Question that made Q&A squirm: Could Pauline Hanson do a Trump?

FIRST, the Q&A panellists tried to laugh off the question. But when the discussion turned serious, it made them squirm.

PAULINE Hanson probably won’t do a Donald. President-elect Trump’s finger will stay off “the button”. And while Kate Ellis and Helen Andrews probably won’t get together for a beer, Virginia Trioli and Barnaby Joyce will.

That was the wash-up as Q&A focused on Mr Trump and the fallout of his election win, and Australia was asked to look within.

Stand-in host Ms Trioli summed it up best after an hour of debate: “No one really knows, not even probably Donald Trump what a Donald Trump presidency is going to be like. We’re in brand new territory here.”

And nowhere was that unfamiliar territory more obvious than when the panel was asked if Mr Trump’s success could mean Ms Hanson might one day be elected as Australia’s Prime Minister.

Many in the audience laughed. And it was an awkward moment before answers of dismissal followed in responses akin to the attitude seen before the shock Brexit result in Britain, and Trump’s prospects according to political pundits just over a week ago.

Shadow Minister for Vocational Education Kate Ellis said a firm “no”.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said: “Look, I respect the half-million people who voted for One Nation, but it’s a lot harder running the show than talking about the show.”

Ms Ellis added: “We should keep reminding ourselves that we are not America ... I don’t think we should all start getting the Pauline for PM merchandise ready.

“But that’s not to say that we shouldn’t heed the warning and make sure we do look at the rising levels of inequality and we do make sure that we are bringing along the Australian public with us.”

The program focused solely on Trump and the fallout of his election win, with the panel calling on three Americans to “please explain”.

It led to some golden moments, a spectacular side-eye from Ms Ellis as Trump voting policy analyst Helen Andrews sang the President-elect’s praises, and some spectacular Trump put-downs from Security and Diplomacy professor from, RMIT University, Joseph Siracusa and US Studies Centre lecturer Jennifer Hunt.

Heed the warning, but don’t get out the Pauline for PM merchandise, Kate Ellis told Q&A. Picture: Kerryn Stevens

WHY TRUMP WON

The panel agreed Trump’s win was largely due to a silent majority who felt increasingly unheard by their politicians.

“These people from the midland ... are sick and tired of the eastern press telling them how to think and the rest of it,” Prof Siracusa said.

Mr Joyce asked for a show of hands from the Trump supporters in the audience. Counting just nine he said: “So that’s basically a good reflection on what was part of the architecture of this.

“There’s a sense of frustration among people. They feel they’re being belittled. They feel they’re not being listened to. They feel that every time they stick their hand up they’re somehow ridiculed because their beliefs are not of the standard fare.

“However, when people feel belittled and when they feel isolated from the political system they can still vote and they do and they turn up.

“Many of the vote was not so much for Trump, but a sense of, ‘I’m sick of being told how to think by others.’

The polls showed it was ‘absurd’ Mr Trump ‘rode into office on some wave of racial resentment’, said Helen Andrews Picture: ABC

RACISM AND WOMEN

Hackles rose with a question observing that the US result had revealed “poisonous racism was more widespread than many people thought”.

Ms Andrews, who publicly endorsed Mr Trump, said it was “absurd” to say he “rode into office on some wave of racial resentment”, as polls showed.

She added, “The accusation that he’s a racist bigot is thrown about very casually. When you ask people what do you mean by that, what’s your evidence for this outlandish claim, it’s things like he wants to enforce the border. That’s not anti-Latino. That’s pro-sovereignty.”

Ms Ellis shot back.

“There’s a number of things Donald Trump clearly said that were racist. Saying Mexicans were rapists, coming across the border,” she said, to applause.

Asked why people voted for Mr Trump after his insulting comments and inappropriate behaviour towards women, Ms Andrews said: “On the Bill Clinton meter of pathological serial sexual predation, Donald Trump barely moves the needle.”

She earned a look of incredulity from Ms Ellis when she said she thought Trump “respects women”.

Mr Joyce said he could list “a whole range of comments I find utterly inappropriate”, but despite this, the American people “were so, so angry (about other issues) they still voted for him”.

Prof Siracusa said a lot of women “decided they didn’t take him seriously. Or literally ... They just thought he was talking trash. And they had enough problems to overlook things”.

Scathing: Prof Siracusa says Mr Trump’s win is “not the new normal”. Picture: ABC

NOT THE NEW NORMAL

Prof Siracusa was scathing in his summation of Mr Trump.

“I think he’s an appalling human being. I don’t think he has any damn policies. He’s as dumb as Ronald Reagan and meaner than Richard Nixon,” he said.

“But I accept he had a base out there. And they were conspiratorial alright, they thought professional wrestling was real and the moon landing was a fake.

“You can’t say those things (Trump said) in public and expect us to forget it the day after. He’s an appalling human being.

“Whether he sticks to policy, we don’t know. I’m appalled that the world thinks we think that is the new normal. It is not the new normal.”

Standoff: Virginia Trioli takes on Barnaby Joyce ... then they went for a beer. Picture: ABC

WILL HE KEEP HIS FINGER OFF THE BUTTON?

Recalling growing up during the Cold War, one questioner remembered the feeling “any day we could have been annihilated based on the decision of a foreign power”.

“Based on President-elect Trump’s cavalier attitude to the use of nuclear weapons, what are your opinions on whether or not he will be able to keep his finger off the button?” he asked.

Noting that Mr Trump had tweeted claims he was misquoted about comments saying nuclear proliferation wouldn’t be such a bad thing, Ms Hunt said: “I think that shows Donald Trump doesn’t know what he said. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do. … He’s already had his phone taken away from him in the last couple of days of the election. Perhaps someone is hiding the nuclear codes as well.”

Mr Joyce said, “I don’t believe that a person who, no matter what you might think, who has made billions of dollars, would be that stupid as to come up with a reason where billions of people would die,” and said he believed the real concern should be about North Korea “if they drop a bomb on one country, that country will retaliate”.

Ms Ellis hoped Mr Trump has “a moderate sensible side he’s been hiding really, really well — or that he has some incredibly influential advisers”.

Ms Andrews is afraid of nuclear war, “of all war”, which was why she voted for Mr Trump “as the only candidate ... that I thought wouldn’t needlessly antagonise Russia, wouldn’t engage in ill-advised adventure”.

Prof Siracusa was pragmatic: “I don’t think he would reach for a nuclear weapon the way Richard Nixon wouldn’t have reached, because he would have to get past the joint chiefs of staff,” he said.

“The President would suffer a temporary stroke if he went for the nuclear codes without the joint chief of staff’s approval.”

With that, Ms Trioli wrapped proceedings, offering an olive branch to Mr Joyce after the pair had clashed on the show over ABC reporting: “Thank you everyone, Barnaby Joyce and I are going to go and have a beer.”