Donald Trump's protectionist message appeals to working-class women
Updated
On Wednesday morning in the Victorian town of Ballarat, history teacher Juliana Addison pulled on her Rosie the Riveter T-shirt.
"We can do it!" declared the caption above the fist-pumping image of Rosie, the WWII-era cultural icon of feminism in the United States.
"Today is not just about teaching history, it's about making it," Ms Addison wrote in a Facebook post, as she posed for a photograph with her two young daughters.
But by day's end, the history that had been written was anything but expected.
"The girls went off to school and I went off and taught," Ms Addison said.
"When I picked them up, straight away they said to me: 'Did Hillary win, Mum?'
"We literally just had the television on from after school.
"The disappointment and the disbelief as state after state just seemed to be turning, it was unbelievable."
Now in the wash-up of Mr Trump's ascendency that has sent shockwaves through the world, the political classes are facing up to confronting realities.
From Brexit in the United Kingdom, to Mr Trump in the US, to Pauline Hanson's re-emergence in Australia, protectionist instincts are morphing into political movements that are shaking the foundations of liberal democracies.
"I hoped that Wednesday would be the first day of an exciting new era, a day that history would be made," Ms Addison said.
"But instead we witnessed the defeat of Hillary and the reinforcement of the glass ceiling.
"It's not just that she went down. But it's the man that she lost to that is the heartbreaking part of the story."
Clinton's women, Hispanic backing lower than expected
Equally heartbreaking to many of Mrs Clinton's supporters is the fact women did not rally behind Mrs Clinton in a way many expected.
Exit polling revealed this week the surprising swell of support that sealed Mr Trump's victory: the backing of white women, especially those without college degrees.
It was a trend that was strongest in the north-eastern and mid-west states of the American rust belt.
But even among Hispanics, the support for Mrs Clinton was not as strong as suspected, despite Mr Trump's controversial comments about illegal Mexican immigrants and his plan to build a wall to stop them.
The message could not be clearer: protectionism in an age of economic insecurity, globalisation and terrorism trumps identity politics.
"I think a lot of women, especially non-college-educated women, don't think about identity politics," Sydney University's United States studies centre fellow Tom Switzer said.
"Many of them may not have liked Trump. But they may have been attracted to some of his message about economic nationalism."
Recession 'would give platform for likes of Hanson'
However, the forces of economic decline and the collapse of border security that have ravaged the United States and Europe are not present in anywhere near the same measure in Australia, Mr Switzer said.
"In the US, there's a cultural crisis, there's a crisis of confidence," he said.
"There's a backlash against economic globalisation and declining living standards, a backlash against political correctness, and a backlash against decline.
"But I think the kind of populist nationalism that is proliferating in America and indeed in Europe is not really resonating in today's Australia.
"Yes, Pauline Hanson won 5 per cent of the vote and four Senate seats at the last election, but remember we have not had a recession in this country in more than a quarter of a century, nor have we lost control of our borders.
"If the economy goes into recession or the housing market bursts, I think there's more likely to be a vacant platform for the likes of Hanson or another Trump-like or Le Pen-like populist or nationalist to exploit."
One Nation voters split on Trump win
In Penrith, 50 kilometres west of the Sydney CBD, the sense of shock among ordinary people this week at Mr Trump's victory was muted among some.
Penrith falls within the electorate of Lindsay, which recorded the highest vote for Ms Hanson's One Nation party at the last federal election than any other electorate in Sydney.
The streetscape tells the demographic story in Penrith — the charity stores are large and busy and pawn shops and lenders of last resort dot the main street.
The region's unemployment rate is below the NSW state average, but many of those holding down jobs are among the growing working poor who cannot afford houses and struggle to pay the rent and bills.
They are Sir Robert Menzies' forgotten people, John Howard's battlers, and increasingly, Ms Hanson's base.
In the Salvation Army charity store on Penrith's station street, Rachel McCann sees them come through the doors, in what seems like ever increasing numbers.
She sometimes takes the hard-up home to her place just to have a shower.
Ms McCann turned her back long ago on mainstream political parties.
"They're just for the wealthy," she said.
"Money walks. We're left behind out here in the western suburbs. It's very hard. A lot of things are very hard out here.
"We see the poor homeless come in here, they have nothing. No shoes on their feet. There's not enough for them in Penrith area. More has to be done."
Ms McCann is a One Nation voter.
"I believe everything [Ms Hanson] stands for, she's great. There's no bullshit about her," Ms McCann said.
It is a sentiment that is reflected in Penrith in the most unlikely of quarters.
Down the road from the Salvation Army, Andrea Maldonado was also absorbing Mr Trump's win.
She came here as a child immigrant from Ecuador with her family, and was horrified by Mr Trump's threat to build a wall to guard against illegal immigration.
"Hispanics don't really classify themselves by where they come from, there's just one sort of Hispanic nation. It would be hard to imagine yourself being in the States at the moment and being an immigrant. It's pretty scary," Ms Maldonado said.
But at home, the protectionist message resonates strongly with Ms Maldonado.
"I think back in the day, [Ms Hanson] was going against the Asians, but I think now she's just trying to make Australia safer which I think everyone wants," she said.
"I don't think she's trying to be racist, I think she's just trying to do what's best for the country.
"I don't understand why so many people can come here as refugees but here, there's people on the streets that are starving."
Despite the enormous contrasts economically and politically between the United States and Australia, Mr Trump's victory was a salutary warning to political parties around the world to ignore the working class at your peril.
"The lesson here for mainstream politicians is to implement policies that help grow the economy, expand the wealth and make them happy," Mr Switzer said.
"Don't treat ordinary voters with contempt, and don't subject them to ridicule if they support voters who are unconventional."
Woman turned out to be conventional candidate
For Ms Addison, the female president she longed to see in the end turned out to be the conventional candidate, rejected in favour of the anti-establishment.
In the end, the symbolic lure of seeing a woman in the White House held little allure for the disenfranchised.
Despite the bitter disappointment, Ms Addison recognised the Republican President-elect's mantra — "drain the swamp" — had resonated around the world.
"People are really saying that they are concerned about establishment politics," Ms Addison said.
"People want to see public figures that they can identify with and they believe are listening to them.
"There's a whole lot of people feeling really disengaged, they feel like they're not being listened to.
"We've seen this in Brexit, in this US election, and I think it is quite a wake-up call to Australian politicians to listen to the voices of the disenfranchised."
Analysis
- Uhlmann: What kind of leader will Trump be?
- Long: Trump victory a working-class backlash against inequality
- Crabb: Election exposes great divide in female voters
- Daniel: What will a Trump presidency mean for the world?
- Cassidy: Australia not immune from Trump's global waves
- Should we be scared of Trump's access to nuclear weapons?
Topics: us-elections, world-politics, women, united-states, penrith-2750, ballarat-3350, australia
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