Do you think a cruise vacation to South America would take you far enough away to avoid hearing complaints about Donald Trump?
Nope.
Jennifer Angelo and husband Jack Mullen got an earful about gasoline prices when they were in Chile earlier this month. Their guide said Trump threatens his livelihood. The guide considers Trump "crazy."
Angelo is a retired federal attorney. She and Jack live in Washington, D.C.
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| Jennifer Angelo with Chilean guide |
Guest Post by Jennifer Angelo
Peter titled a recent blog "Americans Don't Want $5 gasoline." On our recent trip to South America, we got a first-hand account of how much Chileans don't want $6.50 gasoline, but that's what they're paying, thanks to Donald Trump's Iranian adventure.
In late March, we hired a guide, Chris, to take us the 75 miles from Santiago to Valparaiso, where we embarked on an expedition cruise. Along the way, Chris told us about Chile's fruit, vegetables, wine and copper exports, along with the sights of Santiago and Valparaiso (including a tour of poet Pablo Neruda's hillside home). But what has stuck with me is his eye-opening perspective on the economic upheaval United States policy is having in his country. As an independent contractor who drives tourists for a living, his income depends on how many tourists need his services and how much it costs to provide them. I can best describe him as distraught as he talked about how Trump's war was upending the lives of ordinary Chileans. Chile imports almost all its oil and the price spikes from the Iran conflict were immediate and steep. While most Americans are paying between $4 and $5 per gallon, the price in Chile is about $6.50, a more than 30% increase, and diesel prices are up 60%.
Chilean TV; Prices in liters. The effects of these increases were already apparent in food costs because the cost to transport it has spiked. Costs of mining and exporting copper, Chile's major export, are up. Taxi drivers, commuters and people like Chris, who already had little to fall back on, are feeling the pain. We were with Chris on March 28, and he told us in a panicked voice that if the war wasn't over within a week, it was going to be disastrous for him.
Chris was no lefty. He leans right politically, and he called Gabriel Boric, the last president of Chile, "the little boy" (Boric was 35 at the start of his term in 2022). Boric rose to prominence as a student government leader, joined forces with other left-wing organizations, and was described as "woke." He had a majority-female cabinet, hiked the minimum wage and imposed a 40 hour work week. Nevertheless, his popularity plummeted because of rising crime and a stagnant economy. Chilean voters replaced Boric last fall with Jose Antonio Kast, who has been described as the most far-right Chilean president since Pinochet. His platform was Trumpian: Deport illegal immigrants, mostly Venezuelan, tackle crime and lower taxes. His inability to deal with the economic shocks caused by Trump has already shown up in plummeting approval ratings. Rather than electing a more moderate government, Chileans seem to punish the party in power by swinging from left to right. Sounds familiar.
Chris wasn't only upset that Trump had threatened his livelihood. He despises him. He considers him "crazy," and wonders how we can rein him in. I couldn't give him much encouragement and, not for the first time, wished we had the parliamentary option of a "no confidence" vote. I told him we would have elections in the fall. That's a long way off and who knows how much a Democratic Congress can stop the Trump train when there are no guardrails left and Trump appears erratic and demented. I can only imagine how the majority-Catholic countries of South America feel about Trump's feud with the Pope.
All of this got me thinking about our USA-centric view of Trump's policies. Until I hopped into Chris's van, I hadn't given much thought to how Trump was upending the lives of Chileans. I searched for articles on Chile in The New York Times, and there were a few about the right- wing political shift there and elsewhere in South America. On Apple News, Bloomberg and Reuters mostly covered President Kast's tax cut plan. Only the French newspaper Le Monde had any in-depth coverage on Chile, and even that was mostly political.
In my mind I multiplied Chile's economic pain by the number of countries that are watching helplessly as Trump - the man with no clear plan, no empathy, little knowledge of history and an impulsive and narcissistic personality - wreaks havoc on the planet. When Trump says America First, he means America only. If he's willing to bust Americans' budgets with his reckless policies, he cares even less about the people of Chile. Not his problem.
Note: Coming up, a different perspective. Another friend, this one travelling in Western Europe, says that Europeans are accustomed to the occasional bad leader. Be patient, not surprised. This too will pass.
As we can see by Trump’s contempt for the Constitution and rule of law, he doesn’t really care about the U.S. any more than he cares about Chiile. When he says America First, what he means is himself first. Trump isn’t just crazy, he’s evil. It’s those who voted for him and put him in power that are crazy.
ReplyDeleteThose who ignore the valid concerns of Trump voters will never figure out a way to appeal to those voters. “Half of the country is crazy“ is not a politically useful perspective.
DeleteThose who make lame excuses for people putting a lying, pussy-grabbing criminal in our nation's highest office apparently couldn't care less that he's doing for our republic what Hitler did for his.
DeleteWhat’s new here? It just reads to me like two more liberals venting their hatred/disgust for Donald Trump.
ReplyDeleteSo it turns out that a Chilean takes a Chile/me first position. It’s all about him and his country. I think that’s a pretty common aspect of human nature.