US progressives abhor American history. Australians can learn from their defeat | Alexander Downer

One simple slogan summarised the irritation the mainstream has with the so-called progressive agenda, writes Alexander Downer.

There was plenty about the American election which made me smile. The hyperbolic denunciations by the presidential candidates of each other were risible.

After the election, President Trump praised Kamala Harris for “her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign”.

But hang on, the day before he described her as the most incompetent vice president in history and that she was thick and dumb!

Kamala Harris, for her part, conceded defeat having called President Trump a fascist, like Hitler and a threat to democracy!

I like the photograph on X taken at Donald Trump‘s wedding attended by the Clintons with the caption underneath reading “the Clintons attend Hitler’s wedding”.

Bill and Hillary Clinton were among the 350 guests at Melania and Donald Trump's wedding in 2005. Picture: X

Humour, though, can be a potent political weapon.

One of the Trump campaign’s most penetrating advertising slogans was “Kamala supports they/them. President Trump supports you”.

That simple slogan summarised the irritation the mainstream of American society – and plenty of others – have with the so-called progressive agenda of the pseudo-intellectual bourgeois left.

The defeat of Kamala Harris was partly a function of inflation and illegal immigration.

But it was also about the oppressive cultural bullying and nagging by “progressives”.

In any society which respects the equal value of all people, giving preference on the basis of colour, gender or sexual preference is just going to alienate people.

They may not say much about it publicly and they may not tell journalists for fear of retribution but the fact is you hear it the whole time – not just in America but right here on our doorstep. DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) is politically toxic.

The injection of critical race theory into American public life has been both divisive and, again, among ordinary people, very unpopular.

Dividing the country up in a simplistic way on the basis of white privilege and exploited victims is, to most people, just absurd.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris concedes the election at Howard University on November 06 in Washington, DC. Picture: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images via AFP

Clearly, some black Americans are very successful and rich and some are not.

As for Latinos, some have achieved all sorts of riches and fame in America, while inevitably some have languished.

To lump all blacks and Latinos together as victims of white oppression just doesn’t pass the pub test. People know that’s not how society works.

Progressives want trans women to compete with biological women in sports and to use women’s changing rooms and toilets.

It is seen by most people as barking mad. But to say so is regarded as a cardinal crime.

Often, it is the little things that really rub people up the wrong way. Signing emails and letters with a name but then adding preferred pronouns may seem compassionate by progressives, but honestly, let’s face up to it: most people think it’s nuts.

And then there is the issue of the nation.

The progressives abhor American history. They are ashamed of the arrival of Europeans on America’s shores.

They are determined to make Americans feel ashamed of their country.

Of course, mistakes have been made and slavery was abhorrent. But it was abolished after a Civil War in which more Americans were killed than in all the wars since.

America has been on a long and often torturous journey towards the liberal democracy it is today.

It is a huge achievement and Americans have every right to feel proud of their country.

If you want to lead the country, there’s no point in being hesitant about your affection for it. That includes pride in the achievements of the past.

Trump was associated with patriotism, the Democrats with hesitancy and, in some cases, shame for America’s past.

There’s a very big lesson here for Australia.

The statue of Captain Cook in St Kilda, Melbourne, was cut down and defaced on January 25, 2024. Picture: David Crosling

If you want to win an election, don’t go around saying that post-1788 Australia has been a catastrophe and everything we have done since is wrong.

It might be better to talk with pride about the huge achievements there have been in developing this country since then, acknowledging at the same time that in a different era judgments were made which we wouldn’t make today.

That’s obvious. Australia is a work in progress but, so far, it’s a pretty magnificent achievement.

And one more thing.

Don’t keep pushing the progressive agenda in Australia too far.

It’s one thing to show appropriate respect for indigenous Australians as the first settlers of this continent.

On an appropriate occasion, a welcome to country ceremony is a nice thing and it is respectful.

But the practice of acknowledging traditional owners at the beginning of every event and, often, at the beginning of every speech at an event – no, it’s pretentious, patronising and it’s annoying people.

They’re not saying so publicly but you hear it privately everywhere you go.

So, if there’s one thing for Australia to reflect on, it is that the progressive cultural agenda pushed too far is very unpopular with the quiet mainstream of society.

It’s one for the drawing rooms of Medindie and the hallowed halls of our universities. But it’s not for the punters.

Alexander Downer was foreign affairs minister from 1996-2007, and high commissioner to the United Kingdom from 2014-18.

Originally published as US progressives abhor American history. Australians can learn from their defeat | Alexander Downer