A Tale of Two Presidents
Posted by Erik Fogg on February 23, 2018 at 4:01 PM
Posted by Erik Fogg, ReConsider Media. Reposted from ReConsiderMedia.com
Let me tell you about a president, and you guess who he is.
- He's a relative political newcomer with lots of money that swept aside the conventional right and left by mobilizing the frustration and anger of a new coalition of citizens
- He's trying to revitalize what he and his followers believe is a stagnant nation
- He cut taxes and killed the estate tax
- He's going after unions, who he thinks are dragging down the economy
- He's slashing lots of regulation, but trying to protect domestic industries from foreign competition--especially from China
- He's vowed to strike Syria if his administration learns it used chemical weapons (again) on its civilians
- He is curtailing press 'privileges' and closing the press room near his office
- His cabinet is weighed down by increasingly-frequent sexual assault allegations
- He's shifting the country to cozy up with Putin and Russia
- He's really into military parades, despite his peer countries not sharing in such affections
- He's even considering introducing compulsory national service, in a move that is being called confusing and half-baked
- And amid all this, his approval ratings are startlingly worryingly underwater
This president is--I'm sure you already know--Emmanuel Macron of France!
ReConsidering Stereotypes
Of course, Macron and Trump have a lot of differences.
But this is an exercise: how would you feel reading each of these, individually, perhaps believing they were about Trump? And how about Macron?
As we've mentioned a few times before, everything is sensationalized when Trump is involved. When Macron does something, it's a president doing something. When Trump does something, it's TRUMP doing SOMETHING, love it or hate it. Trump encourages this; so does our traditional and social media.
Just remember: not everything Trump does is revolutionary, outrageous, or even novel.
By the way, here are all of the sources for the bullets about Macron at the beginning of the article:
- He's a relative political newcomer with lots of money that swept aside the conventional right and left by mobilizing the frustration and anger of a new coalition of citizens
- He's trying to revitalize what he and his followers believe is a stagnant nation
- He cut taxes and killed the estate tax
- He's going after unions, who he thinks are dragging down the economy
- He's slashing lots of regulation, but trying to protect domestic industries from foreign competition--especially from China
- He's vowed to strike Syria if his administration learns it used chemical weapons (again) on its civilians
- He is curtailing press 'privileges' and closing the press room near his office
- His cabinet is weighed down by increasingly-frequent sexual assault allegations
- He's shifting the country to cozy up with Putin and Russia
- He's into military parades, despite his peer countries not sharing in such affections
- He's even considering introducing compulsory national service, in a move that is being called confusing and half-baked
- And amid all this, his approval ratings are worryingly underwater (along with some peers)
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this blog post are strictly those of the author and do not represent the views of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund, the Bridge Alliance, or the Bridge Alliance’s member organizations. Additionally, the Bridge Alliance Education Fund makes no representations as to the accuracy of this post’s contents.