Question about Taiwanese support for Trump (from a non-Trump supporter)

Mann tracht, un Gott lacht. :grin:

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Taking a bold, brave stand against an industry that only exists in your own mind. This should be a Netflix show.

It’s ‘beneath you’ LMFAO. The narcissism runs thick in this one.

Trigger warning here:

Whereas in the West, “They will not replace us” is considered the dog-whistling slogan of the white supremacists, in most countries in the world, including Taiwan, this is a no-brainer.

In fact, in 2014 the KMT tried to ambush the Taiwanese with an open-border policy to introduce massive numbers of Chinese to work in Taiwan, and the Taiwanese Leftists stormed the Legislature and used Occupy-Wall-Street technique to stop the KMT, eventually overturning and overthrowing KMT (Chinese integrationists).

What is the fundamental in that episode: nationalism.

How ironic.

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All of Taiwan’s major parties are somewhere on the nationalism/xenophobia spectrum. Of course, when it comes to the PRC, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

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Holy false equivalence. That’s an awful comparison.

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Nationalism is not just pretty normal around the word, but absolutely essential if you want a state where the government is accountable to its citizens. It is the Consent of the Governed.

I’m sure many people here like to consider themselves “global citizens” (such as Huawei’s Meng WanZhou holding some 10 passports). High-flying elites do have a certain appeal.

But reality is, most mature adults can’t function without getting along with their local communities. That means basically. they prefer people who are similar, not people who are dissimilar. It’s just less stressful.

I’m Taiwanese, though since I prefer to get news from English sources first, I realized in the last year that my views on American politics and what’s in Taiwan’s best interest are now drastically different from most of my Taiwanese friends.

I came from a DPP family, although I spent most of my childhood indoctrinated by the KMT. It was only after LTH’s free presidential election and spending time in the US that I started to learn my parents’ real political leaning. Before than, they were too afraid of the KMT police state to discuss politics with me.

By the time I started working, I became pretty liberal and very pro DPP. I’ve always thought my liberal values aligned perfectly with the DPP and safeguarding Taiwan’s sovereignty. Since moving back to Tawian, I’ve made friends in Taiwan who I thought shared my values. We’ve been through many movements, including the Sunflowers movement, marched for marriage equality, and finally saw the DPP take full control of both the executive and legislative branches of government for the first time.

4 years later, those same friends are threatening to unfriend me and tell me to shut up because I point out the info they post about Trump is not factual. Even members of my family would say racist things about how African Americans are ruining democracy in the US to me. When I share with them the struggles of the African American community, they get truly angry.

I mean WTF? They don’t live in the US or have a stake in US politics. Their reactions are truly over the top. Are people’s perceptions really that easily manipulated?

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They could just as easily say the same of you. The obvious difference between them and you is the years you spent in the U.S. It’s only natural for you to have different perspectives.

My friends and family knew I have spent years in the US. You’d think they’d give more weight to my perspective on American politics.

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That doesn’t make your perspective necessarily more right or valid than theirs when it comes to their views on the Taiwan-U.S. relationship. Just different.

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You should remind them that African Americans MADE the democracy they think is being ruined.

What’s depressing/weird is this is all happening now, after the fact, in full plain view of the abject failure that his presidency was. I mean, he laid a turd in the swimming pool and they still think it’s a snickers bar.

That’s absolutely true, and if they can articulate that fact without first getting red in the face and telling me to shut up, I might believe that’s also how they truly feel.

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This 1000x. Most of these abrasive Trump Taiwanese sound like they’ve never been to the states. It’s the only way that perspective could be maintained.

No, but if I meet someone from another country that’s lived there for their whole life, or a long time…and I’ve never been to that place, I’m not going to get in someone’s face and yell in bold letter profanity that they are wrong about their country’s politics. I’d assume they have more understanding than I do.

I wonder how the Brits here, for example, would take it if I started telling them how they were all being controlled by media manipulation and brainwashed by an agenda blah blah etc

Obviously not a good way to express themselves, but Taiwanese can get pretty emotional when it comes to matters of national sovereignty, especially considering the existential threat from across the Strait.

Then I wonder how they can get convinced that Trump appointing a known anti-marriage equality judge to the supreme court has something to do with Taiwan’s national security. Imagine the irony of people who marched for marriage equality here in Taiwan, sharing an article of Amy Coney Barrett’s appointment in celebration.

The backlash I got from sharing her past statements was just sad.

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I’m not getting the connection between that and Taiwan’s national security.

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Exactly, they pontificate about US social issues they have no idea about or experience with. It’s arrogant. Also only something they would dare do online. If they were around Americans they wouldn’t act like that.

Neither am I. However, many of my political friends and family consider anything Trump did to be the greatest thing for Taiwan’s national security, and any attack on Trump to be CCP conspiracy.

So they’re disconnecting Trump’s policies that affect Taiwan from all his other policies. Sounds pretty practical to me.

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