Two countries, two politicians, and a disturbing similarity in the way cruelty has become a political selling point.
There are many qualities we might reasonably expect of our political leaders. Integrity, intelligence, compassion, honesty and a willingness to serve the public would be a reasonable starting point.
Being nasty isn’t generally considered a qualification for public office.
Yet in the United States and Australia, two politicians have built extraordinary political careers around behaviour that would be considered disgraceful in almost any other profession.
Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson.
One became president of the most powerful country on Earth. The other has spent three decades cultivating political influence by presenting herself as the voice of Australians who believe nobody else is listening.
They operate on different scales, wield vastly different levels of power and inhabit different political systems. But they share something unmistakable: an extraordinary willingness to humiliate, insult and demean other human beings.
And their supporters frequently mistake this behaviour for strength.
Donald Trump: When cruelty becomes entertainment
Long before Donald Trump returned to the White House, Americans had ample warning about the character of the man seeking their highest office.
In November 2015, during a campaign rally in South Carolina, Trump performed an exaggerated imitation of journalist Serge Kovaleski, who has a physical disability.
The performance was widely condemned as mocking the reporter’s disability. Trump denied that interpretation, insisting he had merely been imitating a journalist retreating from an earlier account.
Whatever his explanation, the spectacle of a presidential candidate publicly ridiculing a journalist should have raised serious questions about his suitability for office.
Instead, it became another episode in the travelling circus that was Trump’s campaign.
Then there was John McCain.
McCain, a decorated naval aviator, spent more than five years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, enduring torture and refusing an opportunity for early release.
Trump’s assessment?
“He’s not a war hero.”
And then came the unforgettable explanation:
“He’s a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren’t captured.”
Think about that for a moment.
A man who never served in the military was belittling the suffering of someone who had endured years of imprisonment and torture while serving his country.
It was an extraordinary display of contempt.
In 2020, The Atlantic reported that Trump had privately described Americans killed in military service as “losers” and “suckers”. Trump denied the allegations, but his former chief of staff, retired Marine general John Kelly, subsequently confirmed the substance of the reporting.
The recurring theme was difficult to miss.
Sacrifice deserved ridicule. Vulnerability invited contempt. Respect was apparently reserved for those who demonstrated personal loyalty to Donald Trump.
Nor was his contempt restricted to war veterans.
Joe Biden became the subject of relentless attacks on his age, physical appearance and mental capacity. Bernie Sanders was repeatedly dismissed as “Crazy Bernie”. Journalists were subjected to personal insults, attacks on their appearance and accusations that they were enemies of the people.
Political disagreement was no longer enough.
Opponents had to be humiliated.
And Trump’s hostility towards migrants and minorities has been even more disturbing.
At a White House Easter lunch in April 2026, Trump launched into a tirade about Somalia and Somali migrants, describing people as having low intelligence and being bad people.
He also repeated a personal allegation about Somali-born Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who has been a frequent target of his attacks, with the threat of jail time hanging over her head. Why? Because Trump invented a reason.
This was not a heated exchange between political rivals during an election campaign.
It was the president of the United States speaking at a White House function.
And there lies the problem.
When a president repeatedly uses his platform to degrade individuals and entire communities, he does more than express personal prejudice.
He helps establish contempt as an acceptable language of government.
Continued tomorrow… Pauline Hanson
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I must say that I find it incredible that the voting public of the USA even have any support for this imbecile, let alone enough for him to be President TWICE.
Surely it is a signal that their Presidential voting system is deeply flawed.
Fuck McCain. He was no hero. He was a war criminal. As for Trump? The mind boggles. The deluded MAGA Seppos gave him a SECOND chance to loot the treasury and fuck his critics. Jezuz wept! But the worst is to come. Regardless of the US mid-term election results, that sick, senile. deep-fried creep has two more years as POTUS!!!