July 9, 2017
Dear Mr. President,
Congratulations, you were met by an angry mob of 100,000
protesters in Hamburg, Germany. Do you
want to know why? The short answer is
nationalism (that line is really only funny if you read yesterday's letter).
Ok, that's a terrible oversimplification. The real problem is nationalism vs. internationalism. You see, a large contingent of the world
(like Canada, the European Union, Japan and parts of Asia) wants free trade and
international cooperation but you don't.
You are promoting more nationalistic, isolationist, me-first policies
(Reverse globalization maybe? I don't
know. I'm not an economist.)
You're not the only one though. Writer Jason Karaian over at Quartz summed it up well when he said
that your "'America first' policies are cheered by fellow populists, like
Russia's Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan (among others), who
are emboldened to promote their own varieties of muscular, identity-based
nationalism." But that is the polar
opposite of what the rest of the G20 members are promoting. The EU and Japan just signed a major trade deal and the EU also signed
a similar deal with Canada not too long ago leaving the US standing all
alone. Which is, I guess, what you
wanted. So…congratulations? Sort of?
Global summits like the G20 always attract some protesters because there are always
people advocating to change policies (environmental, economic, etc…)
but this G20 meeting seems to have
attracted more protesters than usual. It
seems like people really don't like the direction that our world is going in
and wanted to make sure that their leaders know it. From what I've read there was a major
anti-capitalist vein running through the demonstrations too. That's not too surprising. The rich are getting richer and the poor are
getting poorer and the economic decisions that will affect all of those people
(rich and poor) are being made
behind closed doors. That doesn't really instill confidence in the process for
all of those poor people fighting for their slice of the pie.
After the G20 meeting Breitbart news ran the headline:
"Trump Versus the Rest" and several articles that hailed your trip as a nationalist
triumph. I guess in your insulated,
myopic little world that is an accomplishment.
Sincerely,
Amy Beaton
P.S. That ridiculous Senate health care bill will not pass…you
heard it here first!
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