it came with the risk that she just wouldn't be impressive enough or project enough gravitas to overcome the shitshow she inherited. 

I wonder if a lot of Democratic party operatives and big wigs at the time had a bad gut feeling about just handing her the nomination without any kind of quick competition.  You wouldn't have dared speak up, though, because to betray the slightest doubt or hesitation would have no reward:  If she loses you were the cause for breaking the unity and momentum.  If she wins, you were the asshole who doubted her.

[Minimalist]

There was a stable of talent ready for the opportunity:

Pete Buttigieg, Gretchen Whitmer, or Elizabeth Warren.

This guy clearly missed the whole point of what just happened.

[pattylt]

There was a stable of talent ready for the opportunity:

Pete Buttigieg, Gretchen Whitmer, or Elizabeth Warren.

This guy clearly missed the whole point of what just happened.

Yep…a gay and two women.  Our next candidate, whether we like him or not has to be a white heterosexual male.  Maybe in 20 years we’ll mature enough to progress to females and LGBTQ.

[Rhythmcs]

Centering doesn't have any natural shelf life. It's not like a piece of fruit that goes bad. 200 years ago there where people who believed that we would one day "mature"...and their antecessors spent every waking minute of that next two hundred years making sure it never happened. We will never be rid of them, we can only rid ourselves of them.