Honest question: why would someone campaigning on nationalism and America First write in loopholes and exclusions to continue benefitting from globalism in any way shape or form? Because from where I’m sitting that’s not a good look. And makes everything he says subject to being completely disregarded.
I guess my perspective comes less from a focus on Trump and more of an observation from my side of the pond...
Ever since ancient times we have had international trade and even private individuals and groups who profited from it. From Phoenicians to the Silk Road and the East India Company, people have been doing business with others internationally.
In Europe, post-war, we had the EEC - as an economic community it worked well, but as recent events have show, a push toward ever greater political union (the EU) and central governance is one people simply don’t want. I guess this second sentiment is the one labelled “populism”. Of course, those who control the language around a debate often control the thoughts people have about it.
Set against populism is globalism. For better or worse, the rough cut, sometimes crass nationalist agenda of Trump has been set up against the silver-tongued, inclusive and reasonable voice of the NWO expressed by players like Obama. The former has come to represent the status quo of self interested, patriotic nation states, the latter a call for global unity, a turning away from discrimination and for a new way of doing things.
It is hard for me to separate out my faith from my understanding of politics, but I have to observe that at Babel, God confused the languages to separate out the people into nations. In doing so, evil was contained. The aspiration of man expressed by Nimrod was to come together and be of one voice and one purpose. In a sense, a whole world “good without God”. I can’t help but see these ancient dramas playing out in the modern world. I cannot join the side of those whose anthem might be “imagine” by John Lennon.
Rejecting NWO globalism doesn’t make me a de-facto Trump supporter, I guess sometimes my sense of humour makes me smile at some of the things he says while other things he has said appear like he walks in with hobnail boots where angels fear to tread.
One thing though - I believe in free, sovereign nations and the right for their own self-determination under international law. I also believe in free enterprise, private ownership of property, the right to freedom of speech, thought and expression. I also believe in freedom of religion and the right for people to hear the spectrum of faiths and choose for themselves.