Donald Trump‘s victory in the 2024 presidential election is creating ripples around the globe. While his allies and friends are having the time of their lives celebrating a return to the dark bigotry and incompetence of those years long gone, many others are taking a stand and declaring that they will fight this divisive, convicted president every step of the way.
Don’t let Trump near a TV, because this blistering takedown by Scottish parliament member Patrick Harvie aimed at First Minister John Swinney — who congratulated Trump after his win — is as good as any we’ve heard. That’s saying a lot when it comes to a man who has been the subject of ridicule for the entire world over the past decade.
Here’s what Harvie had to say about Swinney congratulating Trump and hoping to work with him towards “flourishing” ties with the United States.
“The First Minister offered congratulations to the convicted felon Donald Trump on his re-election, writing officially on behalf of the Scottish Government,” he begins his address. “He wrote that he is ‘sure’ Scotland’s cultural and social ties with the US ‘will flourish’ during the presidency of a misogynist, a climate denier, a fraudster, a conspiracy monger, a racist [and] a far-right politician, who tried to overturn an election result both covertly and by inciting violence.”
Harvie finished his tirade by asking: “What social and cultural ties does the First Minister really think will benefit from a relationship with such a man?
“Literally the whole world sees how messed up this is,” wrote one user, highlighting how absurd it is that a president-elect should be scrutinized in such a harsh tone by an official parliamentary member.
“A lot of Americans are — and I’m not kidding — in a state of grief,” wrote another person in the comments. “We are terrified and we are embarrassed. I truly do not know how he won. I can’t fathom enough people backing him to win an election.”
The First Minister tried to defend his favorable stance by saying that he has “a duty to engage with other governments.” He also acknowledged that there are “very big, real differences in expression and priority and way of life between me and Donald Trump,” though I doubt people would make much of that, grief-stricken as they are.
If Trump winning was the worst thing that could happen to this nation in your estimation (and I sympathize with that attitude entirely) then you’ve probably found yourself in the same boat with tens of millions of other disillusioned, disgruntled human beings in the United States and even around the globe.
While the Con Don might have legions of supporters in right-wing communities and around the GOP, his popularity overseas couldn’t be overestimated if his life depended on it. Because while we’d be justified in bemoaning his domestic policies on many basic human rights as well as his severely deficient understanding of economics, the simple fact is that Donald Trump isn’t just bad for the United States, but the entire world. As for politicians like Harvie, I guess that’s just one more name that Trump will be adding to his list of scores to settle when he enters the White House again in January.