Trump shows that the liberal left need to change their narrative

2016 certainly hasn’t been a year for the faint-hearted. I can think of no other year since 1989 which has been so revolutionary in terms of politics, with the result that we now have Mr Trump heading to the White House and Britain exiting the EU. Now that the post US election dust is starting to settle, many from the liberal left are in deep soul-searching mode.

Indeed, they rightly ask, how can they have lost to such a man? When his comments against various groups, such as Hispanics, Muslims and the largest of all, women, are taken together, Trump has potentially caused offence to well over half of the US population. Yet still, Trump won 42% of women’s and 29% of Hispanics’ votes, a staggering 8% point increase from 2012.

The sheer abhorrence of Trump should have made him a write-off. For many on November 8^th, this was clearly not the case.

I can think of no other year since 1989 which has been so revolutionary in terms of politics

So what motivated these people so much? So far, most political pundits have focused on the anti-establishment narrative taking Trump over the line. They are, to some degree, correct. However I think more blame should fall specifically at the hands of the liberal left, who through their incessant moralising, be it right or wrong, have led to the Trump backlash.

Immigration is a good example. For many years, even the mere discussion of the topic would have led to you being branded as ‘out of touch,’ or worse, ‘racist.’ We saw this during Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2012 and here in the UK have seen it with reference to Nigel Farage.

However I think more blame should fall specifically at the hands of the liberal left, who through their incessant moralising, be it right or wrong, have led to the Trump backlash

Now, while I don’t agree with their narrative on immigration, they do speak of issues that affect many people. People are concerned with whether a country can cope with large influxes of migrants, or in America’s case, what to do about the 11m undocumented illegal migrants resident in the country.

Instead of trying to allay people’s concerns, perhaps by offering more money for public services in high immigrant influx areas, or trying to promote integration initiatives, the left simply shouts down any attempt to discuss these matters by branding people as bigots.

People are concerned with whether a country can cope with large influxes of migrants

They do the same on national pride. It has become fashionable to disown national affiliations, with more and more people describing themselves as citizens of a continent, such as Europe, or even the world. While this may be beneficial for an increasingly globalised world, it doesn’t mean that we should forget national identities, or worse, stick our noses up at them in disgust.

But time and time again this is what the liberal left seems to do. We saw it 2014, when Emily Thornberry tweeted an image of a house with three England flags on it, entitled ‘image from #Rochester.’ She subsequently commented that she’d ‘never seen anything like it before’ and that it was ‘remarkable.’

It has become fashionable to disown national affiliations, with more and more people describing themselves as citizens of a continent, such as Europe, or even the world

What Ms Thornberry and many liberals in America fail to realise, is that not everyone has the chance to live in an affluent metropolitan area and jet off around the world multiple times every year. The majority of people feel attached to their country and to sneer at this with the same ‘holier than thou’ sentiment is only to push these people further and further to the extreme.

So as the soul-searching continues, the liberal left needs to change its attitude. Their drive is right. We need to constantly look out to the world and never close ourselves off from it. But don’t be snobby about it. Not everyone has the same background as the university-educated, globetrotting, metropolitan liberals who argue for such measures. The left needs to respect people’s views.

The majority of people feel attached to their country and to sneer at this with the same ‘holier than thou’ sentiment is only to push these decent people further and further to the extreme

Where there is racism, call it out. When you disagree with something, say so. But don’t patronise. Win by argument, and not by shutting down argument. Hopefully Trump is the kick up the backside the liberal left need. If they don’t change their narrative soon, we can look forward to many more Donald Trumps in the future.