This is particularly true for the USA.
I mean, we look at it from an external point of view and wonder why would anyone vote for Trump.
However, after thinking about it for very very long, I've come to understand why people would want to vote for Trump.
Everyone has their own reasons.
Remember, politics is a game. It's the same as for Singapore. It's a game and different people vote or want different things.
Even as Singaporeans, many of us aren't particularly happy when large numbers of foreigners come to Singapore to work and are unable/unwilling to integrate.
Over the past 10 years, numerous people from China, Philippines, India have arrived, and taken up many jobs where we used to see Singaporeans in.
Remember, what is good for Singapore, might not be good for the individual.
What's good for the individual might not be good for Singapore.
And it's up to the politicians to determine how to manage this disparity between individual vs country.
So if we look at the USA...
Who would want to vote for Trump?
Well...
Business owners who want low taxes for companies.
Gun lovers who don't like the hassle of gun control laws.
People who are racist or xenophobic.
Or people who just don't like too many immigrants in the country.
People who don't like China.
People who are in the oil industry.
The list goes on.
It's not that Trump is a great guy. He's not.
But he stands for the things that some people believe in.
Stands for the things that actually impact their lives.
As an individual, I might not care if he's racist if I'm a white business owner.
I might not care about how he treats China or Mexico, or his relationship with Putin.
As an individual, I only care about how my vote will impact myself.
My wife is in the oil industry. And as we were reading the news one day, we chanced upon an article that said that Biden will ban or attempt to ban new drilling on Federal land.
Immediately, it became clear why people would want to vote for Trump.
Cos IF we were US citizens, we might want to vote for Trump too.
Cos the fact is, if Biden gets elected as President of the USA, then my wife's job would be at stake.
It is a very clear and direct impact on myself/ourselves.
In fact, it would be highly irrational to vote against my own interests.
And everyone has their own interests that they want to protect.
It's really not easy to care about the "bigger picture" when thinking about it from an individual point of view.
It's similar to why GRCs might not want to have an opposition in charge in Singapore.
Cos there is real concern that property prices might drop in opposition GRCs.
Or they may not be eligible for HDB upgrades and stuff like that.
So the thing is, when we look at it from an outsider point of view, we might think, "why would anyone want to vote Trump, he's... or ... or ... "
Cos as an outsider, we don't think of life as a citizen, the problems aren't "real" to us, it's easy to look at things from a big picture point of view, as a whole country, outsiders would think that USA would be better off with a different President.
Similarly, people from other countries might wonder why Singaporeans continue to vote for PAP.
Cos... to Singaporeans, voting for PAP is rational. Most Singaporeans want PAP to still be in charge, BUT with better accountability and oversight.
So it's kinda different when I looked at it from a personal point of view.
It made perfect sense to me once I realized that Biden being President would directly impact our own situation in the US.
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