And the crown for ‘most popular’ goes to… Fatima Olumee

And the crown for ‘most popular’ goes to...

Fatima Olumee @fatimaolumee

Their words are electric. Their passion for change is overwhelmingly apparent. And they are one of us. Or are they? Since when does personality matter more than policies? That is the question on Fatima Olumee’s lips.

Picture this: it is June 2015. Real-estate tycoon and reality television celebrity, Donald Trump announces his bid in the United States presidential race. Transport yourself back to the initial thought that ran through, let’s face it, all of our heads after this head scratcher of an announcement. What in hell…?

Over four years on, countless Twitter wars and fake tans later, we’ve grown pretty numb to the incessant enigma that is Donald Trump. His assaults against the press are preempted. His glib remarks and bold persona are considered normal. What’s more worrying is how his clear stance against illegal immigrants, women and people of colour has now become old news. Since when did we grow so accustomed to the idea of having an eccentric caricature as a US President? It’s only when we turn back time and reflect that we can truly see how we got here. Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after his predecessor Theresa May’s Brexit fiasco. When people think of Boris Johnson, they see his overwhelming popularity as the mayor of London, his penchant for not thinking twice before opening his mouth, and a conservative that has the power to save Britain by making his nation great once more. Sound familiar?

What do Boris Johnson and Donald Trump have in common? The two are by no means the same kind of leaders, however they do have their parallels in the way they relate to their constituents. For one, they both rose to power within a backdrop of feverish nationalist populism, harnessing strong rhetoric designed to resonate with the people. Prior to being elected, their followers viewed them as authoritative and straightforward leaders who weren’t going to beat about the bush like regular politicians.

In the weeks leading up to the US Presidential Election in 2016, we all had the assumption of who would snag the top job. Most thought Clinton had it in the bag, not foreseeing the drama with the electoral colleges. Over time, it’s now become easy to forget the bombshell that was Trump becoming President, when he only continues to outdo himself shockwise. But unlike Clinton, Trump had a band of followers who were hungry for a leader who spoke their language. A leader who would make them feel understood.

Fast forward to July 2019, where former London mayor, Boris Johnson has just made

Which brings us to the crux of the real issue. Has the world grown tired of traditional and stuffy politicians with their carefully constructed, often boring yet confusing rhetoric? What is the difference between a leader like Scott Morrison and one like Anthony Albanese anyway? Sometimes a polarising figure like Trump or Johnson makes it easier for voters to rally behind or against a national leader. Picking a side becomes simpler in the absence of ambivalence.

More importantly, these figures are never boring. They are clear in the message they

want to send to the people and can speak their lingo. The public are weary of politicians like Morrison who have mastered the art of avoiding public persecution through cleverly worded platitudes that have voters tying their heads in knots. People like Trump and Johnson say things that regular politicians won’t say. They are human. They make mistakes... sometimes dire ones. Whether he’s downplaying China’s cultural influence or comparing the European Union to a project of Adolf Hitler, gaffe-prone Boris Johnson is no stranger to embarrassingly public verbal blunders. In the documentary, Boris Johnson The Irresistible Rise (2013), Private Eye editor captures Johnson perfectly in claiming that “he’s a character from an oldfashioned cartoon strip.” A character. One who almost seems harmless in the face of the image of the other snivelling, back-door dealing political snakes we have in our heads.

But is this obsession with rallying behind populist leaders a new phenomena? Haven’t we always wanted presidents who spoke to us and not at us? Take the late legendary exAustralian Prime Minister Bob Hawke for instance. He was the third-longest-serving Prime Minister of Australia by total time in office and garnered the highest popularity rating of any PM, which just goes to show how much the nation adored him. Throughout his reign in the eighties, Hawkie certainly didn’t lack his own distinct public image. He was the everyday man’s man. One of the blokes. No Australian Prime Minister that preceded or succeeded him could ever down a beer like he could. And he could be all that while pushing for his egalitarian policies on education, healthcare and industrial relations. Who better to speak for the Australian people than someone who was truly one of the people? In fact, our current PM seems to be ripping a page out of Hawkie’s #relatable book with a catchy pet name like ‘ScoMo’. Then there are the less rosy examples of populist leaders. Adolf Hitler. Reeling from the instability of the post-war Weimar democratic government, Germany was jonesing for an authoritative god-like figure to “save the nation”. And there’s that phrase once more. Save the nation. The public tends to latch onto leaders with a specific image or hook or rhetoric when in need of the nation’s ‘survival’ from chaos. Whether it’s a failed Brexit or a country “overrun by immigrants”, or in Weimar Germany’s case, a First World War hangover, this instability often drives the need for leaders with a certain panache. A leader that is for the people. Like it or not, Adolf Hitler was just that. He was the Führer and he could do no wrong. His grand plans for an extravagant Germany and powerful speeches lulled the bulk of Germans into thinking that any government wrongdoing was beyond the Fuhrer and merely the fault of the Nazis below him.

So what does it take to be a populist leader? Charisma? A colourful personality? Powerful rhetoric? Try all of the above. It’s easy to convince yourself the next time you’re at a polling booth that your choice is based off of careful consideration of a candidate’s policies rather than your perception of their personality. So maybe the success of the likes of Trump and Johnson aren’t so much of a head scratcher after all. Maybe it’s a sign that the world is falling back into old habits of trusting leaders with a knack for making voters feel understood.