Talking Trump (on LBC)

A lot of people want answers in sound bytes, tweets and texts these days and don’t seem particularly interested in having conversations about topics to gain a deeper understanding of that topic. I had one such conversation with James O’Brien on LBC yesterday which kind of left me wondering why I had bothered.

James is a nice guy and seems to be very much on my wavelength but the experience was a sour one rather than uplifting. I wasn’t able to get my point across that people are motivated by their beliefs and their beliefs come from their experiences. In order to maintain those beliefs, they try to manipulate the world around them and that usually involves discrimination and scapegoating to keep their world safe. And when they don’t feel safe, fear steps in and this drives people to do unspeakable things to others thus sacrificing the compassion within them.

During my experiences of being a trans woman, I have chosen to turn and look within and let go of the internalised hate and anger I had for myself but also for those who bullied and victimised me. I chose not to carry this with me for the rest of my life and thus now experience great freedom.

People like President Trump, and his paymaster Republicans, are the epitome of this who prefer to change the world they see rather than changing themselves to see the world differently. They choose to legislate to allow discrimination upon those who are the scapegoats so the rest of the population can focus their anger, rage and hate upon the scapegoats rather than the political leaders who actually are the problem.

James wanted a simple answer but this has no simple answer. It needed an in-depth discussion to dissect the issues to find the root of why transgender toilets are so inflammatory for people in the US. I’m glad we aren’t like this in the UK. It seems the UK has grown up but the United States of America is still in its terrible 200s.

But then, perhaps the UK isn’t so enlightened as politicians, and particularly the Conservatives, use the same practice of victimising and scapegoating to excuse and prove ideological agendas correct.

Have a listen to James and I trying to get to grips with such a stupid situation. A very big thank you to James O’Brien and LBC for the opportunity to talk.

23rd February 2017